Thanks for all your help Acorec. As none of my recorded stuff is for release I'm going to live with the hiss for now. All I do is work on songs that I have written and maybe play them to my teenage kids. With chritmas coming I have a lot on my plate but I might attack it in the new year. If I do I'm sure I'll post again for guidance. I AM going to do the alignment and bias as soon as I can get my hands on a test tape and maybe a scope. Thanks again and happy ho ho.