Which MRL would you buy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter altruistica
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altruistica

altruistica

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I've bitten the bullet to buy a new MRL tape in which to setup the Tascam MS16. I'm going to be using Quantegy 406 tape and a few reels of AGFA PEM468 which I think are both +3 tapes (I could be wrong). Anyway I was going to order from this Ebayer:

MRL 1" NEW proaudio test tape for Ampex, Studer, Otari | eBay

and I wondered whether I should go for the IEC setting or the NAB? I know historically that the IEC setting was used for Europe and NAB for the States, but since few people are using tape these days which would be better? I don't plan on collaborating with other studios as such but as the MRL tape is going to cost about half of what I paid for the machine, I thought I'd get some folks opinions first.
Thanks
Al
 
For that machine and tape described, get the MRL 441-673-482-102. That is 15 ups, IEC, 250nwb/m Which is the factory settings for that machine. The MS16 supports only IEC if i am not wrong, according to the manual.
 
Thanks for the reply fgonza2.

From the manual it does state:
'Test Tapes - TEAC YTT-1244, Equalisation standard IEC,CCIR,

I thought every machine could use either a NAB standard or IEC standard.......I'll have to look into what that means unless someone can enlighten me?

Al
 
NAB and IEC are two types of equalization. That means that both the playback and record circuit in the machine need to have that curve in order to record and playback properly. Some machines are switchable. The MS16 is not one of them.
 
+1 to all of that...the MS16 is an IEC machine. You can use an NAB cal tape to calibrate an IEC machine and vice-versa...there are response curve conversion charts on the MRL website, but the machine's amp electronics are optimized for IEC operation and I concur to stick with that.

Wayne Gunn at Audio Village (the seller linked in your OP) is a reputable seller. MRL makes the tapes for him to his specifications which helps to manage the cost. You can look at the MRL website and see if it is cheaper one place or the other. Get it from the cheapest of the two, either way you'll be safe with a seller that will back you up after the purchase.
 
Thanks for all the info guys....bit the bullet and ordered one from Chuck at MRL.
Al
 
Jay McKnight's guides and explanations for his calibration tapes can be a bit wordy and confusing to the novice as well as the long time experienced. There are outdated papers still available side-by-side with revised papers and they contradict each other in several areas, such as fringing compensation. I recommend getting the tape stipulated for your machine based on the machine manual whenever possible.

The exact equivalent to the original Teac calibration tape for the MS16, YTT1244, is MRL 41J226. MRL made Teac YTT1244 for Tascam. They switched to MRL model numbers long time ago though.

If you set it up using this calibration tape and Quantegy 406 as the blank tape then AGFA PEM468 will also perform well, with slightly different character to the sound.
 
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