View Single Post
Old 21st Jan 2023, 4:37 pm   #4
cmjones01
Nonode
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK
Posts: 2,669
Default Re: Vector Research VCX-250 cassette deck: Volume difference playback vs. recording

First check that the heads are clean. That's the simplest thing to do and could have exactly this effect. Then check the tape you're using. What brand and formulation is it? Not all tapes give the same output level, and some can give a very low playback level either because they're no good (the so-called "type 0" cassettes) or just need the deck setting up differently ("true chrome" cassettes). However, both these types of cassette date from the 1970s are are rarely found today. Are the tape type selector switches on the deck set correctly for the tape in use? If you try to record a type II/chrome tape with the deck set for type I/ferric, you'll get a low playback level. Does the deck give low playback level with tapes recorded on other decks?

Chris
__________________
What's going on in the workshop? http://martin-jones.com/
cmjones01 is offline