jboss

I'll be sure to do so!

That's good to hear. I'm sure if the NH700 uses that, the NH600 does too since they were all put out together. I've always felt a little uneasy with MD recorders, since they seemed to me to be prone to breaking. After using my R30, I was much less cautious, but I was indeed a bit worried about this new one. I suppose it'll be fine as long as I don't drop it too much...

Yeah, after messing with it some more I really don't think its making much noise. The house was just absolutely silent and I was doing things one after another so it kept having to move around on the disc making noise. All seems good. Thanks for the replies. A higher RPM motor does make more since. My friend had a R700 and I remember it being incredibly noisey... of course it broke soon after I saw it too, which might be why I associated this noiseyness with being on the verge of breaking. But all seems good.

I recently purchased a HiMD recorder off eBay used (NH600) and I noticed when playing with it that it tends to make quite a bit of noise. I don't mean that it sounds like a chainsaw when it reads the disc, but you can clearly hear it spin and read data. As the owner of a MZ-R30, I've never had my MD recorder be noisey before. Is that normal, or is my recorder working its way toward failure?

I've been contemplating this too. I only plan on using it for recording, so would I be missing out on anything if I got a 600 (I'd have to get it rom the UK off eBay since all we have ovver here is the 600D) over an 800? I don't need a mic in as my battery box gives me enough signal to run line-in.

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into that.

My current rig is simply a SP-BMC-2 > MZ-R30 (Don't laugh, it's solid, and HiMD is a bit out of my price-range). I'm really debating hard on buying a preamp. I had used my friend's Shure studio Condenser with an XLR > 1/4" adapter to a 1/4" > 1/8" adapter. Although the adapters stuck 6 inches out of my pocket and I had to carry 15 feet of cable, I got a very nice (albiet mono) recording of a local rock show with no overloads. With this confidence, I took the same rig to see The Black Keys a few weeks later. Two things went wrong. I accidently set my mic sensitivity to 'High', and the adapters wereacting bad. There was so much weight that they woiuldn't sit right in the mic jack, causing static and even a dropout where it lost signal completely. After this I decided that I needed my own mics... and to check the mic sensitivity every time I recorded. I made some stereo binaural mics using RadioShack Mic capsules soldered into a gold plugged stereo audio cable. Took those puppies to a show and... major static. I wasn't completely sure it was a preamp overload, being unsure of my soldering skills and the quality of the cheap RadioShack capsules. I finally decided to buy a SP-BMC-2 mic set from eBay. When I went to a show last week, I brought them along and, sure enough, static. This time I was positive it was the preamp overloading. Although one performance came out sounding okay because the left mic is at slightly lower volume, so I was able to isolate that one channel that didn't overload during this quieter performance. Anyway, all of that aside, I'm debating between just buying a cheap RadioShack volume attenuator, or splurging and buying a preamp. I don't have much money, but I'm kind of keeping close watch on eBay for good deals. My main concern is that: -The RadioShack cable may add line noise (which, since all my transfers are analog, I really don't need any extra). -The RadioShack cable wears out, from what I've read. That would be bad if it did that during a recording. -A preamp may benefit me by giving me the extra power I'd need to get full range from my mics whilst also being more high quality than the crappy MD preamp. -A preamp would be awesome if I went to upgrade my MD to a HiMD, since HiMDs with only a line-in and no mic-in tend to be cheaper. The drawback, of course is the cost of the preamp. On eBay there is a Visivox brand preamp I can get shipped for $63. That's really hard for me to manage financially, but I could do it. I'm not so sure how much I can trust that one, though. I've never heard anything about Visivox, so I'm a little hesitant to buy that. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 I'm also keeping an eye on a Sound Professionals preamp on there too. Basically, how big of an advantage is a Preamp > Line-in over a RadioShack Attenuator > Mic-in? Any advice?

Yeah, I recorded The Black Keys a week and a half ago. They played twice, once at a record store and again at an actual music hall. The first recording was set to low mic sensitivity and it came out very nice. I accidently switched it to high sensitivity while handling it before the second show and it was overloaded really bad. I wasn't using a battery box or bass roll off, just straight Mic to Mic in. So, the mic sensitivity was probably a major part , if not the entirty, of your problem.

coool! thanks

thank you very much for your quick reply!

Hello, I recently purchased a Sony MZ-R30 MD recorder off of eBay. After all these years it seems to work perfectly and I am very happy with it. I have two problems however: 1) I need an AC Adaptor for it, and it was not included in the auction. I know it needs to be 6volt and DC (and of course it needs to fit into the plug on the side of the player ), but I need to know the correct amperage for it. Although many of you have moved on to Hi-MD, I do realize that the MZ-R30 is a very popular model of pre-HiMD recorders, and I would hope that someone would be able to read the label on their adaptor. 2) This is a bit secondary. My recorder's rechargable battery was apparently leaking, so the seller decided not to ship it either. I do have the battery case for it, so I can power it while mobile, but I would really like to get a battery for it, to reduce the size of the recorder and, if necessary, expand its battery life by using both internal and external batteries. Does anyone know of a good way to get one of these as they seem difficult to find? Will generic one's I find on eBay (said to be compatable replacements for LIP-12 [the correct battery]) be good enough? Thanks alot guys, Josh Bossie