Topic: TEAM Marantz PMD 660 (Part II)

[ol' dirty taper]

Newplanet

Its not exactly a ticking as much as just a extremely high static noise level. I tried all the different cards including the original Lexar card and didnt notice any difference on the recordings. I did turn off my bluetooth on the comp and did notice a slight difference but not much. I think I might be just overly sensitive to the normal static noise levels on this thing.



Is the Oade Mod still considered a "warm" mod to this system? I saw in the earlier posts there were variants from 1st gen to 2nd. Mine is Serial # 200206... and later. I have been trying to figure out if I just send it to them or Busman if it'll kill that noise.

Anyone have experience with the Oade mod w/Beyer MC930s? I am still undecided if this would make them a little too "warm" since the mics sound pretty warm on their own. I cant decide on mics in this price range that'll work well.

I am up for suggestions!

[newplanet7]

Newplanet

Its not exactly a ticking as much as just a extremely high static noise level. I tried all the different cards including the original Lexar card and didnt notice any difference on the recordings. I did turn off my bluetooth on the comp and did notice a slight difference but not much. I think I might be just overly sensitive to the normal static noise levels on this thing.



Is the Oade Mod still considered a "warm" mod to this system? I saw in the earlier posts there were variants from 1st gen to 2nd. Mine is Serial # 200206... and later. I have been trying to figure out if I just send it to them or Busman if it'll kill that noise.

Anyone have experience with the Oade mod w/Beyer MC930s? I am still undecided if this would make them a little too "warm" since the mics sound pretty warm on their own. I cant decide on mics in this price range that'll work well.

I am up for suggestions!

Hi aj.
I am not sure what the problem is but you could give it a test.

First off are you running the -20 db pad on the box?
If not you should be, especially if yours is unmodded.
Mine is modded and the first time out I ran a stage-lip recording
without the pad on, and the recording was distorted.
I always run the pad on now and have not one problem since.
Where did you buy the 660?

If you didn't get your 660 from oade he won't mod it.
I have a busman modded 660.
The Busman mod is transparent.
Chris will mod it for you.
Here is the busman audio thread
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,94050.0.html

[vwmule]

I hate to report this following a major problem losing a show a few weeks ago.

But I was recording Toubab Krewe last night and ran into another disaster. Had my LSD2 on stage and was expecting a killer recording. More than an hour in, I check the recorder and see it is off - dead, no power. The power switch is still on. I rush to put in new batteries and get it rolling again, but 10 minutes later, that dies. Toggle switch and power comes on for a second, then dies. Both battery sets were fully charged.

Now, the recorder shows neither file. (And I was using a Lexar gold)

Anyone know what could have happened? The deck was on stage and the only thing I can think is vibrations are to blame. But for it to happen twice seems odd. Really frustrating. Kicking myself because I had the power cord and an outlet was available.

[tfs8271]

I hate to report this following a major problem losing a show a few weeks ago.

But I was recording Toubab Krewe last night and ran into another disaster. Had my LSD2 on stage and was expecting a killer recording. More than an hour in, I check the recorder and see it is off - dead, no power. The power switch is still on. I rush to put in new batteries and get it rolling again, but 10 minutes later, that dies. Toggle switch and power comes on for a second, then dies. Both battery sets were fully charged.

Now, the recorder shows neither file. (And I was using a Lexar gold)

Anyone know what could have happened? The deck was on stage and the only thing I can think is vibrations are to blame. But for it to happen twice seems odd. Really frustrating. Kicking myself because I had the power cord and an outlet was available.

Shims?  Get an external battery.

[rockthing]

Interesting discovery (?) about the 'rhythmic ticking' problem.

When I used the 'DC 5v in' instead of batteries last night

the recording has not a hint of ticking even during the quiet moments before the band started and all that was going on was some chatter and the bgm.

Amazing!

This was a total accident. Third show in three days and I didnt' manage to get my batteries recharged in time so I figured I'd risk the electric outlet. Whaddaya know, NO TICKING! I can't believe it. I was using what was left of the batteries during the sound check and there is crazy ticking even WITH the LEXAR card...
though the Lexar ticking is far less intrusive than the SanDisk card I have.

I also did a stealth recording at an Osaka coffee shop before one of the shows
using batteries and the Internal Mics... No Ticking!

what does this mean?


This is a major discovery for me... about 15 shows too late, but this very nice.
I guess I'll just have to put up with ticking if I do any nature recordings...
or get an external power supply, which kind of defeats the point of having an all-in-one box.
.
.
.
.
Now
if I can just figure out whether its my mics or the 660
that can't handle the bass frequencies at blasting rock shows.
... even with the pad.

[rockthing]

Hey guys

I am new to the Marantz PMD660, I havent gone through the forums to see if other had this issue yet... but I just picked up a slightly used PMD660 (its 3 months old).

The issue I am having is a slight static noise at all gain levels. I have tested whether it would disappear with attenuation off/on, AC power or battery powered. After all those options I have kind of run out of ideas. Would a computer nearby cause this effect at all? Even with the gain completely down I still get the low static.

I am powering the mic via the 48v phantom power. Does the system have a slight flaw I was unaware of?

I have seen mention of the Oade/Busman mods, these relate directly to this or did I buy a defunct unit?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

ok I tested several CF cards as I read in the other section of this thread that might be an issue, I've ran SanDisk, Kingston, Lexar, and A-Data. All have the same noise, could it be the cable or mic? I have been testing with an AT2021. Would being near a computer cause issues as well?

I want to try and remedy all that I can ASAP as I have to use this unit for a video shoot this weekend.

I get distortion related to loud bass frequencies. Everything else sounds clear,
just when a kick drum or bass guitar is played through a club-scale PA in a small room.
Sounds like the sound you make with your lips when you play trumpet or other brass instruments.

This past Saturday I was getting the distortion during rehearsal, but continued to be at a loss for how to deal with it. I wouldn't even call Shangrila in Osaka a small room. It's quite large, in fact. During the show I noticed that the degree the bass was attacking my chest cavity at the back next to the mixer was far less pronounced than in the middle of the room in front of the drink counter and video projector where my gear was set up. I moved the mikes to the back of the room after the first band, but the distortion actually seemed to get worse with a strange-digi-like-noise occurring even during clapping. This weird 'artefact' sound began after the move. I had the 660 strapped down to the flight case for my mics. I can't figure how external pressure would cause this.

The next night I recorded free jazz in a smaller place called Elevate. I continued using the Lexar card for the rehearsal and there is some distortion connected to kick-drum strikes. I started wondering if the CF card had a problem at this point and changed to my SanDisk card even though I knew it had a history of producing louder 'ticking' than the Lexar card. I used the SanDisk for the show and there is no distortion, but the ticking is nearly intolerable with headphones on.

For the third night in-a-row of recording I switched back to the Lexar only because it still had three hours of space left. The venue, Tokuzo, is more of a night-club/restaurant than a disco or rock-club, so the house system isn't so overpowering. It's also about twice the distance between the stage and mixer than at Elevate. No distortion.

I mentioned this distortion problem to the sound man emphasising that the levels were perfectly sane and quite far from red-lining. He actually suggested that the noise might be from my mics rather than from the box... granted he didn't have the luxury of hearing the noise... being too busy with his job... He was just taking a brief moment to come talk to me about my set-up and so forth.

I've contacted the Marantz dealer for Japan to no avail.
They don't seem to reply to email.
I haven't had a moment for a time consuming and costly telephone call,
but I did send them a CD with samples of distorted and non distorted recordings
along with detailed descriptions of the recording process. So far no reply.

I've been thinking I might just invest a couple hundred bucks in a Zoom H4.
Anything would be preferable to ticking and distortion...
and at the price they go for it would be worth it just to do a side-by-side comparison.

Someone talk me out of it before my next pay-cheque!

[newplanet7]

Send it to busman and get it modded!
Done deal. You won't have any distortion.
It is because yours is a stock unit and is not made for higher spl's
produced by p.a.'s
The 660 wasn't intended for what we use it for.
That's where the mods come in.
You should do that before going with a zoom IMO.
Use the box right and you'll get great results.

[rockthing]

Send it to busman and get it modded!
Done deal. You won't have any distortion.
It is because yours is a stock unit and is not made for higher spl's
produced by p.a.'s
The 660 wasn't intended for what we use it for.
That's where the mods come in.
You should do that before going with a zoom IMO.
Use the box right and you'll get great results.

That's probably the most sensible thing, rather than having two mediocre recorders, be without one for a while and get it tuned up. Thanks for putting it to me straight.

I tape in a lot of different environments so I wanted to keep all of the original functionality, but it seems I've found the limitations rather quickly.

Don't get me wrong, in some situations I have got great results and I'm generally very happy. Just one band I like to tape that plays in ground shaking clubs on a fairly regular basis.

and I'll be looking for power outlets from now on too. :-) Thanks for the reply.

[tfs8271]

and I'll be looking for power outlets from now on too.

Won't need an outlet with this baby.

http://www.batterybarn.com/pr2310.htm

[newplanet7]

Nice batt.

Since I don't/won't do festivals
I use this http://www.bixnet.com/5v7libapa.html
It gives me some security because I know it won't run out for
about six hours with the screen on and phantom on..

[tfs8271]

Nice batt.

Since I don't/won't do festivals
I use this http://www.bixnet.com/5v7libapa.html
It gives me some security because I know it won't run out for
about six hours with the screen on and phantom on..

Great stealth applications, if I stealthed.

[newplanet7]

Great stealth applications, if I stealthed.

Plus tizzle

[rockthing]

+Ts all around, on me 

So now I guess that next paycheque is accounted for. :-)

Those batts are bookmarked.
My network is choking at the moment... someone else in my building must be torrenting!   

We're on 100V 60 cycle here (50 cycle north of Tokyo fwiw),
so I may look around to see if I can find something similar domestically.
110V stuff generally still works here, but just not as efficiently.

At least I know what I'm looking for now. :-)

[rockthing]

So, here are a couple of recent interesting experiences with the 660. Sorry for such a long post.

Taping with the internal batteries again (more on that later) at an outdoor festival with music (as opposed to a music festival) where the sound was pretty mild.

I left off the -20db pad and amazingly found no ticking.
I got a full day of great pulls on the internal batteries with the input dial at either 10 or 9 o'clock
and no pads or filters on the mics either. I was very happy.
Sill using the same Lexar 4.0g 60x card, by the way.

At one point after the music was over I'd disengaged the phantom in anticipation of breaking down when I heard something interesting and without thinking just powered up and hit record. Wow, really loud ticking in addition to the expected noise. I don't know what that means and it is certainly a useless 10 seconds of sound, but the presence of ticking in that situation seems like a clue for someone who knows more about electricity than I do. :-)


The reason I chose to run without the pad (in addition to the fact that it wasn't at all loud) was that a couple nights ago I'd been testing my new windscreens by recording my 4th floor veranda  and found the ticking even when plugged in to the electric outlet which seemed to throw out my previous claim that the DC cured the ticking. The current at my apartment is a bit suspect compared to Tokuzo where I'd experienced the lack of ticking using the DC in.

This has nothing to do with the 660, but in addition to the ticking I was getting this really horrible electrical interference only when the mics were outside but with both DC power and with batteries. The sound would all but disappear when rotating the mic stand to a different angle and then shift to the left channel if I turned far enough. The sound was never as loud in the left channel, however. When I bring the mics inside the apartment the noise is almost gone, well, enough gone that I think I'd never noticed it before at least....
but I digress...

Then, just for kicks (and to do a simulation for the festival),
I took off the -20db pad with the batteries in and there was no ticking.(!?) :-)


Which brings me to the battery issue.
I've been searching round all the usual geek stores for a battery box that will give me 5V and can't find anything. I tried searching at http://www.soundhouse.co.jp/ , but couldn't come up with anything... I've since confirmed the Japanese terminology, better to try again... 6V, or 4.something  or 1.5 or 12 is abundant, but everyone just shakes their head and apologises when I ask for 5.

Though the removal of the pad seemed to take away the ticking when using batteries I'd still like to get a battery box as a back-up. Anyone with more EE knowledge than me wanna talk me out of trying to import (actually they probably won't ship it to Japan anyway) one of the battery boxes linked above (or on previous pages)?

Anyway, still enjoying the stock 660 and trying to get as much out of it as I can.
I got a mixer for the massively loud shows I occasionally tape.
Thank you for the Bussman recommendations, but a mixer is a solution that doesn't leave me without a recorder for an extended period of time and also gives me some flexibility to do sbd/fob matrices, so I went for that. It also doesn't effect anything else I do with the 660. I've saved the email address, though. :-)

[intpseeker]

Which brings me to the battery issue.
I've been searching round all the usual geek stores for a battery box that will give me 5V and can't find anything. I tried searching at http://www.soundhouse.co.jp/ , but couldn't come up with anything... I've since confirmed the Japanese terminology, better to try again... 6V, or 4.something  or 1.5 or 12 is abundant, but everyone just shakes their head and apologises when I ask for 5.

I just got this  http://tinyurl.com/5pqhep .Pick your voltage.

I used it the other night, running for 3 hours straight with the 660's display on, and it only showed one light off.