Well, Iron Maiden recordings from th 80's are not very high fidelity, I was just looking for a piece of music with strong cymbals to show how High Frequency are reproduced. My second choice was some disco music from the 70's maybe The Trammps or Barry White I was recording from the DD33 with volume set to 6~7 and the sampled audio is quite faithful to what I hear with an headphone. I'm curious too to hear the DDIII with the lapped head; if it sounds good, the DD33 is next for surgery. I got mine from a collector from Spain (not Hugo) who sold its entire collection on ebay back in 2013. It is in very good condition but i'm starting to fear the head might be little worn even though at the naked eye it appears pristine.
Thanks for the samples. I've listened to all them and I hear the deck very close to the original. The DD33 definitely lacks many HF and the scene image is very narrow. Sounds like a magnetized or worn head. The EX672 sounds better in HF clearly. I'll try to capture a sample with my DD33 so you can compare, but I'll recommend other song. If oyu like rock, ZZ Top has some albums with lots of HF... Yup, I have it, and it's available to everyone in my website: http://www.walkman-archive.com/wa/2016/09/12-minute-reference-mix/
I think I have to buy a head demagnetizer (I do not have it) ... any suggestion on what to buy ? thanks
i do use a TDK HD-30 head demagnetizer cassette. works absolutely perfect (pic is just a sample from the net, doesn't show mine wich is grey, not red)
I have this one and also another one that is way more powerful: I bought it at eBay years ago and it has served me well to demagnetize my decks. You should be very careful with it, though. It has a very strong magnet field...
I never had one of these How does it work? do you need to hold it next to the cassette player's head for a specific time or move it in a specific direction?
That is the most readily available on ebay but i'm afraid too is it too powerful for walkman heads. Do you also use it on your DD's ? I think it is intended for R2R with bigger heads and more robust electronics. thanks
I think it can be used with decks and walkmans too, but @Doctor Walkman can answer that. You have to put it very close to the head (a pair of mm), connect it and slowly take it away from the head. When it's about 1,5m or so, you can disconnect it.
That's what I use as well. Take all recordings a few meters away from the demagnetizer just to be safe. The advantage is that you can demag capstans with the wand. All new machines I get go through a demag, and after any head alignment.
Going back to the original topic (late '90s walkmans) I found there is not a comprehensive list of all the models that have been released by Sony. I'm talking about the EX series that is quite neglected in walkman central site. Browsing on ebay you can find dozens of EX models not listed in the WM Central archive that maybe deserve at least a name and a picture on their tombstone.
this site has another list of walkman's: http://www.sonyvintage.com/?page_id=1253 a comprehensive list of all models would be rather huge as the same model might have different names in different countries.
Back to the topic, I had the head of my DD33 lapped and high frequency response has substantially improved. The lack of W&F and the balanced frequency response really make the difference in terms of sound quality, but the sheer weight of the unit and having to swap side every 30/45 minutes is rather a PITA.
