Uploaded May 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Today I unwrap a 1988 - 89 JVC GI-90 and attempt to bias it on my JVC TD-V661 and Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette decks. I will be recreating a taping my friend did for me back in 1994 when I was in high school. Two years later, I recorded the next album from the same band, Green Day, on the other side.
My friend recorded on a Sharp mini system, and I recorded the other side on a Sharp WQ-CD220 boombox. It didn't sound all that great, but that could be due to age or the equipment it was recorded on. So I decided to see if I can recreate the recording using better equipment and still using a clean digital source (Tidal Masters).
Review of JVC GI-90: Lifeless. It doesn't have the airy open sound as the source. It sounds like the band was playing in a closed carpeted room when the source sounds more like an larger open too. It also can't take a very high input level without distortion. It's hissy, so Dolby B is a must, but +3 db distorts pretty badly. I would stick to 0 db and maybe peak at +1 at most.
Update: I rerecorded to only peak at 0 db with Dolby B... Better (no distortion now) but still lifeless. Oh well, it's just a recreation of an old tape. :). Sounds better than the original JVC Green Day tape, but still has some dropouts and feels like I'm suffocating in a padded small room. The tape sounds claustrophobic.
Here's a really bad dropout. Not far into the tape - about the 2nd song in on the Green Day Dookie album: youtu.be/Z5yhV4sOZJk
Today I unwrap a 1988 - 89 JVC GI-90 and attempt to bias it on my JVC TD-V661 and Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette decks. I will be recreating a taping my friend did for me back in 1994 when I was in high school. Two years later, I recorded the next album from the same band, Green Day, on the other side.
My friend recorded on a Sharp mini system, and I recorded the other side on a Sharp WQ-CD220 boombox. It didn't sound all that great, but that could be due to age or the equipment it was recorded on. So I decided to see if I can recreate the recording using better equipment and still using a clean digital source (Tidal Masters).
Review of JVC GI-90: Lifeless. It doesn't have the airy open sound as the source. It sounds like the band was playing in a closed carpeted room when the source sounds more like an larger open too. It also can't take a very high input level without distortion. It's hissy, so Dolby B is a must, but +3 db distorts pretty badly. I would stick to 0 db and maybe peak at +1 at most.
Update: I rerecorded to only peak at 0 db with Dolby B... Better (no distortion now) but still lifeless. Oh well, it's just a recreation of an old tape. :). Sounds better than the original JVC Green Day tape, but still has some dropouts and feels like I'm suffocating in a padded small room. The tape sounds claustrophobic.
Here's a really bad dropout. Not far into the tape - about the 2nd song in on the Green Day Dookie album: youtu.be/Z5yhV4sOZJk
