Wiring Directly from Tape Head

Hi all

I know this has been discussed here and on Audionirvana, but just wanted to get people's view's before I push the button. So, I have bought a Tascam 42, which is getting a Flux Magnetic Extended Response head. I wish to circumvent the internal amplification, so I am having the it wired directly from the head to go into a King-Cello preamp.

The questions I have are as follows:

Is it really necessary to have the wiring be outside the deck? Has anyone had the wire running through the deck and not had a problem? I really don't like the wire on the outside because on the Tascam it will be very trick to thread the tape around and I am also worried about it getting torn off. This assumes the wire will be a good shielded cable - e.g. Transparent or Cardas and will be properly grounded


Is it a problem if the wire is longer than a meter - say about 4' or so. If I wire it through the machine that will probably add about a foot and then I need about 3 - 4'. With the King Cello preamp I can have the preamp near the deck, but if at some point in the future Herve Deletraz puts in a tape preamp into his line stage, I might want to try that, and I would therefore need a longer cable. Has anyone tried longer cables and not had problems? any suggestions? Thanks

But Why Does the Noise Affect the Signal Goig Through the Deck Amplifier

audioguy1958 said:

The signal from the playback head is extremely weak, and so any noise the wire picks up is greatly amplified. There can be a lot of noise generated inside a deck as well from transformers, motors etc. You can have the wire run to the back panel of the deck to either a pair of XLR or RCA jacks. You should use a shielded cable, like a high quality shielded microphone cable.

Click to expand...

So I get the point that the inside of a tape deck is a noisy, crowded place, but why is signal going through the deck's amplifier not affected by the noise? It seems to me that if a properly shielded cable is used and run at the bottom of the deck, there shouldn't be so much noise that it messes with the sound. Is it RFI that we should be worried about?