Keith:
I may be testing my memory here ... but metal formulated tapes are type IV cassettes and should set to that setting ... unless of course your tape deck doesn't have that setting (can't imagine why it wouldn't), but that would also explain the lack of effect from the bias controls.
As for which tape to use, go to your user manual and see which tape brand was used by the manufacturer in their testing/biasing of the machine. Odds are that your tape deck is optimized to that brand of tape.
As for tape brands, I always went with (and happily I may add) TDK or Maxell. I never liked BASF and there was no reason to bother with SONY, unless you were buying their most expensive formulation. Granted this was all when Bush Sr and Bill were duking it out.
Regards, Rich
I may be testing my memory here ... but metal formulated tapes are type IV cassettes and should set to that setting ... unless of course your tape deck doesn't have that setting (can't imagine why it wouldn't), but that would also explain the lack of effect from the bias controls.
As for which tape to use, go to your user manual and see which tape brand was used by the manufacturer in their testing/biasing of the machine. Odds are that your tape deck is optimized to that brand of tape.
As for tape brands, I always went with (and happily I may add) TDK or Maxell. I never liked BASF and there was no reason to bother with SONY, unless you were buying their most expensive formulation. Granted this was all when Bush Sr and Bill were duking it out.
Regards, Rich