Jessica Monroe

Buffer vs true bypass is a debate every guitarist with more than a few pedals eventually faces. I remember the first time I noticed my Strat sounding dull and lifeless through a board of seven true bypass pedals, and I had no idea what was causing it. After weeks of swapping cables and blaming my … Read more

An effects loop is the input/output section on your guitar amp that sits between the preamp and the power amp. It lets you patch time-based pedals like delay and reverb into the signal chain after your amp’s distortion has already been created. I built my first pedalboard around the wrong placement for years, and once … Read more

You flip on your guitar amp, plug in, and there it is: that low, steady 60Hz hum that won’t go away no matter how you turn the volume knob. I have been there. I have spent entire evenings chasing phantom buzzes that vanished when I lifted one cable and reconnected it differently. Most of the … Read more

Nothing is more frustrating than pressing play on a freshly recorded cassette and hearing something that sounds nothing like your source. The recording is dull, or too bright, or distorted, or quiet, and you have no idea why. In nearly every case, the culprit comes down to two things: bias and levels. I have spent … Read more

Reading the oscilloscope pattern to set reel-to-reel azimuth is the most accurate way to align your tape deck’s playback head. I have spent the last three years restoring vintage Studer and Otari machines, and the oscilloscope method remains the gold standard. This guide covers what you need, how to read the pattern, and what to … Read more

I learned the hard way that baking tapes before testing them can cost you recordings forever. Years ago, I cued up what I thought was a routine reel-to-reel transfer and watched the magnetic coating peel off like wet paint. The tape was a casualty of sticky-shed syndrome, and I had not checked first. Sticky-shed syndrome … Read more

If you have a reel-to-reel tape from the 1970s or 1980s that squeals, leaves gummy residue on your tape heads, or simply refuses to play, you are almost certainly dealing with sticky shed syndrome. Learning how to bake a reel to reel tape is the single most effective way to recover those recordings before they … Read more

I’ve worked with magnetic tape preservation for years, and one question comes up constantly: which tapes you should never bake. The answer has saved hundreds of recordings in our archives from being destroyed by well-meaning restoration attempts. Baking magnetic tape is a preservation technique used to temporarily reverse sticky shed syndrome by driving moisture out … Read more

I have spent the last few years calibrating tape machines in our studio, and the single most important adjustment is bias. If you have ever wondered why your recordings sound harsh, dull, or thin, the answer is almost always the bias setting. This guide walks you through setting tape bias by the overbias method for … Read more

When I plugged my first vintage reel-to-reel deck back in, I noticed two tiny toggle switches on the front panel labeled “NAB” and “IEC.” I had no idea what they meant, and I figured the previous owner had them set correctly. After a month of dull, muffled recordings and obvious tape hiss, I learned the … Read more