The fundamental strength of Japanese manufacturers is that they learn from their mistakes (of which the MTR 90 Mark One was a big one). The MTR 90 Mk2 is the recording industry standard in Europe and over 2000 machines were sold. Solid, reliable, easy to set up and straightforward to maintain, with parts readily available.

Heads can be lapped up to three times (3000, 6000 and 9000 hours, with 1000 hours remaining after the last lap) as long as the wear pattern is maintained evenly by ensuring the transport remains well set up. Sadly, the hour clock is unreliable and easy to doctor, so we always base our assessment of hours on head wear, rather than clock hours. Both main rollers and tension arms are prone to wear quite quickly, and need replacing overy 2000 hours or so.

As standard, the MTR90 is supplied with audio remote (track switching and transport controls), with Autolocator not essential but a valued extra.

One point to watchi is that the earliest Mark 2's used Mark One audio cards (in the card frame/cupboard) which have a slower response to the later cards (introduced mid 1984). The later cards have a mini headphone jack on the front, which is absent from the earlier cards. Make sure your machine has the correct set of 24 audio cards with jacks.