Diki, you got it, I did lower the gain while continually recording.

Leezone, that's what I thought too, it contradicted what Samson told Frank.

What does this mean for dummies like me as to recording quality?

It means that, if you are recording off your board's RCA outputs, which have no gain control (they are usually pre main fader) without turning down your PA channbel gains (not something you might want to do, live, just to get an unclipped recording!), you can now adjust the recording level to give a nice, clear, unclipped recording.

With an H2, you don't have that option, and have to use additional gear or adjust your board's gain structure, which is a pain on the fly...

Final question... this WAS recorded through the line in jacks, yes?

BTW, that's good news that the fast forward and backwards now works as it should. My H2 is also a pain in this department.

Yes the recording was done via line in jacks.

Thanks, Stephen, for all your help...

I think as soon as I find a buyer for my H2, I'm going to get one of these.

Diki, You're welcome, I think you're gonna love the H4n

The first Zoom I tried was a friend's original H4. I always did like the connectors, but it suffered from the same gain problems that the H2 did, and didn't have the timestamp feature (which, as much recording as I do, I find invaluable). So they H2 was my eventual purchase.

Now that these and many more features are part of the H4's specs, and that mikes AND line ins can be used simultaneously, seems like it's time to step up, again

so i did a test with my H2 just out of curiosity...

it seems like H4N would let you reduce gain on H4N and have an undistorted recording...
i hope this is so, but i will believe it when i see it...

Yep, that's what I get on my H2. If it is clipped at the start, nothing you do to it internally 'un-clips' it.

I have to use a volume control headphone adapter to reduce input levels BEFORE the Zoom.

One last question, Stephen....

Can you adjust the gain (or recording level) for the line ins and mike ins independently? If you were making something that was a combination of board output and some live mikes (only way to get a good balance for a live band, especially), you would need this, I would imagine.

Diki, I'm not sure about that. Unfortunately, I won't have access to my H4n for another week. I'll try it then.



[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 05-15-2009).]