[julie_m]

Measuring a tape head with a meter can be bad; though not because of any risk of burning out the coil (even a cheap analogue meter only ever puts out a maximum of 1 mA) but because of the risk of leaving the core magnetised. This will cause your tapes to be partially erased -- they will literally get very slightly quieter and quieter every time you listen to them.

A DC-energised erase head (such as yours) is definitely safe to measure with a meter, because it is designed to pass rather more than 1 mA of DC continuously and retain no magnetism. An AC-energised erase head will tend to self-demagnetise in operation. A record/play head should only be measured with a digital meter, a high Ω/V analogue meter on its most sensitive range or an AC bridge. Even then, it's probably best to demagnetise it afterwards, because it's such a nasty, subtle fault.