Looking at a Boss BR 1200 digital recorder -- advice

J

John Stevens

New member
I'm looking at buying a Boss 1200 for around 400.00 Is that the best quality for the money or does Tascam, Zoom or others offer better quality for the money.

TIA,

John
 
I can’t tell if this post is even real but I’ll give the OP the benefit of the doubt and answer, but I’ll keep it short if in fact this is a hoax. The unit you are asking about is incredibly old fashioned; antique in terms of digital recording. It is hard-drive based – I had a Boss BR-1180 (virtually the same unit) HDD fail and while it was simple enough to replace the drive, the type of drive required (PATA) was so old that I doubt you’d have an easy time finding a replacement that is “new” anymore. If you insist on a standalone unit for digital recording, please consider one that uses SD flash memory. I said I’d keep it short, so I won’t go into the other limitations associated with buying something as old as this, but I will address the $400 price tag: a quick google search indicates that you can find these things for $140 - $270 on sites like eBay and Amazon. So unless you are really into “vintage gear,” please consider looking into some current standalone digital recording units, such as the Tascam DP-03 (SD/CD), which can be had for around $275, or the DP-008EX for $150, or the Zoom R8 for $300, or the Roland BR-800 (which I believe is the modern replacement for the BR-1200 that you are looking at) for $430 (BRAND NEW). Long-short: don’t buy an antiquated standalone unit for more money than a new/current model.
 
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PS - I have a near-mint condition Boss BR-1180 CD with a brand new, recently replaced hard drive for sale: $399.99 if you're interested! ;) PM for details!
 
No, not a hoax, not sure why it wouldn't be a real question???

Anyway...the last multi-track I owned was a Fostex 4 track cassette unit about 20 years ago. So, I'm really out of touch with the new stand alone units. I rented an ADAT about 10 years ago to do a project and have done a little bit of recording on my laptop but always run into problem so I'd like to buy a stand alone unit in the 3-500 dollar range.

The Boss BR1200 was advertised "new" on Musicians Friend for just under 400 and I called a few local music stores, about the same price. They were sold out at the local store as well as MF but will have more in Jan. Apparently you're saying it's been around for a long time? Again not really familiar with any of these units. I'm going to head to a local music store to look at a few but wanted some advice before talking to a sales person.

Appreciate any help.

Thanks,

John
 
Correct, unavailable today but yesterday it said "sold out" would ship mid Jan. Also, local Guitar Center said they are out but have 7 coming in the first week of Jan and told me I could put a hold on one if I wanted to give a credit card but I didn't.

Regardless, still hoping for some insight on a good recorder for 3-500.

John
 
John, food for thought. I looked at he stand alone recorders for sometime. There are some nice ones out there, but here is what I settled on:

Cheap dual core laptop, about $250, Tascam 1800, running now about $200. Reaper on the laptop (virus software and nothing else), Gator case and power strip, $150 (this is optional, but really makes it nice) and for about $650 I have a fully portable 14-16 track (the additional 2 tracks on the Tascam requires some SPDIF pre-amps) system with lots of future options.

The above is just food for thought but some of the new portastudios are really pretty decent from Zoom, Tascam, Roland. You may want to review the unit again. From what I gathered, it is the 1200CD and it has only two XLRs or two line ins, which leads me to believe you can only record two channels at a time. Not sure if you can live with this limitation.

Hope this gives you some more information to work with.
 
John Stevens said:
No, not a hoax, not sure why it wouldn't be a real question???
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The BR-1200 was introduced over a decade ago -- which is a lifetime in terms of digital recording technology. Current models of similar equipment, with more robust features and capabilities, retail for half the price of the one you are asking about. These are the reasons why I was suspicious of whether or not this was even a legitimate inquiry. Anyway, I've already explained why buying a 12-year-old 7200-RPM-hard-drive/CD-based stand-alone multitrack recorder for $400 is probably not the wisest decision you could make. If you still insist on going with the BR-1200 after all this, you may want to at least consider picking one up from eBay/Amazon for half the price you are considering spending.

*Correction - I looked at the specs and the BR-1200 does in fact have a USB interface.
 
John Stevens said:
Regardless, still hoping for some insight on a good recorder for 3-500. John
Click to expand...

I listed a whole bunch of modern alternatives in that price range in my first response. Based solely on what you described with your Fostex experiences and your hesitation to go computer-based DAW, I suggest you take a look at the TASCAM DP-008EX for $150 or the Tascam DP-03 Digital Portastudio (SD/CD) for $275. Here is a good video that explains each model and what you get for the additional $125 on the DP-03. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_wKouRNOao
 
I've done some recording on my laptop and yes, maybe it's because there are so many other things on there that creates problems. I get a lot of noise at times and have trouble lining up tracks, latency or things just locking up.

Anyway... thought I'd try the stand alone.

I didn't realize the BR1200 was so old but looking back, MF had it marked down from around 1300 to 379 so I guess that should have been an indication. And yes I did read about the usb.

Hoping to find someone with some real time experience with any of these units to warn about noise or quality of sound.

Thanks,

John
 
I have to completely disagree with gregoryg. I own the BR-1200 and it is not antiquated in any other way that any other recorder would be after the same duration of time. Just like a laptop is a boat anchor after 6 mo. It records excellent CD quality recordings, has a plethora of genuine Boss guitar effects which alone is worth at least $300 and then...wait for it....you don't need a frigin' computer at all! It has it's own built in CD drive. Something I was specifically looking for to keep things simple stupid. Ok having said this yes the booklet is roughly 200 pages and it's quite the learning curve but so is everything else. I have not seen a machine that can do the same quality and offers the same features and is as quick to make a professional quality CD as the BR series and for the money. Sure if you have more $ go buy a Tascam 2488 but do you need all that? Or sure you can get some smaller device that later needs to be hooked up to a computer with software and blah blah blah. I can bring this thing anywhere with an extension cord and begin recording a prof. quality cd. done.g $450 for mine like 3 years ago on ebay? Also I never bought monitors and I don't own headphones. I just use a y splitter off the line out rca's to 1/4" female and plug the cord into my amp head and obviously into my speaker cabinet. No problems so far, just be smart with volumes, standby's etc. Less to buy, less to carry etc. I love that thing.
 
Dpiguitar said:
I have to completely disagree with gregoryg. I own the BR-1200 and it is not antiquated in any other way that any other recorder would be after the same duration of time. Just like a laptop is a boat anchor after 6 mo. It records excellent CD quality recordings, has a plethora of genuine Boss guitar effects which alone is worth at least $300 and then...wait for it....you don't need a frigin' computer at all! It has it's own built in CD drive. Something I was specifically looking for to keep things simple stupid. Ok having said this yes the booklet is roughly 200 pages and it's quite the learning curve but so is everything else. I have not seen a machine that can do the same quality and offers the same features and is as quick to make a professional quality CD as the BR series and for the money. Sure if you have more $ go buy a Tascam 2488 but do you need all that? Or sure you can get some smaller device that later needs to be hooked up to a computer with software and blah blah blah. I can bring this thing anywhere with an extension cord and begin recording a prof. quality cd. done.g $450 for mine like 3 years ago on ebay? Also I never bought monitors and I don't own headphones. I just use a y splitter off the line out rca's to 1/4" female and plug the cord into my amp head and obviously into my speaker cabinet. No problems so far, just be smart with volumes, standby's etc. Less to buy, less to carry etc. I love that thing.
Click to expand...

The OP was asking if a BR-1200 for $400 is a good deal. It is not. Context is important and you need to read the whole thread. Regarding the price relative to the decade-old technology, current models of similar standalone recording devices, with more robust features and capabilities, retail for half the price of the one the OP was asking about. Regarding the technology, an•ti•quat•ed: /ˈan(t)əˌkwādəd/: adjective - old-fashioned or outdated, a digital recorder that that tops out at a 44.1kHz sample rate and uses a non-flash physical hard drive that is no longer manufactured is antiquated. Especially at twice the cost of a comparable new model.
 
PS - I am not saying the BR-1200 will/will not suit someone's needs, as it sounds like you like your device just fine. The OP asked if it was a good deal at $400. It is not. Technological discussions about buying 10-year-old electronics aside, a quick google search indicates that you can find these things for $140 - $270 on sites like eBay and Amazon, half of what the OP was looking at.
 
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