Tascam MSR16

F

fred s.

New member
I'm strongly thinking of buying a 16 track, looking at the Fostex and Tascam offerings.

I found a local MSR16 and the guy says its in excellent shape, and I can go try it out at his studio.

Any advice when Im there? Are these prone to any special problems other than typical reel to reel stuff?

Also what is a fair price if it's the condition he says it's in?

My current deck is a Fostex m80 which I love but really need more tracks at this point.
 
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Things to check.

1 - Check the heads and guides to see if they're worn or in need of a re-lap. Replacement and/or repair will be expensive.

2 - Make a recording on all 16 channels of some test tones and watch the levels carefully on playback to see that they all work and reproduce steady tones that don't warble or oscillate in level which would indicate poor alignment/calibration.

3 - Check all the transport functions repeatedly to ensure there's nothing funky with the logic, tension and brakes.

If you're not prepared to fix issues, step away from it.

Price-wise, depending on condition, I'd say $800 would be about the maximum I'd pay for one in full working condition.

Cheers! :)
 
Quick thought, I would buy the Tascam if the thing checks out like Ghost suggested. Keep in mind that parts for the Tascam are more available.
 
Here's the deal, I just check it out...

It functions well, all channels play and record, appears to be kept clean...

Heads look ok to me, (I will be posting pics and video momentarily)

It has 2 issues, the rubber rollers, one of them is kind of hard and the other is sticky/"goo-ey"...can I still get these new? Should that be a deal breaker?

I talked him down to $800...and he is trowing in 2 8-channel snakes, a 456 tape, and it also has the remote.

It also needs basic calibration, which Im prepared for.
 
fred s. said:
Here's the deal, I just check it out...

It functions well, all channels play and record, appears to be kept clean...

Heads look ok to me, (I will be posting pics and video momentarily)

It has 2 issues, the rubber rollers, one of them is kind of hard and the other is sticky/"goo-ey"...can I still get these new? Should that be a deal breaker?

I talked him down to $800...and he is trowing in 2 8-channel snakes, a 456 tape, and it also has the remote.

It also needs basic calibration, which Im prepared for.
Click to expand...
That's sounds reasonable.

The pinch and tach roller can be replaced or resurfaced without too much expense and the calibration you might be able to do yourself if you get a test tape and have the manual.

Cheers! :)
 
pics, quick cell phone shots...sorry for light glare.

what do you guys think?





 
Lots of reflections in the photo so it's hard to say for sure but the wear looks even top to bottom which indicates a good mechanical alignment and the wear doesn't look extreme so you should be able to get a good many years of life out of it still, though turning the guide posts to a clean arc would help reduce tape wear and drop outs.

Cheers! :)
 
fred s. said:
Can I get new rollers from Tascam, also Manual?
Click to expand...

I have no way of knowing what they have stock on but I think the odds are good that they'd have at least a photocopy of the manual still and the pinch roller too. The tach roller might be more of question mark though. Call them and find out!

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks will call them Monday.

The Tach roller is the biggest problem, very goo like.


The Ghost of FM said:
I have no way of knowing what they have stock on but I think the odds are good that they'd have at least a photocopy of the manual still and the pinch roller too. The tach roller might be more of question mark though. Call them and find out!

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...
 
terrysrubberrollers.com (I think) TErry's Rubber Rollers. Had my tach roller rebuilt by him, $35. Or you can get a new one for about $85 from some Tascam OEM in Florida. I don't think Teac in Montebello has them anykmore.
 
So, the MSR is now mine :)

How do I turn the posts to a fresh spot? There's no way to unscrew them from the front. Do I have to crack her open? This thing weighs so much!

Anyway, here are some additional pics of my new deck :)

Also is it normal for the pitch control on these to kind of just spin like a guitar knob and not click in place (in the middle)?

(and he found manual!)


 
This is a TSR-8 headblock:

tape :: TSR-8 internals picture by tapewolf - Photobucket

The heads and guide posts are all mounted on a plate. This is screwed into the chassis and can easily be detached. The right-hand guide post (the 'fake head' one) is adjusted from underneath. The left-hand one is different, but it looks like it should be adjustable via an allen key.

The lifters cannot be rotated at all and AFAIK you can't get them new either. I have taken to using shims made from drinking straw (with the plastic shaft of a q-tip at the back to keep them tight) so the straw gets eaten away instead of the metal. They used to make glass lifter shims for the ATR-102 - I always though that something like for the TSR-8 would be really nice to have.
 
Interesting, do you have pics of these shims? I should probably make some as well. Shame they can't be rotated.


jpmorris said:
This is a TSR-8 headblock:

tape :: TSR-8 internals picture by tapewolf - Photobucket

The heads and guide posts are all mounted on a plate. This is screwed into the chassis and can easily be detached. The right-hand guide post (the 'fake head' one) is adjusted from underneath. The left-hand one is different, but it looks like it should be adjustable via an allen key.

The lifters cannot be rotated at all and AFAIK you can't get them new either. I have taken to using shims made from drinking straw (with the plastic shaft of a q-tip at the back to keep them tight) so the straw gets eaten away instead of the metal. They used to make glass lifter shims for the ATR-102 - I always though that something like for the TSR-8 would be really nice to have.
Click to expand...
 
fred s. said:
Interesting, do you have pics of these shims? I should probably make some as well. Shame they can't be rotated.
Click to expand...

Not easily. My digital camera can't (or won't) take a macro shot, and getting a 35mm roll processed for a single image seems a bit wasteful :(
 
fred s. said:
No worries...do you just cut the straw in half then tape it on?
Click to expand...

I cut about an inch of straw for each lifter, basically enough to cover the exposed metal.
The first thing I did was just leave them loose, the idea being that they'd work as cheap rotary guides and reduce wear during winding. However it made this horrible violining sound during fast wind, so I stopped that experiment fairly quickly.

What I did instead was find something to stick into the loose part of the straw to bring it tight against the tape lifter, like this:

straw_shim.webp

...I ended up using q-tip shafts since they happened to be the right size and were plentiful.
 
Awesome! Will give it a try. Gonna get the tach roller fixed then shes good to go! Pretty excited about this machine.
 
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