Mixer comparison: need advice!

[Cliff K]

Hi folks,
I'm looking to move up from my old beloved Tascal M-308B to a larger board. There are three in my area that I am interested in, and I was hoping to get some advice and impressions on these.
The boards in questions are:

1) Tascam M-520. 20 inputs. This is the board that I am most familiar with of the three, seeing as I've been using the M-308B. I really like the versatillity of these, and I believe that the mike pres and EQ are a step up from the M-308B. I think I'd be pretty happy with a Tascam M-520, but I'd like to know about these two:

2) TAC Scorpion. 16 inputs. All I know is that these have something to do with Amek. I don't expect this to be an Amek, but I'm curious about it.

3) Soundcraft 4000B. 16 inputs. All I know is that this is a British board, and as such may have good mic pres and EQ.

Obviously the Tascam M-520 has an advantage of having 4 more inputs than the TAC or the Soundcraft; however, I can do with 16 inputs if the sound quality of the board is better. I know these are all older, old school boards, but that's cool with me. So, how do you rank these?

Thanks very much for your help!
Cliff

[ssscientist]

Is your plan to try to get more mixer for your dollar on ebay?

In my opinion, what's available on the current market blows all three of those out of the water in terms of flexibility, sound and bang for the buck.

If it's that lofi 80's sound you're going for then any of those three will do. If you're willing to consider something more modern this is a good place to start. It's a small format board with some big console features.

[louloomis]

I see that that link goes to a Soundcraft board. Before even seeing that, I was just going to post and say "Soundcraft Rules!".

Years ago I used a 200 series board: excellent, clean, warm, perfect. I was in love.

Now, in my small home studio I have the Soundcraft Spirit Folio (with 14 inputs). I love it. Why? Excellent, clean, warm, perfect. Meanwhile I think I paid practically nothing for it (used on E-bay).

Soundcraft stuff really just gets me off.

Everyone was yelling directly into my face to just get a Mackie at the time I bought my Soundcraft, and I'm glad I didn't. I never liked the Mackie sound (which to me is frigid). But I do love Soundcraft.

LL

[Cliff K]

Thanks a lot for your advice--much appreciated!