bypassing tascam fw1884 preamps

[marvkan]

Does anyone have the definitive method of bypassing the internal pres without having to go adat lightpipe?

[sekhmet]

Hello, I think I've read somewhere (probably in the old tascamforums board) that turning the input trims all the way down bypasses the fw1884 internal preamps.

Of course you'll need an external preamp because your signal will be too weak, but I guess that's your main goal

[deepwater]

The only way to do it is to use the spdif or adat inputs and for that you will need an A/D converter unless you have something like the M-Audio Tampa with digi outs.

[marvkan]

Thank you for your responses. Since I placed my post, I called Frontier Designs who designed the interface with Tascam. You are correct in saying that an a/d would be required connected to either the spdif or adat interface would be the only way to bypass the internal converters. Frontier also informed me that without a/d conversion, the preferred method would be line or insert, they suggested that sonically both methods are the same (not much difference) except that using inserts is an unbalanced input, so I will use line (there will still be some audio artifacts from the interna pres)l but if the gain of my external pres (Groove Tubes The Brick) is set hot enough and then turn the Tascam pot incrementally until the signal from The Brick is appropriate, it should do the trick. I tried it out and the results are much better. I'm sure in the near future, I'll just add a good a/dd/a in the front end. One last thing, Frontier informed me that I shouldn't invest in any of the mid priced units (RME etc.) becuase at 96k there won't be a "WOW" difference, thay suggest holding out until I can afford Apogee, Prism etc. at 192k.