Tascam M-2600

[osiris]

Anyone ever own one of these? Opinions? I found one for $400 and I'm thinking about grabbing it. The only thing I hesitate about is I believe the direct outs and tape returns are unbalanced (rca?) connections. Is this true? Could this be problematic?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by osiris

Anyone ever own one of these? Opinions? I found one for $400 and I'm thinking about grabbing it. The only thing I hesitate about is I believe the direct outs and tape returns are unbalanced (rca?) connections. Is this true? Could this be problematic?

I've had my 2600-32 since new. No problems with the rca connectors. The TRS inserts need to be burnished from time to time, though. Sonically, the weak sister is the mic pre but this is true with most boards in this price range.

[osiris]

Thanks for the reply.
Its on the way so I guess I'll see when it gets here. I'm not too concerned about the pres since I have plenty of outboard. Just needed a flexible tool for routing and multitracking.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by osiris

Thanks for the reply.
Its on the way so I guess I'll see when it gets here. I'm not too concerned about the pres since I have plenty of outboard. Just needed a flexible tool for routing and multitracking.

I'm the same way. Haven't used the front end in years. Routing is a strong suit for sure. EQ is good up to a point. A little of it goes a long way. Too much gets oinky sounding.

[osiris]

This mixer kicks ass! Really easy to use, really flexible routing, super quiet and "warm sounding". I rather liked the preamps actually- it gave my acoustic guitar a gritty character I hadn't been able to get with my outboard pres. Just my first impressions...

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by osiris

This mixer kicks ass! Really easy to use, really flexible routing, super quiet and "warm sounding". I rather liked the preamps actually- it gave my acoustic guitar a gritty character I hadn't been able to get with my outboard pres. Just my first impressions...

Be advised that all the XLR ins and outs are factory wired pin 3 hot.

[osiris]

Sorry for my ignorance but what does that mean exactly? I know it has to do with polarity or something, but does that effect the way you connect with equipment thats wired pin 2 hot?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by osiris

Sorry for my ignorance but what does that mean exactly? I know it has to do with polarity or something, but does that effect the way you connect with equipment thats wired pin 2 hot?

Connecting a pin 2 hot device to one that is pin 3 will reverse the polarity of the signal. In itself it is no big deal but when you have different devices coming in with opposite polarities, things can get messy. Examples: stereo pair of mics and/or a drum mic set-up where 1 or more microphones has opposite polarity. (I am not talking about a snare's bottom head mic which is routinely reversed.)