Tascam m520

[Granada]

Hey guys


So here is my Tascam 520 story.
After sweetbeats stole my dibs for that mystery mixer I was drooling over earlier last week.. ( just kidding just kidding) I got to asking my buddies if they had any consoles they were looking to sell.
One of them has a M520 he said he would sell me for 400.

I did some research and brainstorming and was thinking if I got this and one more firepod ( that would be 2 I would have, so 16 channels out) and a 2 track 1/2 inch mixdown deck I would begin to have that analog feel that I am lacking as of now.

how practical do you think this set up would be? How many tracks are you guys dealing with with your mixdowns? Do you think I would be more limited in having only 16 ( actually I think it might be 20?) channels to work with? and how do you think this board sounds to those of you who have used it?

Any thoughts are welcome!

Thanks

[A Reel Person]

I was immediately going to pick up that Frankenstein (TEAC) board, (1 hour drive time away), but admitted to sweetbeats that I'd not have the time or tech savvy to resurrect it, considering my many other unfinished tech projects that have been sitting around maybe for years,.... aaaggghhhh. My tech skillz and efforts have fallen way off in the last 5 years.

I don't know exactly how an M520 would jive with your setup and stated goals, but it's a pretty nice board. It's a fair deal for $400, fully working. I'd just get it and forge ahead. It's 20-inputs and 8-buss with 16 tape return channels. Seems it was optimized and designed concurrently with the MS-16 tape deck in mind.

It's a nice sounding, well equipped and very flexible board. Hard to equal with today's offerings, but YMMV.

[Granada]

I want a update on that frankenstein board when he gets it opened up ( PICTURES!!)
and I want some sound clips of a drumset, see how it sounds.

Anyway, yea I'm thinking I might go the " Get it and forge ahead" idea.
Where is the Tape return section? I see its a split monitor but I only see 8 faders on the right hand section.

I would not mind picking up a MS-16 in the future, I have not seen them anywhere online as far as deal searching goes, mainly craigslist. There is a M520 and a MS 16 going together for 2000 in LA right now tho ( far to expensive for me right now tho) :-) I'm not a fan of robbery or bad karma in general, but I sometimes want to take gear that is not mine.

[A Reel Person]

The Monitor section is the 2 rows of 8 Orange/White knobs (Gain/Pan) above the 8 Pgm (Master) faders. Toggle (switch) Monitor channels between Tape/Off/Buss.

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by A Reel Person

I was immediately going to pick up that Frankenstein (TEAC) board, (1 hour drive time away), but admitted to sweetbeats that I'd not have the time or tech savvy to resurrect it, considering my many other unfinished tech projects that have been sitting around maybe for years,.... aaaggghhhh. My tech skillz and efforts have fallen way off in the last 5 years.

I don't know exactly how an M520 would jive with your setup and stated goals, but it's a pretty nice board. It's a fair deal for $400, fully working. I'd just get it and forge ahead. It's 20-inputs and 8-buss with 16 tape return channels. Seems it was optimized and designed concurrently with the MS-16 tape deck in mind.

It's a nice sounding, well equipped and very flexible board. Hard to equal with today's offerings, but YMMV.

Wow, If only I had a MS-16 and a M520 I would be in fat city!

Not sure you can go wrong with a M-520 as that there is a lot of experience with that board here. Folks can get you going and help you keep it alive..

-Ethan

[sweetbeats]

how practical do you think this set up would be?

That is a loaded and dubious question... But I will say that for the price (or even for much more) I have not seen anything else in a mixer that offers the same degree of flexibility and features than my M-520. It will work well with a pair of Firepods...Those have 8 analog outputs each right? And they are auto-select -10 or +4 dBu? Double-check that first as the line-level I/O on the M-520 is all -10 except for the "BALANCE AMP" section but that will give you only 8 outputs from the board at +4. Otherwise the M-520 is a formidable hunk of gear for any 16 channel recording setup regardless of medium (i.e. atr or hdd).

One of them has a M520 he said he would sell me for 400.

That is a fair price. Not great, but fair, especially if it is all there, fully-functional and has the manual. This is to say nothing of what I personally think the value of the board is...the market is demented. Be prepared though for the possibility of having to dicker with stuff on the board just due to the age.

After sweetbeats stole my dibs...

I can accept that...

I want a update on that frankenstein board when he gets it opened up ( PICTURES!!)

The Tascam M-___ will either get iis own "Tascam M-___ Story..." or I will faithfully continue the thread that shoulderpain started. If you are familiar with my Tascam 58 and M-520 "Story" threads and the number of pics/videos I post up, then you know the kind of air-time the M-___ will get.

I want some sound clips of a drumset, see how it sounds.

You can expect to wait awhile for that...what with no power supply and no schematic. Its gonna be a project.

The Monitor section is the 2 rows of 8 Orange/White knobs (Gain/Pan) above the 8 Pgm (Master) faders. Toggle (switch) Monitor channels between Tape/Off/Buss.

Yeah. Its cool. The TAPE IN jacks live on the back of channels 1 ~ 16, and you can access them in any combination of three ways:

• switching the channel 1 ~ 16 source switches to TAPE (has its own TRIM knob)
• switching the aforementioned monitor section (orange and white knobs) source switches to TAPE
• switching either the AUX 1/2 source and/or the AUX 3/4 source switches to TAPE per channel 1 ~ 16.

Lotsa options.

[sweetbeats]

Wow, If only I had a MS-16 and a M520 I would be in fat city!

Ethan, welcome to Fat City you sarcastic goof...

[cjacek]

Ethan, Cory.. Gentlemen! There's one M520 available on craigslist right now, in the Seattle area? No?

Now where's my ms16 / m520 combo? Me wants that too!!!

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[sweetbeats]

Daniel...That Seattle M-520 is now in Ethan's garage getting to know his MS-16...

See Ethan's thread "Mixer Envy"

He's a goof...

[cjacek]

Ah, cool, thanks Cory! It's been a while and I need to catch up..

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[evm1024]

Originally Posted by sweetbeats

Daniel...That Seattle M-520 is now in Ethan's garage getting to know his MS-16...

See Ethan's thread "Mixer Envy"

He's a goof...

Actually - there is another m520 in Seattle. That makes about 5 in the last 2 months!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/msg/842528068.html

--Ethan

[sweetbeats]

My goodness...I guess I'm the goof.

That's incredible...its wierd how the market seems to go in waves...there will be no 238's for instance on eBay and then all of the sudden there will be several...

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by sweetbeats

its wierd how the market seems to go in waves...there will be no 238's for instance on eBay and then all of the sudden there will be several...

Yeah, I've oft wondered about that, the 'waves' thing... It's like that with everything... Some would relegate it to something random or chance but it happens too often, too consistently, a pattern which seems to never stop, so I think it's something else entirely. Ah, heck, sorry for this rambling.... off topic...

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[cjacek]

Originally Posted by evm1024

Actually - there is another m520 in Seattle. That makes about 5 in the last 2 months!

..and here I thought it was the same one I PM''d you about.... Man, 5 in 2 mnths! WOWEE!!

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