What...is...a...Tascam...55-2...?

[sweetbeats]

I was browing today looking at prices for new heads for my BR-20T and I happened across a cross reference that the 42 and 52 decks use the same heads, as well as the 55-2. Never heard of one and I can't seem to find any references to them...anybody know anything about them?

[analogkid]

Umm NO..... never heard of that one.




AK

[sweetbeats]

Well that's a fine how-do-you-do...

You'd think that, since the numerical value is larger than the 52 that it is a later model, but the 35-2 preceded the 32...Tascam states that the 50-series decks (52/58) and the 30-series decks (32/34/38) were the answer to addressing the market needs for a more professional syncable product AND a lower-cost yet robust option for the home recordist...at the time the 40-4 and 80-8 sat kind of in the middle of that need, out-of-reach budget-wise for the latter, and yet not quite up to task for the former. I think the Teac 7300 evolved into the 35-2, and maybe the 55-2 was a short-lived transitionary product that led the way to the 52/58 as the 35-2 did toward the 32/34/38...

Anybody else know anything?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by sweetbeats

Well that's a fine how-do-you-do...

You'd think that, since the numerical value is larger than the 52 that it is a later model, but the 35-2 preceded the 32...Tascam states that the 50-series decks (52/58) and the 30-series decks (32/34/38) were the answer to addressing the market needs for a more professional syncable product AND a lower-cost yet robust option for the home recordist...at the time the 40-4 and 80-8 sat kind of in the middle of that need, out-of-reach budget-wise for the latter, and yet not quite up to task for the former. I think the Teac 7300 evolved into the 35-2, and maybe the 55-2 was a short-lived transitionary product that led the way to the 52/58 as the 35-2 did toward the 32/34/38...

Anybody else know anything?

The 30 series was Tascam's answer to Fostex's entry into the home studio market. It was a forgone conclusion that it would replace the 80-8/ & 40-4 machines. BTW - the only differences between the 80-8 and 40-8 were the track count, heads, and guides. The 2 had the same motors and electronics.

The 7300 became the 25-2 which later became the Ampex ATR-700. the 35-2 appeared to replace the 25-2. It was not nearly as good a machine.

[Vintage Texas]

Never seen one but had request for parts 3-4 times in the past from europe.
Is it maybe a model just for oversea's market and we got put aside ?

[sweetbeats]

Rick, thank you.

7300 --> 25-2 and then --> ATR-700?? What's the story there? That's really interesting!

I recall that the 7300 was a well-regarded machine as was the 40-4 and the 80-8...I knew they were basically the same save for the tape path differences and the track count...I also understood that the design of the 40-4/80-8 stemmed from the 7300...

Interesting stuff...so the 35-2 was a pretty short-lived machine right? And do you know if that was because the 32/34/38 line was on the way or did it just not do well in the marketplace?

The 35-2:


The 25-2:


The 7300 (which one source says was preceded by the 25-2...):

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by sweetbeats

Rick, thank you.

7300 --> 25-2 and then --> ATR-700?? What's the story there? That's really interesting!

I recall that the 7300 was a well-regarded machine as was the 40-4 and the 80-8...I knew they were basically the same save for the tape path differences and the track count...I also understood that the design of the 40-4/80-8 stemmed from the 7300...

Interesting stuff...so the 35-2 was a pretty short-lived machine right? And do you know if that was because the 32/34/38 line was on the way or did it just not do well in the marketplace?

I don't know how it came about but Ampex contracted TASCAM to build an OEM mastering deck for them. Part of the deal was that TASCAM could not make the same deck under their own name. The 25-2 was modified to met the Ampex requirements (+4 operation and sel-sync are the 2 I recall) but that meant the model would be dropped from the TASCAM catalog. The Ampex ATR-800 was also made by TASCAM.

I do not believe that the 80-8 and 40-4 were based on the 7300 but cannot say for certain. One of the techs at TASCAM had mentioned that the 80-8 transport was capable of pulling 1 inch tape but they didn't use that platform when they built their 1st 16 track, the 90-16. I don't think the 7300's could do that.

The 35-2 probably proved to be too expensive to continue production. List on it was around $3000, I think.

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

One of the techs at TASCAM had mentioned that the 80-8 transport was capable of pulling 1 inch tape

Yeah, looks like someone was listening:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-mu...onversion.html

Take a look at the attached photos in that threat. I think it's a pretty neat conversion.

---

[sweetbeats]

That is just outrageously cool looking...too bad the OP didn't put up pics of the stack...

[Richard King]

My old 7300-2T sitting beside my old 80-8 (half inch ).

My 7300-2T in another environment. I used to use it to gain more inputs doing location recording. The 4x2 Mic/Line mixing on the machine was very handy.


As far as time line goes, the 7300 was first, followed by the 25-2 (a 7300 with DBX, same as the 7300RX). The 35-2 followed the 25-2 and was rather short lived, and I agree, wasn't nearly as nice a machine.

The ATR-700 was nearly identical to the 7300 with the exception of the control buttons. The Ampex machine had more squared buttons vs the Teac elongated buttons. The Ampex had balanced line outs and if I recall correctly, the Teac was unbalanced out.

The 80-8 transport really bore no relationship to the 7300. I believe the 7300 was actually a smoother operating transport while the 80-8 was a heavier duty transport. Both ran the tape in FF and RW quite quickly. I never saw a 1" 80-8 before, but I do believe I am in love after seeing the pix.

By the way, I have no idea what a 55-2 is.

[sweetbeats]

Thanks for the info, Richard!

What kind of board is that in the top picture?

[cjacek]

Richard, I see that you had a DIY, budget solution for tilting the recorders, as if it were in a rack, using padded chairs!

[sweetbeats]

Daniel, silly, that's called Le Chair, professional atr stand, right Dave (A Reel Person)? To go along with the Le Towel custom cover?

[cjacek]

............................

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by sweetbeats

Thanks for the info, Richard!

What kind of board is that in the top picture?

That's a prototype Auditronics console. This is in a studio that I used to work out of. When I started working there it had a home brew 12x3 (left, center, right) mixing console with big rotary faders. I bought the 80-8 to use in the studio rather than the old Ampex 300-4 machine. Since they had no space for it in a rack and I kept it in a flight case when not in use, I just used the chairs that were in the studio at the time. Look at the knobs on that thing...

[Richard King]

By the way, that console had a row of knobs that did nothing. They were not connected to anything. When a client would ask for something silly, I would grab one of those non functional knobs and just BARELY tweek it one way or the other and, somehow it seemed to always fix things.

[technoplayer]

I have a pristine 35-2, and I think its a really nice machine. It like the extra head for 4 track playback and on-board dbx. Never had any complaints with it. I also have never heard from anyone else who HAS one. It seems to be a very odd ball machine , as there is not a lot of info on it that I have found. Anybody out there have any history on it I would like to hear it....

Waht series of machines is it in? Predecessors?? Is it similar to any other tascam /teac machineS

??????

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by technoplayer

I have a pristine 35-2, and I think its a really nice machine. It like the extra head for 4 track playback and on-board dbx. Never had any complaints with it. I also have never heard from anyone else who HAS one. It seems to be a very odd ball machine , as there is not a lot of info on it that I have found. Anybody out there have any history on it I would like to hear it....

Waht series of machines is it in? Predecessors?? Is it similar to any other tascam /teac machineS


??????

As stated earlier in this thread, the 35-2 replaced the 25-2. The 35-2 was a good machine but not quite up to the machine it replaced. The 25-2 handled tape better and had considerably better playback qualities.