Tascam ATR 60-16

[dana442]

I own several Tacam machines. I just bought the Tascam ATR 60-16 to add to the family.I would like to hear other opinions on the weak/strong points on this recorder.Any and all imput will be appreciated. Thank you,Dana

[cjacek]

No personal experience but the ATR series is the upper range of TEAC / TASCAM, which is saying a lot.

[The Ghost of FM]

It's basically the last and therefore newest 1" 16 track machine that TASCAM made so you'll have the best chance of having one that hasn't completely degraded from age and use depending on how hard the previous owner of yours used it?

I have an MS-16 which is one model older then yours though very similar with essentially the identical transport mechanism. The layout of the channel amps and power supply are different although I believe the same channel cards are used on both machines only that on yours, the calibration adjustments can be accessed directly though pre-drilled holes on the front of the case and on mine, I have to remove the cover to get to them. The power supply on mine is located in the transport unit and on yours, housed below where the channel amp cards are.

Probably the biggest difference is that your machine came in one version only with the integrated roll around cart where on mine it was optional so users of the MS-16 had to do more kit mods to get it to look and function like yours does directly. Beyond that, yours can run at 7.5 ips and 15 ips where mine only runs at 15. Yours also has a spot erase feature and only balanced inputs and outputs where mine offers both balanced and unbalanced connections on the back. The remote was also standard where mine was optional. The last difference would be that yours comes with the dbx nr built in and on mine, it was optional, though I do have it on mine too.

What sort of shape is the one you got in? Can you post a picture of it?

Cheers!

[dana442]

Hey Ghost,My machine is 15/30 ips--overall condition very good.The head wear is still inside the gutters--approx 30%-40% left.I dont have photos yet--will post soon-Also what is your tape of choice--911? or ATR-Thank you-Dana

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by dana442

Hey Ghost,My machine is 15/30 ips--overall condition very good.The head wear is still inside the gutters--approx 30%-40% left.I dont have photos yet--will post soon-Also what is your tape of choice--911? or ATR-Thank you-Dana

The factory calibration called for 911/456 equivalent. I'm not sure if the electronics could deal with anything hotter and if so, it would require a complete recalibration. I use Quantegy 456 currently because I bought a bunch of it before they disappeared. I'll move onto 911 once they're used up.

If you run it at 30 ips, you could probably get away with not using the dbx but you'll wear the heads down even faster and use up twice as much tape! Nice to see yours was modded for the higher speed...nice to have, if you're going to use it!

Heads are still available new, though getting harder to find so you might take some comfort in knowing you can still get them. Keep in mind too as the heads wear, they'll chew up your tapes faster as they're more abrasive and out from calibration norms.

What mixer are you using with it?

Cheers!

[sweetbeats]

The ATR series uses Teac's Omega tape path geometry (basically with the tape loaded the path looks like an upside-down omega)...I'll have to refresh my memory but it was purposeful in reducing flutter and improving handling and tape to head contact...designed for heavy-duty shuttling in a video sync environment...notice that the pinch roller is on top of the capstan and serves as the impedance roller so tape passes through less components. This design was first seen on the 58 1/2 inch 8-track and was carried on to the MS-16...that's the ATR series' lineage...the 58 was marketed as Tascam's first recorder/reproducer for the professional market and was their first with balanced +4 I/O...if Ghost is right that the ATR series uses the same amp cards as the MS-16 that's interesting as the MS-16 uses the same amp cards as the 58...neat-o...when you put pics up can you capture one of an amp card and if you got the manual would you be willing to link a schematic scan?

If they are the same cards then they may not properly bias high output tape like SM900, GP9, 499 or ATR tape...the MS-16 and 58 bias amp is limited by the amp card circuitry but this may have been changed on the ATR series...I would be surprised if they hadn't. I could tell if I had a schemo for your amp card. None of this means you can't run super high output tape, but if the bias amp circuit is the same as the MS-16 and 58 it won't properly bias the tape. There is a simple mod though that will allow stronger bias current on the MS-16 and 58 and AFAIK it is safe...Jim Williams has done it and evm1024 on this forum has done it as we'll. I'll dig up the thread or he may chime in.

Anyway, really nice systems. Congrats.

What else is in your stable?

[The Ghost of FM]

Actually, I may be wrong about the channel cards being the same. I believe I had the ATR-60-16 confused with the ATR80-24 which I know for sure is the same card as I got a second hand one a few years back from my technician and it had a label on it for the 21st channel and remember asking him about that as mine were all labeled 1-16.

The longer vertical orientation of the adjustment row of trimmers would also outwardly point to the cards in fact being different.

What would be more of a concern though is the heads being the same as the ones used in the MS-16 and there, because of how that head was gapped for 15 ips, there may be an appreciable low frequency loss if running the deck at 30 ips. The documentation I have on the ATR60-16 makes no mention of a 30 ips option...this from some literature from 1991. I'm not sure if they made a mod some time after that, perhaps to keep pace with Otari, who at the time were capturing pretty good market share with their MX-70 and 90 series decks which were released with 30 ips in mind directly.

I know on the MS-16, there was an internal mod that could be done to get the transport to run at 30 ips as well but they didn't talk about in their brochures as, like I said, the heads weren't really designed for it.

Cheers!

[sweetbeats]

I don't know if the ATR60 series was setup for 15/30ips or not...I always thought so, but I think Ghost is right about the response at 30ips. The deck wasn't really designed for good performance at 30ips. Check out what Jack Endino has to say about the ATR60-16 in this article. Real world tests of the response curves of a bunch of transports. He has unkind things to say about the 60-16 at 30ips and rightfully so AFAIC...steep rolloff at 140Hz. Not good. Now, that is on one deck. Who knows its condition, but Jack Endino certainly knows what he is talking about. I'd say there is no reason to run it at 30ips. Save yer tape. Save yer heads. Save yer business by making good recordings that have some bottom end. I also don't see the reason for running +9 or greater rated tape through transport either...What's wrong with +6 tape?

Omega Drive tape path info...

[Victory Pete]

There was one of these on e-bay recently, It was from Phil Spectors studio. Not only would you have to clean off the tape residue, you would have to clean off the blood! I have an MS-16, your machine was the last generation of the 1" 16 tracks. I think alot of the parts are common to the MS-16. Good luck!
VP

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by dana442

Hey Ghost,My machine is 15/30 ips--overall condition very good.The head wear is still inside the gutters--approx 30%-40% left.I dont have photos yet--will post soon-Also what is your tape of choice--911? or ATR-Thank you-Dana

What happened? We havent heard from you, Did Phil Spector plant a bomb in that ATR60-16?
VP

[dodgeaspen]

You should have taken atleast 1 pic by now.

[dana442]

ok---photos on the way

[Victory Pete]

Hey Dana I beat you to the pictures!
VP

[dana442]

Finally here are the photos of the twins and baby brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dana442]

Originally Posted by Victory Pete

Hey Dana I beat you to the pictures!
VP

Hey Pete where is the picture of the MS16? Very nice studio

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by dana442

Hey Pete where is the picture of the MS16? Very nice studio

I dont have pictures of it yet, I just finished calibrating and testing it.
VP

[Victory Pete]

Here is the picture of the MS-16 when I bought it 2 months ago. I have since added the 2 DBX units.
VP

[dana442]

Hey Pete you said you dialed the machine in ,how does it sound? Whats up with the white padded walls?

[Victory Pete]

I have been living in a padded cell, They ship these machines directly here. It is nice the machines dont get banged up that way!
VP

[dodgeaspen]

Beautiful picks guys. My setup is puny compared to the both of yours.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by dodgeaspen

Beautiful picks guys. My setup is puny compared to the both of yours.

Well, you have to be careful for what you wish for. My bank account is puny now!
VP

[dodgeaspen]

Ya but think of it this way Pete, with all that nice gear you can make a few $$$$ from it if you wanted to and restore the account.

[Victory Pete]

Yes, I have some projects scheduled as soon as the studio is finished, I tried to post some pictures of the progress but my new camera has too many bytes. I have to figure out how to compress them or something. I use to almost make a living recording a while back. I have had other ventures since then. I cant wait to get back in business.
VP

[Victory Pete]

Here are some more pictures of the shack renovation. Those squirrels sure made a mess!
VP

[LToro]

man look at all that grass n land !!