Should I ditch the Fostex!

[Evitucci]

I have an old Fostex X- 26 4 track, its in good shape, I use good tapes and clean it often and have a Shure SM-57. But I find the sound quality is just not that good. I am thinking about trading it on a Tascam a 414 if I can. I don't have much money so I am hoping a trade and a little cash can be worked out.

Anyway is there anything I can do to Improve the sound before I do this? Can anyone tell me why I shouldn't ditch the relic, if you can?

[Krakit]

Is the quality "not that good" because you are spoiled by digital recording or is it wow and flutter that you are hearing?

I don't suppose it's worth the trouble to adjust your head azimuth on a box that prolly is worth about $100, but if you have the time, inclination and tools, you might want to get the specs for you model.

Carl

[Evitucci]

I haven't been spoiled by Digital. I have been trying to compare apples to apples, I have used a Tascam porta 3 a few years ago, some guys I have jammed with have a 414 and my guitar teach has an old porta 5. All of which sound better than the Fostex. I have no tape flutter or anything like that, what I have is a lot of tape hiss and a sound quality that is not even close to the Porta 3. As for the tape adjustments I thought about that, but I don't know how to do it and don't want to send a $100 four track out to get adjusted for $150!

[guinsu]

I couldn't find the specs of the X-26 on Fostex's web site, only the X-12, which is their really low end model. However, I bet you are having the same problem I had with my Tascam Porta02, which is tascams lowest end model. The Tascam had lots of tape hiss, too much for me to live with.

If you look in the back of the manual it will tell you the noise floor of the recorder (something like -46db for my tascam). Well, I got a Tascam 424mkII and the manual said the noise floor was -75db, a huge improvement. So check your manual, if the noise floor is too high then the hiss is just inherent in the recorder and you probably won't be able to improve too much, in which case I would recommend upgrading to the second level of 4 tracks which are around $200-250.

[Evitucci]

Thanks, for the Post guinsu

The X-26 is an older machine they don't have it on the Fostex website because it came out in 1988, it was a middle of the road model so I figured the sound quality should be better. I am also compaing it to lesser machines, I have used a Porta 3 with much better results from about the same year.

Thanks for your help.

E