Black face any good

[Atipp]

I'm looking at a deal for 2 ADAT blackfaces and a studio 32 for $1000. The studio 32 goes w/o question, but what about the blackface adat's? Are they any good? Aren't they the early ADAT's and so probably prone to problems and lack of quality right? What about the high and low end reproduction? How much is one blackface worth? This guy says one has about 600 hrs and the other about 300 hrs.

Thanks
Adam T.
adtsks@citlink.net

[Kendog]

Atipp - It sounds like a good deal to me, assuming that they'll last you a while. There are other options out there, but if it fits your budget and you like the ADAT method of working, it seems good.

I have quite a bit of experience with the black faces. Yes, they're the early ones, but there's no problem with high- or low-end reproduction. Mine have been extremely trouble free, and all three have well over a thousand hours on them. Regular preventative maintenance helps them out a lot. Whether your seller has treated them right is for you to decide, but 300 and 600 hours isn't bad.

All the newer models have more features and higher specs, but even the originals record at 48/16, which is still better than a CD. The low bit rate "hurdle" is much diminished if you use them as I do, that is, passing the audio eventually into a PC running all fx, fades, etc. at 32-bit. This way the actual audio, of course, is still at 16, but any of the processing is at 32.

Older ADATs are like anything else that has been updated... the fact that there's a newer model doesn't make the old model sound bad.

Ken Rutkowski
Outer Limit Recording Studio

[Atipp]

Originally posted by Kendog
There are other options out there, but if it fits your budget and you like the ADAT method of working, it seems good.

Would you offer some other options. I think digital is the way for me to go (no tape noise) but I'm really shopping around, and want to get the best bang for my meager buck.
This guy with the ADAT's lives in Chicago and doesn't want to ship these if at all possible. So anyone in that area, I might be persueded to give up his address

[Kendog]

Need more info about what you need to do... what you're recording, how many tracks, how much cash you have, etc.

Ken Rutkowski
Outer Limit Recording Studio

[flatrockrecordin]

I use them all the time for remote recording. Very reliable and excellent results. I dump the tracks to the PC for mixing and effects as Kendog does. You have to remember that for about a 5 year period, these machines were "state of the art" equipment that mainly only the larger studios could afford while the rest of us dealt daily with 8 track analog and porta-studios! With reasonable care, 4000-5000 head hours usage is not uncommon. Depending on the amount of recording you do, you could be buying a system that would last for years to come!