Tascam Porta-ONE

[Earlds]

Hey folks,I Need some advice... I havent done any recording for a few years,and I have come to reallize that my old Porta one is having a few problems [belts slipping.circuits not working etc.]Im wondering if I should look into getting it repaired or just trash it.Im thinking that its not worth spending a couple of hundred bucks on.Time to go didgital ,dont you think??Earl D.

[John Fitzgerald]

Earlds,

I had one of the original Portastudios, years ago, and it was a fine machine for its time. Get a 788.

John

[A Reel Person]

The 424mkIII is still available new for $329, and it would be backward compatible with all your old Porta One tapes, while giving you the best features currently available on a cassette Portastudio, which should last many years into the future.

Also, a proper repair of the Porta One would not be an impossible feat, but service fees would probably equal the value of the unit, in monetary terms, [probably about $100]. It might be more cost effective if you could fix it yourself, but I know that's not a practical idea for everyone. Use your best judgement. The Porta One may seem like it's not worth fixing, in the long run, but I'd disagree with that. The Porta One is an older "legacy" design, that's quite advanced for it's day, and will still handily blow away the new Porta02 and MF-P01, which compete in the same price range.

In summary, I think you'd do very well to score a new 424mkIII, and take cassette Portastudio recording well off into the future. In conjunction with that, I DO think the Porta One is a unit that's worth fixing and keeping around,... since they just don't make units like that any more, and the Porta One's a minor classic on it's own.

You could have the 424mkIII for a 'full-blown' production Portastudio, while still retaining the old Porta One for a simple scratchpad or field recorder, as it was originally intended.

Just something to think about.

[John Fitzgerald]

Earlds,

I had my old cassette Porta repaired... several times. The repairs simply did not hold up. I do have a old 32-2B RR which I still use.
Probably, the 32-2B is a tougher machine.

John