How about the tascam 234?

[Hot Rocks]

As a vintage tascam anolog junky, I'm also the winning bidder for a low use 234.I added this to my collection for these reasons. When I play live,and if the sound man is not harried,I'll only use my 238 if the sound man has the band miked and I can get individual tracks to the deck.The porta 1 I'm getting is for no hassel quick set up stereo mobile recordings.My 246 is my vintage home deck for messing with ideas and it produces suprisingly great cassette tapes.The reason I got the 234 is I can put the tape that I recorded in that deck and mix/play around with it in the 246,useing it's mixer.Also I read that the audio quality in the 234 was "professional" standard,the best ever for a tascam cassette 4 track.It should be easier to use and set up in tight time situations when I want a multi track recording because you can plug your mike right in the back of it with a 1/4 inch adapter and theres a gain control per track,unlike the 238.I'm very curious and hope some of you have used this and would love to hear your opinions about it about it as I am Not going digital,Nothing against it,I Just love my vintage tascam anolog gear

[Track Rat]

I cut my teeth on a 238 and I still have it and I liked it a lot BUT.... go digital. Don't resist...run to the light.

[El Barto]

Hot Rocks! NO! Don't listen to him...don't give in to his forbidden fruit...analog all the way, baby!

[Hot Rocks]

Good question,I don't know.

[Hot Rocks]

I'm staying anolog, at least for the forseeable future. One day I'll take the plunge and get a DA38 but for now I'm very happy with my stuff. I keep it in ex. shape and covered in my smoke free home studio.It's all Vintage Japan made gear.I'm not looking for a record deal, This gear is simple,easy and fun to use and makes tapes that I'm very satisfied with. El Barto, I love my 238 and thats the "guts" of the 688.If you get a nice one I'll bet you will love it.Full featured mixer,4fx sends,8 track simultanious recording. That unit cost over 3 grand in 1990 recession dollars.They don't build cassette based 8 tracks any more and that one is the QE2 of em. Let me know if you get it

[El Barto]

Thanks for the opinion on it From the pictures I've seen, yeah, it looks very sweet...for $660 total (that includes shipping and a flight case), I really hope it works 100%, because I would be very very happy. Got any tips as to what I should do to evaluate it and make sure it's a keeper? I mean, are there really components that are beyond repair when it comes to 8 track recorders like that?

[Robert Parent]

I have owned both a 234 and a 238S Tascam records. They were both very solid machines but I think the 238S had a much better sound quality.

[Hot Rocks]

My 234 arrived yesterday,Sounds super,great addition to my 238 for live multitrack gigs.Yes, they built em solidly in those days,real quality workmanship when a buck was a buck.Japan. I'm sure the 238 "S" version must be great,Killer,But I am real happy with my DBX version,The "S" version would be a great deck for anyone to pick up on ebay,they rarely come up but their not making anymore of them so if you can find a lightly used one for say 400.00 to 450.00, That would be a find

[Hot Rocks]

Forgot to mention, My porta 1 arrived, I love it