What would you do? Tascam 388

[ianbernacett]

Hey guys,

I'm buying my third tascam 388 tommorow. I found a good deal on one for 200 bucks probably just needs a new belt has been sitting a while won't play,rewind, fast forward. I own one fully functioning 388 had heads relapped they have 70% life left (anyone know what that would translate to in hours left on heads) anyways I have another parts 388 missing heads but has good motor and other parts. My question is should I sell the 388 I'm purchasing tommorow considering I have two already. I could buy some awesome rack gear and a better interface or I can keep it because those heads are becoming home recording gold and I might never find a fairly priced pair again? I guess a big factor is if the heads I had relapped have more than 6000 or whatever hours left on them then I really don't need a spare I'm very light on them as is I use good NOS scotch 207 and clean the hell out of em after every session.

Feel free to weigh in; I'm a Libra and horrible at making concrete decisions.

Anyone have good suggestions for outboard gear for the 388? I plan on already buying a Focusrite Sapphire.

Thanks

 

[j.harv]

I'm kind of the same way. I bought one. Used it as my main. Found a junker for parts/heads. Then Scored another that needed a quick fix, which I took care of. Now Im using that one as my main one and my first one is now under the bed. But I can't bring myself to sell it. I just think it's good to have a back up.
If one goes down in a bad way, then I'll always have another. Remember , these things are old and can go kaput anytime.
For outboard gear, I get away with dbx,ART and FMR compressors. Roland and Yamaha for delay and verb and Tascam outboard eq.