Tascam 134b...."Vapor-Deck"??

Cratinus

Member
i was sorting through some old product literature in my closet yesterday and came across a tattered (but adored) Tascam "Multitrack Cassette" product brochure. featured on the page opposite the 238 was the 134b. i have never seen a 134b in person. i have never seen a 134b for sale (OR on eBay). it's a 4-track rackmount cassette which i "guess" was the successor to the 234. it looks similar, but has LED meters instead of the "floating needles" and i believe the transport was improved (over the 234). apparently there were very few made. any one have any experience with the 134b??:confused:
cheers.
 
I don't have one,...

but I've seen a few on Ebay. There were a couple 134's that I wanted to bid on, but probably just slept through the auction instead.

The 134 was much more like the 238 than any other model, but sported Dolby B/C instead of dbx, (like most other Tascams). The 134 had dual speeds and sync capability like the 238, which was more sophisticated than the 234's transport. The 134B had the XLR balanced I/O, (IIRC).

It looks like a pretty cool deck to me.;)
 

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'preciate the response, Reel. i agree,..it's an impressive deck. i like the front panel inputs and the "238-ish" transport. hmmmmmm. "el destino".... i feel that i am a future "Tascam 134b" owner. we'll see. cheers. :)
 
I actually have one ...

and it's exactly like Dave's pic.

But to clarify: the I/O is RCA - that is, the four main ins and outs are RCA. In addition, but there is ALSO a stereo pair called "Monitor" on the back panel that are XLR (but just these two!!!). The "Monitor" output is derived from the four channels via their OUTPUT and PAN controls.

If there's still interest in this 18-month old posting, let me know and I'll try to get more pics.

I love mine too. It's a lot easier for my son to use to make multi-track recordings (he plays guitar and trumpet) than my big Sony 788/Dolby 363 setup and really gets pretty good results with the built-in Dolby-C at 3.75ips.

Looking for a manual for this bad-boy if anyone out there has one to sell/share/donate.

Best... Art
 
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I realize how old this thread is, but what the heck. I just bought one of these off of eBay for 99 cents plus $19 shipping. No, really... It needed a new capstan belt which set me back another $7.50 and the idler tire needed a good cleaning. But it's up and running and sounds amazing. It sounds so good I've decided to attempt to record an EP and have pressed to vinyl using only this machine and my Fostex Model 20 1/4 inch 1/2 track deck. With a little planning you can really make some amazing sounding recordings with these units. Replacing the Capstan belt was a breeze. The whole transport came out of the unit by removing 4 screws and unplugging 7 or 8 cables. All the cables were color coded so plugging back in correctly was easy. The heads on this unit look brand new as does the rest of the machine. Pretty excited about it as you can tell...
 
I realize how old this thread is, but what the heck. I just bought one of these off of eBay for 99 cents plus $19 shipping. No, really... It needed a new capstan belt which set me back another $7.50 and the idler tire needed a good cleaning. But it's up and running and sounds amazing. It sounds so good I've decided to attempt to record an EP and have pressed to vinyl using only this machine and my Fostex Model 20 1/4 inch 1/2 track deck. With a little planning you can really make some amazing sounding recordings with these units. Replacing the Capstan belt was a breeze. The whole transport came out of the unit by removing 4 screws and unplugging 7 or 8 cables. All the cables were color coded so plugging back in correctly was easy. The heads on this unit look brand new as does the rest of the machine. Pretty excited about it as you can tell...

WOW! Congrats on the 99 cents score! I'd completely forgotten about this thread. I scored a mint 134b myself about six years ago (for dirt cheap) and even got a "new old stock" RC-134 remote control with it. Great unit. It keep it tucked away but do fire it up for some nostalgic 4-tracking when I'm in the mood. Cheers!
 
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If there's still interest in this 18-month old posting, let me know and I'll try to get more pics.

I see your 18 months and raise you 18 years!

Got mine today. It’s got an issue, which I believe will be fixed by replacing the “C gear”, but I got it real cheap, so I’m almost glad it was broken - that helped the negotiation!
 
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