I'm torn...... Tascam 244 or Tascam 424 Mki

bachelorb

bachelorb

Cowboy Chord Virtuoso
I am looking for help. I now have two working portastudios here in the travel trailer. One (the 244), looks cool, sounds good, and is a little too big for the plastic storage bin where I keep it (and it weighs a ton....).

The other (the 424), looks like a toy, sounds good, fits in the storage area, and is 15 lbs less.

My heart says to keep the 244. My head says to be practical and keep the one that fits better in the living quarters.

Then my heart said to ask you guys if there is any advantages sound wise to keeping the 244 over the 424..... so...... I'm asking......

1. Is the 244 better than the 424??

2. What would y'all do if you were me?

Thanks,

Brad
 
I know im probably no help in this specific coice but my gut says go with the bigger heavier machine.

Here's where I'm no help at all. :)

If it were me I'd ditch the plastic bins all together.

Space is at a premium, right?

Here's what I'd do in your situation.

Go all rackmount. Build a litte 'closet' or cabinet. Get all rackmount. A tascam 4; track or 8 track, a small rackmount mixer.
A lot of gear would fit in a vertical cabinet. You could do a full blown 8track cassette studio in a very small footprint.

Isn't the rule of mobile/rv and the tiny house movement to go vertical?

You could have a full blown studio taking up very little room. When you're done you just close up the door, everything looks normal and the wife is happy.

Just some thoughts

:D
 
How much does the 244 weigh? My Tascam 246 weighs 22 pounds; I can't imagine the 244 weighs any more than that, does it?

Are the storage bins non-negotiable? Can they not be replaced with slightly larger ones, or is there no other alternative to storing the 244?

To be honest, I've never used a 244 (only the 246 from that era, and then a bunch of others from later eras: 414 mk i/mk iii, 424 mk ii/mkiii, and Porta One), so I can't speak from experience, but I know it's extremely well respected around these parts.

That said, the 424 is a legend too and is kind of the "244" of a whole new generation, basically.

Do you have to get rid of one of them? Because if you don't, and now that you've got them both working, I would definitely hang on to one as a backup, because it's no guarantee that something won't go south on one of them at some point!

:)
 
RFR said:
I know im probably no help in this specific coice but my gut says go with the bigger heavier machine


Go all rackmount. Build a litte 'closet' or cabinet. Get all rackmount. A tascam 4; track or 8 track, a small rackmount mixer.
A lot of gear would fit in a vertical cabinet. You could do a full blown 8track cassette studio in a very small footprint.


:D
Click to expand...

Now this is a great idea!!! I'll have to do some measuring!!

That said, the 424 is a legend too and is kind of the "244" of a whole new generation, basically.

Do you have to get rid of one of them?
Click to expand...

The 244 weighs about 15 lbs more, you wouldn't think that would be much, but my wife has to move the cabinet every time we move.....

I was looking through the specs, and they look basically the same. I do have to get rid of one just because of space.... I'm leaning a little towards selling the 244 I think.......
 
Honestly, sound wise, there's not a huge difference there. Of course, when comparing 4-tracks, the 80's models always command the most respect but I think for what you do, you'll be fine with the smaller and lighter 424. There's defeatable DBX NR on the 424 too, so you'll be able to play any of the tapes you made on the 244 which has the NR built in.

Think about that rack idea though. You could get wild with that.
 
I have a fascination with this tiny house movement. Having a bkgnd in architecture I find them to be a marvel in efficiency and space utilization.

I mentioned earlier my friend who has been traveling the US for years in an RV. Granted it's 300 sg feet, but thats still small for living. And he gets into a blues band in whatever town he's in. So he's hauling gear.

I've played out the mobile hideaway studio in my head a million times now..

:D
 
I am thinking real hard about this rack thing. One question would be inputs. Would I always have to hook mics and things from the back, or is there some type of audio interface?
 
Patchbays are your friend. The rackmount cassetes are all rca so you have no XLR stuff in the back to deal with.

Think of it. You could in a space about 20 inches wide by maybe 3 or 4 feet high and appx 20 inches deep, have a full 4 or 8 track studio. A deck, a patchbay, a mackie 16 channel mixer, a patcbay, a few multi- effects processers

I had a 238 and to me that's the pinnacle of 8trk cassette. But the 234 4 track is great too.


Im assuming you have some kind of kitchen table/ desk setup? Put some small monitors above it and they can double as movie night speakers. You have the gear in a cabinet that looks just like the kitchen area storage, and no one is the wiser. Then you open her up and rock out.

:D
You'd probably have to install a small computer fan to keep things cool.


You'd have to think, plan and design it all for the space you have but it would be cool.

Anyway, I'll shut up before I get you in trouble. I probably already opened up a can of worms. Lol

::D
 
Sound: probably little difference can be perceived
Reliability: this is a two-pronged issue, the one hand is the 424 is newer and may be less likely to be plagued with issues from age and use; the 244 is an old-school build, individual vertical channel cards for the little mixer, no surface-mount components...easier to work on and troubleshoot, but may have more problems just from age and use.
Features: not too much difference in the feature set between a 244 and the mkI 424
Aesthetic: good gawd hands-down the 244...just lookit the damn thing; real VU meters, stacked pots, multicolor knob caps over dark grey...

If it was me I'd pick the 244 because I know I would have an easier time working on it...I know I'd end up recapping it and maybe upgrading the power supply and maybe some of the opamps...the 424 mixer is all on a horizontal PCB...I hate that. Cheaper and faster to manufacture and assemble, but a pain to work on and more prone to wider spread damage as a result of unplanned trauma.

But that's me and I'm not living in an RV...you're not sacrificing features or sound with the 424 if you go with that...and you might spend more time dickering with the 244 than making music.

By the way my dad has a 424 mkII machine...solid unit...used it quite a bit and worked on it some too (had it opened up and pulled apart)...had a 234 which is same era build as the 244 and I had that all pulled apart too...so I *kind* know both machines. Like them both...no clear winner.

Hope that helps somehow, or at least doesn't further confuse.
 
Lol!

Don't get me started...not that it's been in an RV but my music space has *always* been cramped and I always have too much big stuff...I mean really...an Ampex MM-1000? Or the 12 channel prototype Tascam mixer that's bigger than an M-520? I think I like sitting and staring at the space and the racks and drawing diagrams of what should go where...like a damn puzzle.

So the thread starts to veer off to the idea of a compact comprehensive studio rack and the mind starts to wander.

:D
 
Alright..... Y'all have got me burning up the Internet on this rack thing. I have found something called a IKEA Rast that people have converted into a rack. It would fit the footprint of what I need.

Rast_Synth_Case.jpg

Imagine it turned upside down so the mixing board would fit on top. A tape player mounted in the rack, a patchbay, and maybe something else (I really miss reverb.....).

The 244 would fit on there for now, but maybe a M-106 would be better sizewize (.....and a new toy)

I think it would take a 6u or 8u rack rail.....

What do you think?
 
I have one of those. It fits rack gear well. I used to put my 244 and 246 on top of it and had a patchbay mounted in there. All you would need to do is find a cheap rack mount reverb unit and a rack mount cassette deck and you're set.
 
......well there you go..... I need one of these....... and one of those......and one of those.......
 
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