M600 - Price Today?

S

sr71rules

Member
*** In my haste I may have posted this in the wrong place... If it should be in the Tascam section, Please accept my apologies! **

I've found a guy near me selling a 32 channel M600, listed for $4000. What is this board actually worth? I've not been able to find many for sale so I can't really gauge... Seems to me $4000 is well more than it's value though it's listed as coming with 4 patchbays, cables, manuals and stand.

It's listed as 32 channels, 16 buses (of course), and 32 monitor. Does that means it's inline?

General consensus seems to be that it's pretty good board. This one was used for many years and then put into storage which suggests to me it may need some TLC, perhaps recapping after being idle for several years.

Can anyone out there link me to or send me some documentation for it? Brochure? Manual? Some places online seem to suggest is has/can have VCA automation. Is that true? Some places say it has no automation.

:: Mind is buzzing ::
 
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Four grand sounds way on the high side! :eek:

I've seen a few listed on kijiji in Ontario, Canada for around half that.

It retailed for $10k when it was new back in the early 90's and did not come standard with any automation, AFAIK. It only was stated to be "automation ready".

The patch bays were also standard as there's no traditional jack pack on the back of the mixer. Only a series of multi-pin connectors to go from each group of channels to the patch bay.

Long term storage might mean that the pots and switches need to be exercised to get the crud out of them. I don't think re-capping would be an issue.

The mixer does work with an outboard power supply unit so make sure it comes with it and the umbilical cable to connect it to the board. Same thing goes for the patchbay interconnects...make sure they're included!

There's very little on line resources for this board as it was expensive when it was new and few people actually bought them as I guess Mackie and others where controlling the market at that point with their $4K 32x8 boards.

Cheers! :)
 
Please don't take this in the wrong way and I really hope I don't offend anyone else either but if I may ask, why the fascination with Tascam mixers ?

While I am a longtime admirer of Tascam recorders, understand that I am kind of old and that I did use several Tascam Mixers starting around 1981. Mainly because it was all I could afford at the time. But even back then they were expensive for someone that was a working musican. I started with the Model 5, and moved up to 2 M308's when they came out. I am also familiar with several other models including the M3700 and even the DM24, which I still own. While they are all fairly clean and offer good routing capabilities, personally, I just couldn't wait to finally get away from Tascam eq. I found over the years, that it just was not my cup of tea. The high end offered instant edgyness and brittleness and the low end became boomy real quick. Additionally, I could find no sweet spot anywhere in the midrange. To my mind, the main reason to own a console, other than routing to and from the recorder or DAW, is for shaping the sound. So I really hope somone will enlighten me as to what I was and still am missing.

Flame suit on now.


Danny
 
I don't know if you need to be enlightened or not, but a piece of gear or a manufacturer not being your 'cup of tea' doesn't seem that strange to me. People like what they like. If one maker was the unquestionable, best no one else would exist.

Tascam mixers did then, and do now, have a feature set that I find hard to come by in a price range I can afford. I'm not looking to buy a Tascam expecting a Neve or an SSL, but I am looking to buy a workhorse that will fit in well with how I like to work.

If a biggish board with a feature set similar (so far as I can work out thus far...) to the M600 were available, I certainly wouldn't ignore it but I've yet to find something in this price range that compares. For me, I'm just tired of trying to shoehorn boards into working my way when I could just buy an older board that was built the way I work. If I learn to hate the sound, it'll be out the door.

Hopefully your post wasn't written to spark a flame war.... but I see no reason to wear that heavy flame suit all night. I always wake up so sweaty and uncomfortable in the morning when I wear it to bed... ;)
 
sr71rules said:
If a biggish board with a feature set similar (so far as I can work out thus far...) to the M600 were available, I certainly wouldn't ignore it but I've yet to find something in this price range that compares. For me, I'm just tired of trying to shoehorn boards into working my way when I could just buy an older board that was built the way I work.
Click to expand...

You might consider looking into a Toft. Amazing eq. Very good routing. Does what a analog console is supposed to do.



sr71rules said:
Hopefully your post wasn't written to spark a flame war.... but I see no reason to wear that heavy flame suit all night. I always wake up so sweaty and uncomfortable in the morning when I wear it to bed... ;)
Click to expand...


:D It was not intended to start a flame war, believe me. I just don't feel the vibe with Tascam mixers.

Danny
 
pianodano said:
Please don't take this in the wrong way and I really hope I don't offend anyone else either but if I may ask, why the fascination with Tascam mixers ?

While I am a longtime admirer of Tascam recorders, understand that I am kind of old and that I did use several Tascam Mixers starting around 1981. Mainly because it was all I could afford at the time. But even back then they were expensive for someone that was a working musican. I started with the Model 5, and moved up to 2 M308's when they came out. I am also familiar with several other models including the M3700 and even the DM24, which I still own. While they are all fairly clean and offer good routing capabilities, personally, I just couldn't wait to finally get away from Tascam eq. I found over the years, that it just was not my cup of tea. The high end offered instant edgyness and brittleness and the low end became boomy real quick. Additionally, I could find no sweet spot anywhere in the midrange. To my mind, the main reason to own a console, other than routing to and from the recorder or DAW, is for shaping the sound. So I really hope somone will enlighten me as to what I was and still am missing.

Flame suit on now.


Danny
Click to expand...

I agree, TASCAM analog boards never sounded as sooth as many other boards of the day which had "classic British EQ" and all balanced signal chains. They were squarely aimed at home/semi pro crowd on a tighter budget market. That said, they weren't total ass either and had a lot of cool features, flexible routing, decent construction quality and a huge following! Sort of like Chevrolet; a model for almost every need and every budget. They even dared to keep a lot of parts in stock and your average TV repairman could take a decent stab at fixing them when they broke down. They also had pretty good marketing and decent drool appeal to many musician/recording hobbiests...I mean who didn't drool over those ads back in the day in the recording magazines? I sure did! :)

But now, the market has collapsed and you can get much of this stuff for pennies on the dollar and at today's used prices, they still hold much of that original drool appeal!

If I could pick up a used SSL 40 channel console for $300 bucks on ebay, I'm sure TASCAM would be just a distant memory. But you can't find those darn Neve and SSL consoles for that money or anywhere even close to that so the TASCAM stuff still finds its place out there.

Cheers! :)
 
pianodano said:
You might consider looking into a Toft. Amazing eq. Very good routing. Does what a analog console is supposed to do.
Click to expand...

The Toft is very attractive, but the 32 Channel board is $7,750... which is a heck of a lot more than the M600.

I'm with you 'The Ghost of FM'! I'd scoop up an SSL or a Neve for Tascam money too.. but alas it's not meant to be.

Perhaps I'll offer the guy $1200 and see what he says... Can't hurt to try. Hopefully he'll counter and not be offended. I can tell he likes the board, but I can't afford to buy his sentimentality.
 
The Ghost of FM said:
I agree, TASCAM analog boards never sounded as sooth as many other boards of the day which had "classic British EQ" and all balanced signal chains. They were squarely aimed at home/semi pro crowd on a tighter budget market. That said, they weren't total ass either and had a lot of cool features, flexible routing, decent construction quality and a huge following! Sort of like Chevrolet; a model for almost every need and every budget. They even dared to keep a lot of parts in stock and your average TV repairman could take a decent stab at fixing them when they broke down. They also had pretty good marketing and decent drool appeal to many musician/recording hobbiests...I mean who didn't drool over those ads back in the day in the recording magazines? I sure did! :)

But now, the market has collapsed and you can get much of this stuff for pennies on the dollar and at today's used prices, they still hold much of that original drool appeal!

If I could pick up a used SSL 40 channel console for $300 bucks on ebay, I'm sure TASCAM would be just a distant memory. But you can't find those darn Neve and SSL consoles for that money or anywhere even close to that so the TASCAM stuff still finds its place out there.

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Ghost,

As per usual, I think you have nailed it. And it's a hoot to see people complaining about the cost of say a 38 for maybe 300.00 on sleezebay. Or wondering if a M308 is worth 50 bucks. The COD label from Washington music is still on the 38 box here - Collect $2400.00 . . cash. I forget what I paid for the first M308, but it served it's purpose well. I made a lot of records with it and recorded a heck of a lot of music. But I hated the eq. After finally getting decent eq (British don't you know), I sorely wish I could do it all over again. I would have asked the bank for enough money in the 80's to have bought maybe a Allen and Heath Brennel system 8. That would have been around $7K then, iirc.

Danny
 
pianodano said:
... I sorely wish I could do it all over again. I would have asked the bank for enough money in the 80's to have bought maybe a Allen and Heath Brennel system 8. That would have been around $7K then, iirc.

Danny
Click to expand...

I remember seeing the ads in Mix for the system 8! :) They were in black and white and usually no larger then a quarter page with a few quick bullet points about the features and sound quality. TASCAM ads were always full page color and loaded with slick marketing spiel about who would use them, how flexible they were, how good they sounded and how reliable they were. It was no contest! :drunk: If you were just starting out, TASCAM seemed like your ticket to fame and fortune! :D

Cheers! :)
 
sr71rules said:
The Toft is very attractive, but the 32 Channel board is $7,750... which is a heck of a lot more than the M600.
Click to expand...

Yes I know that Allen has continually raised the price as improvements have been made. I bought one as part of the pilot program, sight unseen and unproven, ie: the first 100 made. And even though I paid only $5200 for the 32 channel, I knew that with meter bridge, patch bays, desk and 20 amp isolation transformer to keep out the noise gremlins, it would end up at around 13K. And sure enough, it did. But at least I could add on as finances allowed.

I had been offered a beautiful MCI 636 in south Florida near the old factory that really had only been uncrated a couple years before for 5K. But because it was built in 82, I suspected it was problems waiting to happen. I also looked into the Ghost but I felt that it's eq just wasn't up to what I wanted.

Anyhow, good luck on your quest and I hope it works out the way you want.

Danny
 
My 2 pennies

We have a Toft that we use at school in one of our smaller rooms.
imho, it's not all that.

If someone GAVE me a Toft, I'd sell it and get an M15/16/600 or some such. And a 16 track atr
And still have money to work on both units AND buy some good beer :drunk:


It's a bang for the buck thing with the old TASCAM stuff. You can't really beat it. Yeah, the EQs are..... lacking, but I love the sound of the pres.
The eqs are kind of wide-swath, not very surgical. If something sux eq-wise, I'd prefer to move the mic. If it's for mixing, and if the eq isn't working out, I can always just insert an outboard eq, or use a plugin :-)eek:)
 
That seems really high for an m600. They are kinda pretty though. I've got an AMEK TAC Scorpion that does me fine. Nicer eqs, 24x16 (there are 32x16s) AND there is a place in CA that does Langly pre amp rebuilds. I paid $1400 for mine 7 years ago and that is still the going price. $1200 is a good offer for the m600. Where is it near you?
 
I passed on a local M-600 for $200 with all the dsubs and the psu and umbilical...okay condition I guess but most of the meter bridge was missing.

I passed because I didn't need another project nor another gihugic mixer, but they ARE pretty.
 
sweetbeats said:
I passed on a local M-600 for $200 with all the dsubs and the psu and umbilical...okay condition I guess but most of the meter bridge was missing.

I passed because I didn't need another project nor another gihugic mixer, but they ARE pretty.
Click to expand...

Oh man- I don't think I would have the will power. I lust for those machines. $200! What else can you get on that scale for that kind of money?!
THAT's the TASCAM attraction, right there, in a nutshell!
 
guido #2 said:
THAT's the TASCAM attraction, right there, in a nutshell!
Click to expand...

$200 ? You don't find it just a bit odd that a professional studio would pay the original price for that mixer then find it of such little value at resale ? Just wondering here. Now don't say they expensed it out already. Shoot, thousands of Ameks or MCI's or Tridents have been fully expensed yet they still hold pretty good value because they sound great.

I will add that I had a very good engineer friend that had a local studio (Commercial Audio) for years. He died a few years back at only 50 years old from stomach cancer. If fact, for many years, he recorded much of the audio for CBN here at the beach before they built their own world class studios at their facility. He then closed the studio and traveled the world doing sound for picture on some amazing motion pictures. The point is is that he had nothing in the beginning but a Model 5b and a Tascam 1/2" 8 track. But he recorded better sounding drums and bass than many major studios. Vocals otoh, not so good and many took the tapes elsewhere to track vocals using better consoles. So good work can be done with Tascam, I would never deny that. But it is very, very rare that Tascam gear winds up in the hands of someone that talented and I, for one, need more help. My music is my children and I want the best I can get for my kids. :D

Danny
 
Well realize that the $200 M-600 was damaged goods...the other part is that rodents had used it as a bathroom. Reportedly the owner that was selling it had cleaned it well and stated it is cosmetically good, but the studio that had originally owned it used reciprocating saws to take care of the cabling when removing it from service. So this thing had not been respected...and like I said all that was left of the meter bridge was a pair of meters and the housing. No meter amps and a whole lotta missing meters. A "project". Temptation? I've had all I want of Tascam project mixers with the prototype 12 x 8 Tascam mixer I have. Oy. :)
 
Yeah, I get it. That sounds like a bit too much of a project, actually. Sounds more like a "donor."
I guess my point is, though, replace that TASCAM name badge with, say, Neve. Suddenly you can't even get a channel strip for that kind of money.
Now don't think I'm trippin' and actually comparing Neve to TASCAM, but we are talking large format full featured consoles.

I can't afford a Ferrari, but I might be able to swing a 'Vette.

Here's a 600 that's been up for a couple weeks already http://cgi.ebay.com/Vinatge-Tascam-...523?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b4621ddb
He's asking 25 hundred, which, in all reality, is reasonable, but still too much.
And here's a Model 15 that starts at $99!
http://cgi.ebay.com/TEAC-15-Tascam-...405?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5f738135
(Jeez, if only I lived closer to Florida!)
 
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