FALKEN said:
I am recording dirty ass rock music, but I still want it to be professional. I am looking at the MX 50 II N , MX 5050 B II , PR99, A77, plus some tube models, like a roberts. I really like the AKAI GX decks, but I want something that is qtr inch half track, so those are out i think. Not sure about the tube models though. I would probably have to bring the deck to my amp guy at some point. heh. But I would really like to find something already refurbed. Suggestions on the above models would be nice.
Unless you're doing lo-fi, you will want a 15ips deck. Most consumer decks are 7.5ips!
I don't know about the Otaris, but they are supposed to be very good. I think Channel 4 News in the UK does (or perhaps did) use them. Parts are supposed to be expensive and hard to obtain though. Apparently Otari is still selling them, but I have no idea what the list price is since I can't find a retailer.
The Revox PR99 is also much-loved as a mixdown machine but be very careful. There are a lot of those that have been messed about with. ASC did this a lot, and some of their modded machines are playback-only which you do not want!
The high-speed version of
the B77 is also quite popular. Make sure it IS the high-speed version, and make sure that it is 2-track. Most B77s (and A77s) are low-speed, many are 4-track (stereo not multitrack). There are also some high-speed 4-tracks, so make sure you know what you're getting first. The high-speed A77 is sometimes called the HS77.
I don't think there are any high-speed AKAIs.
For valve decks, you're going to be a bit restricted. The ferrographs are popular and plentiful but are consumer machines, so only 7.5ips.
You'll probably be looking for a Studer of some kind. The last semi-pro valve revox was the G36. There are high-speed versions of this but they aren't common. It was replaced by the A77. Occasionally you get C37s turning up on ebay. These are supposed to be fantastic and they certainly look the part but weigh more than a cooker and cost big bucks.
Other valve decks include the BTR machines which the Beatles supposedly recorded on, and I once saw an old Philips professional machine on ebay. Nice looking machine, but again drastically heavy.
If you're looking for cheap, cheerful and portable you probably want a Tascam.
I use the model 32, which is a straightforward 2-track recorder. It does the job and only weighs 35kg so it can be hefted around unlike
the C37 which takes two or three men to lift.
It has some irritating design problems including the tension arm system which is made of string, a demented rewind system where it overshoots zero and has to wind forwards to compensate, poor tape pack and suspended heads (I want them fixed down!).
I'd like to replace mine with a BR20 which is Tascam's replacement design. It's microprocessor controlled, the heads are fixed down and can't lose alignment (or be adjusted either, but I'd prefer that personally). The machines will tend to be newer than the model 32. Apparently they were discontinued around January so you're likely to find new ones. The list price was almost three thousand pounds, though.
Used ones turn up on e-bay sporadically, usually when I can't afford to buy one.