Nows your chance to pick up one of those "prosumer" Tascam 24 track machines

cjacek said:
Jeff, as an aside, does it say anywhere in your brochure what the TASCAM 58-OB officially retailed for ? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...
No, it's not in there, Daniel. it was discontinued before that date.

It did share a number of design features and principles which were carried onto the the ATR60 series of decks though and I do have mild recollections of seeing the the 58 at Long & McQuade selling around the $6K CAD price range when it was new.

The ATR60-8, which is in that handbook I have shows a $6K USD retail price for the deck alone with the CS-65 roll-around console housing and remote being optional items.

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
That's my buddy Patrick, (my technician who restored my MS-16 recently), who's selling it! :)

I've seen the machine in person in his shop and have been very tempted to grab it but unfortunately, it won't fit through my studio door, which is the second bedroom in my apartment. :( It misses getting through the door by about 3 inches even with the door removed.

Add to that, that I can't really justify buying it in that 16 tracks is just about right for my needs now and for the foreseeable future. ;)

But...If I move to better accomidations.... and it's still available...all bets are off! :D

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Oh boy, I have a story to tell about bringing 2" machines to my second floor studio in my house.
 
A Reel Person said:
Anyway, you could do it & call it "Tear-a-Hole-in-the-Wall Studios!" I like that idea! :eek: ;)

As for me, I'd certainly consider buying that rig if it were in Los Angeles, & I had the spare change. That setwup would command about $4500 here, more or less. To buy that gear from Toronto & have it crated & trucked to LA would cost probably $1000, just off the top of my head. That still wouldn't be a bad deal, however I'm shortchanged lately, having bought a second house last year. Also, to unload a couple dozen Portastudios and small format machines to leverage toward this beast would almost not be worth my time. PS: I love small format tape decks, plain & simple,... but I also have this 14" reel of new 468 tape that would look perfect sitting on that ATR80 like your buddy's.

Do you guys know how huge a 14" reel of 2" tape is? It's huge! :eek: ;)

I'd been looking to buy a nice-condition ATR80/24 for a few years now, but then the steam ran out of the buying-power engine. On the other hand, I have enough gear to satisfy my engineering needs for the rest of my life, easily, and then some! With that being said, I'll say up front that I'll probably buy an ATR80/24 for the home/studio when the timing is more right.

==========

So hey,... I was gonna say there's nothing prosumer about this baby,... but I see the word is in "quotations", so is meant in jest anyway,... & I wasn't gonna nitpick the title.;)
Click to expand...

Pretty good estimate for "off the top of your head" as my estimate for shipping my MCI was exactly $1000. I ended up picking it up from a famous new york studio myself (as in only me).
 
The Ghost of FM said:
So, tell it! :)

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...
OK. The deck does fit through my doorways (barely) BUT I am alone with no help. So. instead of trying to get it through the door, up the stairs and through another door. I made a ramp using plywood and 2X4s. The ramp went from the driveway to the second floor deck. The MCI was disassembled as far as I could go and bubblewrapped completely. I used a hand winch and inched my way up. The ramp was like a railroad track (the deck fit exactly in the middle with 2X4s on either side). The MCI was delivered to the top and the ramp setup actually worked! I then used the ramp for a garage workshop bench and killed 2 birds with 1 stone. I then got my Studer 24 track 2" deck and in no way was I to do the same trick. It sits downstairs, covered and waiting for my real studio to be built above my fairly large garage next year.

So, that is how to do it alone with no help at all. I could not avoid it as I got the MCI in july around the 4th and everyone was out on vacation. Only my wife was there and she could not do a thing.

It must have looked so stupid to onlookers............
 
The winch was a great idea! :)

I thought you were gonna explain how you got the local football team to each grab a corner and haul it up there! :D

I suppose, if and when I do move, I'll probably be setting up a basement studio so if I do score the ATR80-24, I've now got a good idea of how to deal with it up and down stairs.

Thanks, man.

Cheers! :)
 
Good story MCI.

Jeff, any chance of you just grabbing that machine now and possibly renting a small storage space or asking Patrick to hold it for you till you can either figure out how to bring it up to your apt or wait till you get setup in your future home / studio ? That's what I would do as another machine of this nature could be a once in a decade sort of thing. I mean, how many lower use TASCAM 2" 24 track recorders do you see locally, 10 cents on the dollar, sold by a tech you know and trust. I'd grab it and say hell to the consequences! :eek: :D ;)
 
Patrick's had it listed for quite some time now and I've done nothing but think about grabbing it but as I've said already, my set up is more then adequate for my current and future needs.

Additionally, if I was to get it, I'd also need to increase my mixer needs because if I was to get that deck, it would eat up all 24 balanced inputs that I currently have with my twin M312B set up and that would leave me with no additional dedicated tracking channels for which I currently enjoy now with a split mixer arrangement as well as using main channel strips for assignable effects returns. At minimum, I'd have to score another M312B and modify the stand to accommodate that. I'd also have to buy/build 52 balanced XLR cables to handle the 24 sends, 24 returns and the 4 additional recording buss sends to a balanced patch bay, which I'd also have to get...

My tapes costs would also instantly quadruple as 2" costs twice as much and at 30 ips, I'd go through it twice as fast. Keep in mind there's no noise reduction on the ATR80-24 and I don't even want to think about 24 channels of Dolby SR!! :eek: :D

Couple all that with the prospect of having it just sit there until I can set up a proper space for all this and the purchase price of the deck seems like small potatoes compared to the rest of what's really required to do this properly. :o

It's fun to dream. It's even more fun to wake up. ;)

Cheers! :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top