TASCAM M3500....just picked one up!

[altruistica]

Just came across this old post - I thought I recognised that particular M-3500 as I used to own it!

I bought it from a guy in Nottingham; he had managed to find a M-3700 to upgrade to and used his existing M-3500 for parts - this is the mixer I bought for about £350. It was missing a lot of knobs and some faders, didn't work properly in many ways, looked a mess but at least had the original PSU and cable. I wanted a restoration project anyway as I love electronics and audio.

I poured about £500 into it, including making up the looms and patchbays. I removed every module, socketed every IC, upgraded all the electrolytics to Panasonics. Many replacement pots, faders and knobs (thanks to Charles Hyde & Sons who were the UK spares guys for Teac/Tascam). I reckoned the mixer was dropped at some point by a previous owner, or maybe even fell over! I had to straighten the chassis and reflatten some of the fader plates. The main modules had several broken connectors and ripped pads. The blank plates (where the M-3700 automation goes) were rusty and had to be sanded and painted, as were the metal frame ends. I made a new armrest (using rubber mousepads for the main cushioning, with faux leather over the top) and eventually got everything fully working.

I didn't have time to fully enjoy the console as I had to sell it (and my Telecaster - boo-hoo!) to fund a months rent in-between jobs; the guys who bought it came down from Edinburgh (7hr trip!) to collect it in an estate car. and paid £750 in total.

My next part of the restoration was planned to be re-engineering the main section by improving the main pcb that everything connected to and replace the horrible connectors that caused so much trouble. I was designing daughter-board PCBs that would replace the 2mm pitch connectors and convert them to dual-pin 2.54mm headers, the idea being to make a new motherboard and use gold pin connectors for reliability.

I did try out several op-amps in the pre-amp, EQ and Main Bus (I think it predominantly used JRC 4580 throughout) - I was trying out Burr-Browns and classics like NE5532, TL072 - the idea was to mod a block of channels and A/B them. I was also building a G-SSL main bus compressor to fit in the blank strip! Sadly all these things never got done.

It's great to see how well you've restored it - fabulous job well done sir!

The wonders of the internet.
I haven't been here in a while. With the 'pandemic' (the less said the better) and the loss of my father-in-law in the following July of this restoration (July 2016), looking back now, we seem to have drifted through the last five years. With my autistic son having a complete breakdown as well, it's not been the best of times. Really interesting to hear the history of this desk.....it feels like like a dog that has had several owners. I actually sold the desk I think to a guy in London that met me around half-way (Birmingham maybe). I kept having the odd issue with it and had thrown myself into motorhomes and camper van renovations (wanting to escape I presume) and vacillated between analog and digital, the way you do. I decided last year to go all in-the-box with a new PC (Be Quiet) to run sample libraries in order to orchestral mock-ups. I started using Studio One 4 around 2018-19 and found it useful, so much so I then went and got a Studiolive 32, which was a desk, an interface and surface controller. It's a great unit, but like all digital stuff, there's so much under the hood, that you tend o find yourself still going through menus even with multiple display screens.
So now I've got just a small Presonus ioSTATION 24c, a two channel interface with surface control ability on one fader. This is sufficient for all the ITB work. I have been recently looking at a Tascam Model 24 though to augment the 'band' type work...where I just want to record like the old days...turn stuff on and play. After hearing some stuff on YouTube, the Model 24 has definitely got some of the 'analogue' sound and the 'space' that was touched on by Miroslav and myself, when I've just re-read this thread (after five years).
It's really funny. I'm currently sorting out lots of personal stuff (we still haven't sold my father-in-law's house) but I have made a start clearing and selling 35 years of accumulated stuff. Whatever this year holds (I'm in the UK) I want to be as prepared as can be for these shit times we're currently in. I've been wondering this last month where the last ten years went....and then I read a post like this and hardly recognise myself....What was I thinking? There definitely feels like I've taken on some of these projects to distract myself from things.....I'm rambling and nursing a sore back (day four so I'm on the mend)....
Thanks for the memories guys.