My "new" Tascam 388! Best outboard gear??

[Trovador98]

I just scored a minty Tascam 388 that was recently serviced, calibrated and biased for RMGI LPR-35 tape. I've done some test recording and man I'm excited to put it to full use.

I wanted to ask you guys for some recommendations for any off board gear that you'd recommend for me to look into that would pair nicely with this unit. Reverbs, delays, compressors, preamps, etc...

Looking forward to your answers!

-Brian

 

[Trovador98]

I should include some pictures.
The side panels were dinged up and delaminating so my buddy made me some killer black walnut panels.

Relapped heads

Pretty clean!

 

[j.harv]

Congrats on the 388! If it's up and running smoothly, your gonna have a blast working with it.
A cool, old little compressor I like to use with my 388 is the dbx 163x. It's just a simple compressor with a single slider on it to adjust compression an one pot for gain. I like it for drums. It adds some good punch and volume.
For pre's I use some ART stuff, cheap I know, but works well. And the 388 pre's aren't bad at all, so don't count them out. Yamaha spx 90II for reverb, Roland sde 1000 for delay. An old Tascam PE-40 for extra eq sauce, FMR rnla for more compression and a Tascam cd/rw 700 cd burner to burn my songs to. I don't use computers for mixing or sweetening.


Very nice looking 388!!! Now get recording!

 

[Trovador98]

Thanks man. That's exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for. I don't know any of these units but I'll look into them while I should be working.

When you're tracking drums, do you run multiple dbx 163x units for each mic you have on the kit when you track to tape or do you use it for compression during mix down?

I assume you use the time effects (delay and reverb) in the effects loop....do you print them to tape while tracking or use during mixing?

I have a ton of guitar pedals. I realize these are meant for guitars but can they be applied as outboard effects as well? Is there some kind of impedance problem?

Sorry if these questions are lame. haha...

B

 

[famous beagle]

Congrats on the 388. It's a beauty!

Some of the outboard gear to which I can attest is:

Definitely the DBX 163x as J.Harv said: I have two of them, and they're just great-sounding, very easy to use compressors. I got mine from GC used for $40 I think.

Roland SDE-2000 delay (similar to the SDE-1000 J.Harv mentioned): great-sounding vintage digital delay with modulation features. I think I paid $60.

Peavey Addverb 3 multi-fx: This is a real sleeper in my opinion. Good reverbs and plenty of other good sounds. It cost $425 back in 1996, which is like $650 today, so it's definitely not junk. But I got mine for $50 off ebay.

Biamp MR/140 spring reverb: Great-sounding rack spring reverb with on-board 4-band EQ. The only drawback is that it's mono, but it's still very useful. I think I paid $65.

Alesis Micro Limiter: This is another sleeper. I wouldn't want to really put a vocal through it or anything (unless you're going for an effect), but it sounds really great for smashing the crap out of drums to make them sound grungy. I think I paid $35 for mine.

TC Electronic M350: This is a newer unit, which you can for around $100 on ebay now (they're $200 new). It's a multi-effects processor. It's got some nice reverbs and other effects as well, and it's really easy to use; that's one of my favorite things about it. You don't have to hunt around in a ton of menus to get a good sound.

Regarding your questions, you can do it many ways. If you don't have that many processors, you may have to print something (like delay) to tape so you have that processor available at mixdown for something else. The 388 has inserts on each track, so if you have the spare processors, you can wait to apply mono effects (like delay perhaps) until mixdown using them so you keep your FX send open for something that you may want to apply to more than one track (like reverb).

People will tell you that you can't use guitar pedals as line effects, but I've done it many times in the past, and it worked great. Nothing's gonna blow up, and you're not going to harm anything. (Of course, always begin with the volume all the way down and raise it slowly.) There aren't any rules with this type of thing; if it sounds good, it is good!

 

[Chilljam]

I second (or third or fourth...) the DBX 163x, great for dirty guitars or bass. I use it sometimes for kicks as well I also have two of the DBX 163 which are even older and actually much prefer them for drums, they have a real nice character to them and just fatten the crap out of snares and kicks.

 

[Dreverb]

love the walnut panels

 

[Trovador98]

Thanks Famous Beagle and Chilljam. This is fun to get responses and do research. I'm not tremendously clear on how you use the dbx 163x units. Let's say for kick and snare, do you use two units, one for each mic, to print a compressed signal to tape or do you first record the kick and snare then apply the compression during mixing? I'm sure you can go both ways, but what tends to be best practice? Is it best to have two in a master/slave set up for stereo mixdown?
I'm embarrassed to admit that the only time I've used compression is with my guitar or on a cheap DAW like SoundForge.

Dreverb - Yeah the walnut panels are slick. My buddy is a woodworker out of Michigan and has a massive stash of air dried black walnut, sycamore and maple that's been curing since the 70's. Let me know if you're interested in a set and I'll pass along his contact.

 

[j.harv]

You can go both ways with the compression. I always used to track the drums and add compression after. Usually the dbx163x on kick and an FMR RNLA on the overhead.(2 mic set up). Just record ,then insert them in the Send/RCV of the channels being used. Lately, I have been printing compression to tape for drums. Same thing.... Comps in SND/RCV of channel while recording. Just remember to take the comp out of the loop upon playback or you will get a double compressed track. Not a bad thing, I have done that before with interesting results. Just experiment.
As for mix down, I haven't been putting compression on my master buss as of lately. Sometimes it just sounds squashed. Especially the drums. Because they have already been compressed. Even with very light settings. I have done a few songs with the master outs compressed with good results though. It's just about getting everything set just right.

 

[Trovador98]

That makes sense! You da man.

Curious to hear how your drums come out with a 2 mic set up. Any soundcloud examples to share?

 

[j.harv]

That makes sense! You da man.

Curious to hear how your drums come out with a 2 mic set up. Any soundcloud examples to share?

This one is a 2 mic set up. Sm58 overhead and AKG D112 in the bass drum. Mono drum track.



And to hear a full mic set up(6 mics?) and stereo drum track...this song. I think I even miked up the hi-hat on this one


If possible, listen with good headphones. And Im not much of a drummer or vocalist. Be warned

 

[Trovador98]

Dude these tracks sound killer and the 388 sounds great. I'm not missing any "fidelity" at all with these tracks. I didn't feel anything was missing at all with the mono drum tracks on just the two mics, but it was cool to get a stereo feel as you rolled across the toms in the other track. Good rock voice too! I usually avoid singing haha...

Some open mic stuff from when I was living in San Jose
Instrumental: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAjvF0SWkxQ
Singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdxLezQfVfs

I plan on recording these tunes soon!

 

[Trovador98]

I found a dbx 163 locally...looks like it's the older one (not 163x) with wood panels. Back has been modified to have XLR pig tails instead of the RCA's, as well as the Burr-Brown input/output mod. I don't know what that means, but we'll see!

 

[famous beagle]

I found a dbx 163 locally...looks like it's the older one (not 163x) with wood panels. Back has been modified to have XLR pig tails instead of the RCA's, as well as the Burr-Brown input/output mod. I don't know what that means, but we'll see!

Sounds great! Enjoy!

 

[RFR]

 

[Level Anything]

Beautiful 388 brother. Damn. What's the story on it? Did you have those repairs done or did you buy it already serviced? How much? I got questions

 

[Trovador98]

Thank you!
Los Angeles craigslist $1200, relapped and calibrated by Adrian Pro Audio right before I bought it. Adrian Pro Audio

The guy I bought it from had three really nice 388 machines in his little studio and was offloading one. Young hipster type kid maybe 25 years old. I did test recordings in his studio before taking it home. Played with it a little bit at home but I'm trying to my garage together to get more serious with it. The side panels were busted up so I had a friend make me the black walnut panels.

Let me know if you have more questions on it.

 

[charlietracks]

wow Trav, those heads look almost un used. great condition.
a lot of these units (only my opinion) seem to have been used as a poor mans mixer later in their lives.
when people got lazy, or couldn't find the 1/4 tape, used it as a mixer.
that was the case with mine any way. hadn't been used in almost 15 years, I de-mag'd it, clean the heads and it worked mint, all channels, no cross, nothing.
just a slow rewind issue, was just an adjustment under the hood.
congrats on your rig buddy, looks very nice, also love the Walnut rails.

 

[Trovador98]

wow Trav, those heads look almost un used. great condition.
a lot of these units (only my opinion) seem to have been used as a poor mans mixer later in their lives.
when people got lazy, or couldn't find the 1/4 tape, used it as a mixer.
that was the case with mine any way. hadn't been used in almost 15 years, I de-mag'd it, clean the heads and it worked mint, all channels, no cross, nothing.
just a slow rewind issue, was just an adjustment under the hood.
congrats on your rig buddy, looks very nice, also love the Walnut rails.

Thank you. Those heads were relapped so they are pretty pristine. I'm happy it was set up for the RMGI tape that's still being manufactured and they're not tremendously expensive. I think a roll of 2" tape is like $300. Eeek!

How did you resolve the slow rewind?

Cheers
Brian

 

[Trovador98]

i just picked up a nice looking dbx 119 for $30. I'm assuming I can use as a compressor but doesn't seem to have any make up gain. I'm not sure about how I can use the expander bit. Any thoughts on these units??