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That's about what I'd expect for a machine that is in operating condition. If you get one that is fully reconditioned from someone like Chris Mara, it will be more like $2000. A year ago I sold a fully operational 3M M-79 1/2" 4-track for about the same price as the machine you're looking at...

That BASF is probably on a 6-hole precision reel. The difference is the precision hub is thicker and actually comes all the way out to the edge (just right in at the inner radius of the reel flange) and the plastic hub rests directly on the reel table, versus being hidden by the metal reel...

One thing that isn't often mentioned is the question of whether you record and track in a separate space or all in one room. I used to track on a 3M M-56 1" 8 track. It's a sonic monster, but it's important to recognize that most all of the wide track machines are designed for traditional...

Not me. At least, not for noise reduction with that set up, though I did get some cool effects by processing the output of a spring reverb with the decode section of a dbx unit on a few tunes back in the day. It was a way to get a big "gated reverb" sort of a sound with what I had on hand...

The short, easy answer for capstan motor oil is to buy a can of sewing machine oil. The "by the book" answer for an Otari MX-5050 MKIII 8 track like mine, for example, is to get a supply of Anderol 456. The spec sheet is here: http://www.anderol.nl/pdf/pds/ANDEROL%20456.pdf Last fall I found...

If you read the white papers on Dan Lavry's site, you'll notice that he thinks 60KHz would be enough and that going to 192KHz is just hype and a lot of extra bits. Personally, I find that my little Yamaha standalone can still sound OK running in 16 bit mode and it only does 44.1 KHz. But the...

I don't think this is a good, long-term choice for capstan motors. Turbine oil (sewing machine oil is an example) is designed to work in high temperature, high speed turbine motors without leaving gummy residue. Ordinary 3-in-1 oil will lubricate for a while, but will tend to leave gummy...

Not a user, but I am intrigued by how they get away with running such an outrageously flat record eq curve (Nagramaster has a high freq roll off at something around 11KHz, IIRC) without overloading the tape and getting high end distortion. Maybe the typical program content for these machines is...

FYI, this looks pretty similar to the CB-116 that works with a MKIII 8 track. They seem to be going for about $100 or so. That's what I paid for mine a couple of months ago, with the cable and all in great shape. BTW, what series of machine does this work with? Cheers, Otto

I feel the same way about my 3M M-23 2-track. Way too much time put into it to sell it lightly. Luckily, it happens to be a killer mix deck, and the only 1/4" machine I still have, so it will see some use. I must say, though, that I am glad to be spending my music time on music, not machine...

Aside from 2-track studio machines used for live recordings, there is a whole market segment for live audio production such as: interviews, ENG, documentary video production, sports broadcasting, film production, test & measurement, sound effects capture and live music recording. That's...

One of my first recording tools, along with the Otari 4-track and a pair of SM-57s, was one of those MXR blue face digital delays. I think it was the model 113. I'd still be using it, but it had recurring issues with the internal card connections, and one time I put one in wrong and fried...

No problem. I'm glad it worked out well. Cheers, Otto

I just emailed to Matt Allen who may still work some for Randy (at least he did a few years ago, back when he rescued my Auditronics console and Mitch Easter's MCI console, M-23, Lyrec, etc. from the "Otho vortex".) I'll let you know if any useful info comes back my way. Cheers, Otto

Jay McKnight (MRL) has a lot of good info and technical papers on his site at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrltapes/#More_info I've found these papers very informative, though it may take a while and a good bit of re-reading for things to sink in if you are pretty new to the fundamentals of...

I should have a copy of the manual for the CB-116 auto-locator within a week or so, but I was wondering if anyone here knows the procedure for calibrating the auto-locator? It has a calibration button, but how to actually use it is not obvious to me. Thanks, Otto

Nice consoles, no doubt, but in my case neither one would really improve the quality of my musical recordings, they'd just take up valuable space (and money!) I only record one or two tracks at a time, coming from a preamp, a DI, a bump box or a line mixer, and I just mix the 8-track and maybe...

AnalogRules.com also has a site with some Otari manuals. They are "rar" versions of .pdf files, so you will need an "unrar" program and the password, which is on the site (it is the site name, IIRC.) I have downloaded the MX-70, MX-5050B2 and MX-5050MKIII-8 files. Cheers, Otto

I would concur that you can do pretty much anything with the Tascam preamps. One thing to at least be aware of regarding preamps in compact, lower budget consoles is that often the low end response begins to droop at higher gain settings. There is a critical cap that generally isn't spec'ed...

My experience suggests that the belts don't deteriorate much and last for a good long time. OTOH, they won't last forever. You might chime in on the Ampex list and see if anyone has some laying about or knows of someone who could make them. Also, I can check with Matt Allen, who helps 3M...