Differences between the old 'blackface' adat and the newer models?

[enemyofthesun]

I have a time constraint and only so much money and was considering picking up a few 'blackface' adats for $600 each.What words of advice could you give me here?



Any things I should beware of when buying these?
(hours of use,versions, etc)

What are the major differences between these and the XT?

Can I slave two of these so that one syncs to the other for 16 channels?

Can I later connect these older adats to a MOTU interface to dump to a PC for editing etc?



Lots of questions I know. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[sonusman]

Which XT version?

The original XT's were not that much different then the Blackface ADAT's. It was reputed that they had a better tape transport, but, I have actually seen more evidence of syncing problems, severe ones, with the XT models. Weird eh? Also, the original XT used 18 bit D/A converters. Don't ask me why! Alesis does weird stuff sometimes. Also the original XT has I believe 4 locates on the machine itself as opposed to only 2 on the Blackface.

The XT-20's are a different machine the the XT. The main difference is that the XT-20 has 20 bit A/D/A converters. It was reputed again that the transport design was greatly improved, yet, I have seen many, many problems with this machines transport failing in a short amount of time.

The XT models, both, will rewind and fast forward at least twice as fast as the Blackface machines will.

The average headstack life of all ADAT's is 1500 on head hours. Read here, AVERAGE. Some go much longer, and I suspect that routine cleaning, a mostly humidity free and smoke free environment will greatly improve headstack life.

You can slave any model of ADAT to any other model of ADAT, and all ADAT's have the ADAT Lightpipe digital I/O on them. Any device using the ADAT Lightpipe digital protocol will work with an ADAT at at least 16 bits.

You can play a tape made on ANY ADAT on the XT-20. But, if you recorded a tape on a XT-20 at 20 bits, the original XT and the Blackface ADAT cannot read the tape. They are only 16 bit machines.

Good luck. Oh, try to get those machines for about $500 each, unless they have less then 300 hours on them.

 

[enemyofthesun]

Hey Sonusman!

Your help is very much appreciated! You answered my questions. And I will shoot for $500 as well. Thanks alot!