Fostex A80 or R8 ?

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ozpata

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Hi, I have been reading through here lately to get informed on which reel to reel get, I have been recording in the past on Tascam 424, which was great, but I would like to get into reel to reel, I am not looking for top of the line equipment, so I have been looking for an affordable 8 track machine, I have never used fostex before, but I have seen a r8 and A80, which look in my price range for now, my question is, are these machines good enough to do some recordings or just something to avoid ?

thanks.
 
There is no A80. There are A8 & A8LR, 80, and R8; in order of production. The A-8 only has four ins, and has mechanical VU meters. The A8LR has 8 inputs.

The 80 and R8 have LED VU meters, which are prone to failure. Parts are not available, but the heads can be remachined. You have not specified you location, there are reputable relap shots in the USA and UK that I'm aware of. I've had a good experience with JRF Magnetics in USA.

These machines are all well regarded despite being 1/4" 8 track. You will also need a separate recording console, an 8 in 4 out would suffice, although 12 x 4 would be ideal. The Tascam 3 series are well suited and readily available.

There are similar threads on this subject. Take alook at them.
 
A8 not recomended. Doesnt sound as good and not as reliable. The Model 80 and R8 are solid pro decks with a really good sound. I have two fostex decks and consider them solid pro equipment except the A series which was the first fostex series. Personally I would not base a studio around any A series machines. They just are not up to the task and at todays prices the 80 and R8 are really cheap.
 
Good point actually, I've heard praises for the 80 and hte R8, but not as much for the A series.
 
The A series was very early, probably late 70s. It just took Fostex a minute to get their act straight. But once they did they released decks with features no one else even came close to. And at better prices than the competition. Fostex sychronization features were way before their time.
 
I owned an R-8 for a short time in between owning a TEAC 3340S before it and then moved on to a TASCAM 38 with the dbx units after the R-8.

The R-8 was a solid little machine. Very reliable and pretty good sounding considering the skinny track format. The one I got had the sync gizmo that attached to the back of the unit but I never used it as I had nothing to sync it to. The removable meter and transport function keypad was also a nice touch for remote use. Probably never would have gotten rid of it if the 1/2 inch 38 didn't come along to tempt me away from the Fostex because of the fuller sound it gave me.

Cheers! :)
 
I got both machines and I can strongly recommend the Model 80 - it's extremely reliable and sounds just great.
My R8 sounds great too, but it gave me so many issues because of the cheap plastic transport. But if you can find a unit in great condition go for it. Just test it patiently and take a good look at the table below after playing some tapes - it there's plenty of brown dust it has a problem similar to mine. Mine is slowly ruining the tapes, probably due to the plastic transport or maybe because of wear patterns on the eraserhead.

The A series is from 1981. The A4 sounds brilliant IMO, even at 7,5 ips.
 
If you're in the UK, I know a guy closing down a studio. He's had an r8 stored well for about 12 years or something and he's clearing out now.

I got a tascam 22-2 from him. Genuine mint condition!
 
To the OP: Have you made any decisions and what have you decided on for a mixer which is probably a more important consideration than which deck? You cant go wrong with either of the recorders you mentioned if they are in good condition. Unless you are setting up a comercial 24/7 studio either will probably give you years of service.
 
mary12 said:
Fostex A80 master tapr recorder very popular mastering machine.Faulty Retro Fostex R8 8-Track Reel To Reel Recorder analogue tape.
Click to expand...

WTF are you talking about? Sentences need verbs.
 
I am open to suggestion about which mixer, 8 x 4 or 12 x 4 I think will be enough as I am not expecting to do more than one or two tracks at the time
 
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