Fostex E-16

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colcifer

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I've found one on sale for $200. The low price is because of some problem the owner says a local shop said they could fix;he just doesn't want to mess with it any more. It comes with the manual (minus a couple of pages), stand, rca to 1/4" snakes, and tape; so taken for face value it seems great but this would be my first tape machine and while i've got good mechanical sense, i've no clue how to fix the things.

is it worth doing? might this be the key to getting that great 60s-70s sound?

thanks for any advise you might have.
 
IMHO, stay away, depending on the issues. If it were me I'd only get it if I needed a parts deck. Fostex parts, tech and user support is not so hot, and if the problems are logic-based it will tough to get it working right.

Plus, if you are looking for vintage-vibe you won't get it with an E-16. It would be too clean and transparent.
 
i talked to this guy and originally he advertised it as condition unknown and he couldn't figure out how to use it... then he changed his story after it didnt sell, its been on craigslist now for four or five weeks, i would avoid it.. not too mention from what people tell me about parts and maintenance costs on fostex units.
 
colcifer said:
I've found one on sale for $200. The low price is because of some problem ..................... i've no clue how to fix the things.
Click to expand...

Yup, stay away, I'd too recommend.

might this be the key to getting that great 60s-70s sound?
Click to expand...

No recorder is "key" to getting a certain sound. There's more to it than that.
 
Does sound a bit dodgy. If it's really close by, i would still check it out because that e-16 is a great machine and it's not really specified what the problem is... Personally i would check it out because i couldn't live with myself if the problem ended up being just be a blown fuse... melted pinch roller... belts etc. and i didn't even go to check it out. Of course, from where i'm from... an e-16 comes up for sale about once a year so maybe that's why i would actually consider this machine even though it probably isn't up to spec while (obviously) others on this forum wouldn't.
 
If a local shop said they could fix it the seller should be able to tell you what it is they said they could fix. If he can't or won't give you details I would pass on it.

The worst thing that can happen is the heads are worn out, and Fostex doesn't make them anymore. Short of that most anything can be fixed, but at what price we can't say without more info.

On the other hand you may luck out because he could be using old sticky tape, which can make people think they have serious machine problems, but it's actually the tape.

Maybe go look at it, but if you don't have someone you can bring with you that has some knowledge of these things you really won't know what you're looking at.
 
the pic he posted does show some ampex 456, so sticky tape could be an issue, but I have a feeling theres alot more going on there then just that.... as he mentioned that one shop had it for three months and then returned it to him broken in a different way then it had been previously. Although when I spoke with him on the phone he never made it clear why it was originally in the shop to begin with. The fact that hes changed the story on it a few times and the lack of solid information on the whole thing just smelt pretty fishy to me.
 
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