Fostex R8 any good?

W

WarmJetGuitar

New member
We're getting pretty desperate to record again and our recorders is down. There's a Fostex R8 for sale for around £190 and the owner said that it have been running for less than 100 hours and is fully functional. Have anyone got experience with this machine? Is it a problem that so many tracks is squezzed down on quarter inch tape? Is it reliable?
 
The R8 has a lot more plastic than the A8, and this does not make it more reliable. The big problem they seem to get is the capstan pulley cracking - people on this board have fixed it with glue. That said, I wouldn't necessarily vouch for an A-series being reliable either, on account of its age.

As for 1/4" 8-track, it's basically cassette width, but running about 7x faster. The E16 - which is the same format - was widely used in small studios at the time. It's only a problem if you turn off the noise reduction.
 
Thanks James. The guy just called and said it got a transport problem that he'll try to fix today. Sounds like a problem machine to me, but he'll call me in an hour to tell if it's alright.
 
Where are you based, actually? I mean, it says 'Denmark' for your location, but you seem to be buying a UK machine...
 
You're so right about the plastic thing. Something went wrong around the reel hubs and as far as I got it the wheels is made of plastic. A shame as it would have been a quite cheap way to record eight tracks. Think we'll only go for it if the guy selling can fix the problem properly and tell us how to do the same.

I as well as the Fostex R8 am based in Denmark but pounds is the easiest currency to compare to kroner because it can usually be multiplied with ten.
 
Sorry about posting like a manic nutcase but isn't the E8 better built? There's one available for about the same price including 10 rolls of Ampex 456 however it'll take some effort and money to pick up.
 
I'm not sure. If it's based on the E16 design, absolutely. That being the case, it's going to be direct-drive, which the R8 isn't and that alone will save you a lot of headaches.
The only really drawback with the E8 is that it's the only 10.5" machine in that format (1/4" 8-track) so if you did have a failure, playing back the tapes would either require finding another E8 or radically modifying another Fostex machine.
If you stick with 7" tapes, that wouldn't be a problem, of course since an R8 or something could play them back.

As for your location, I was going to say that if you are in or visiting the UK I do have a couple of 8-track machines I should probably get rid of, but they would be collection-only.
 
They share the same manual so everything indicates that they're based on the same technology. The seller will contact me today to tell me if another guy was still interested and whether he'll be able to drive the machine to where I live.
Great news to me that you think the machine is a nice one. Financially it would suit us really well as we got shitloads of quarter inch tapes and new RMGI is relatively cheap. As you might have guessed there's not a lot of money involved in the psychedelic rock business :rolleyes:
We'll be aware of the 10.5" thing and save those for mastering on a 2-track, thanks mate.

I'd love to buy a machine from you but I won't be in the UK before at earliest February which will be for gigging near London and we're desperate to record. However if we get the gig and we're still without a proper 8 or 16 track I'll definitely write you at that time.
 
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