loonies. i love canada.
Well, what would you use it for? to record master mixes onto tape? Do you already track onto tape, or do you track digitally? lots of questions, but here's the main thing:
If you want to be able to legitimately send your master tapes elsewhere to be mastered by someone else, the machine will need to be in very good working order. (duh)
Most master/dup houses will ask that your master tape have a bumper, a leader, and a few minutes worth of test tones recorded onto the beginning of the tape. With the test tones, they can check to see that their machines are set to the same spec of your machine. (you probably already know this, I have no idea, i'm just throwing it out there FYI)
Analog master tapes, though AWESOME sounding, are much more nitpicky to make than digital masters (CD's, dat tapes, what have you), as they require tape (obviously), a good test tone generator, maintenance, and an extra 15 minutes or so of work, to prepare the machine for use before recording your master mix. Plus, you're at the mercy of the length of the tape for the time of your tracks, so you'll have to plan out the time per track, second for second, to see that the last track won't get cut off suddenly as you're recording your masters. Just a lot of work.
If you're an enthusiast kinda guy, and you don't plan on sending your master copies elsewhere to get re-mastered, and you're the only person that's gonna use your masters, go for it. Don't worry about making your analog masters all officialized, just do what you want, get some tape, clean it up, and record away.
If you don't already have a CD recorder handy, that 400 dollars might be better spent on one of those, because one way or another, you'll have to make a master CD copy. food for thought.
GOOD PRICE though, if it's in working order, I'd almost buy it, just because.
-callie-