Tascam 22-4

[DESSERT DWELLER]

Hi, I am looking into purchacing a Tascam 22-4 1/4" 4-track reel to reel. Can anyone please tell me how this compares to the other Tascam 4-track 1/4" reel to reel decks. I have heard that the specs may be lower than other similar units. I actually spoke to someone at Tascam repair department who said the 22-4 would not sound any better that a good 4-track cassette deck.He told me to not waste my time and that I should just go digital and forget about a reel to reel set up. Thanks for any help.

 

[Herm]

The guy you talked to at tascam is in this world known as a Dumb ass.
He is only trying to get you to spend your money on a small digital recorder that sounds like shit.
THe tascam 22-4 is a great machine and will sound a lot better than a cassette machine. It was tascams budget 4 track of the 80,s Only because they cut corner on things like ony 7 inch reels instead of 10.5,s. The only thing I can say that I dont like about the 22-4 is that if you need to do punch ins with a foot controler you cant. You have to have a free hand to do that on the face of the machine.
Here is what I think of the 22-4.

 

[A Reel Person]

Hi,... someone at Tascam repair department who said the 22-4 would not sound any better that a good 4-track cassette deck. He told me to not waste my time and that I should just go digital and forget about a reel to reel set up.

That's just flat wrong. It shows the "tech" was sucked into the typical group-think about analog vs. digital. It's sad, but it's a sign of the times. There's the actual analog-tech at Tascam named "Jim", whom I've spoken with on several occasions,... and this statement doesn't strike me as something he would say. You probably got the 564/788/US428/DA38- digital bench tech on the phone. I dunno what to say.

A 4-track reel-1/4" drive running at 7.5 or 15 ips will sound vastly superior to a cassette Portastudio. For that matter, a high end cassette Portastudio may sound better than many of the cheapie digital recording devices, depending on which device we're actually talking about.

/DA

 

[cjacek]

I actually spoke to someone at Tascam repair department who said the 22-4 would not sound any better that a good 4-track cassette deck.He told me to not waste my time and that I should just go digital and forget about a reel to reel set up.

Because some of the personnel there, in the service / repair dept, are idiots who either have never heard a tape recorder in their lives or just want you to come on their digital bandwagon, to sell you their current stuff.

 

[cjacek]

There's the actual analog-tech at Tascam named "Jim", whom I've spoken with on several occasions,... and this statement doesn't strike me as something he would say.

I'm 99% sure I've spoken to "Jim" (or "Jimi" as he answered the phone) before. On the first occassion he was pretty good but then started, point blank, to tell me I should forget tape (as it is dead anyway) and get a DAW or a PC setup for recording. That was about a year or two ago. Yeah, he may know Analog but it seems he doesn't give a shit about it and neither does TASCAM in general.

 

[A Reel Person]

Ooh, that's too bad!

The few times I've ever used Tascam Service, they've done a good job. The couple times I've called Tascam & spoke to Jim about analog repairs, he's never indicated a negative attitude to me. So,... go figure.

/DA

 

[cjacek]

I've never used TASCAM Service, other than parts which you helped me out a lot and which I will never forget, nor did I speak to Jim about specific repairs so I can't comment. I recall asking him about specific tape machine recommendations (on the used market) and such ..... and also a couple of issues I've had with recorders ....

 

[Seeker of Rock]

The few times I've ever used Tascam Service, they've done a good job. The couple times I've called Tascam & spoke to Jim about analog repairs, he's never indicated a negative attitude to me. So,... go figure.

/DA

As a matter of fact when I was second-guessing my tech I spoke to Jim and he was emphatic about analog and in particular about the MSR-16 in which I was calling about.

Dweller, I may end up getting a 1/4" deck for mastering as well. It's on the horizon, just not on the immediate horizon. Anyway, sorry to hear you had the negative experience.