Tascam M-164UF help please!

[jstntmcdrmtt]

Hello all- I am back with another rudimentary question.

I was hoping to learn from someone who has experience with this mixer or similar ones, if I could plug bass's, guitars, mics, ect. into sterio inputs with the proper adapters?

I was contemplating buying the Tascam M-164UF, advertised as a 16 input mixer that is suitable for home recording use. It's cheap, and I don't have a job, being a more-or-less committed student..

upon closer inspection the mixer has only 6 mic inputs, and 5 sterio line inputs.

being that my drums take up 4 mic in's, it doesn't seem feasible to record my band, however, if I could figure out how to utilize the sterio in's I might have a chance.

so, how useful are sterio in's? I cannot tell by the picture weather these jacks are rca or 1/4", and moreover I cannot locate them!!

 

[jstntmcdrmtt]

^Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bouldersoundguy]

To use a low level source like a mic or instrument you'll generally need some sort of preamp to make the signal compatible with the line input. Some guitar/bass/keyboard amps have line outs that might work. You could use an additional small mixer to submix some vocals into a pair of line inputs. You could also record just the drums and bass first, then lay down the other parts.

On that unit there's a mix of 1/4" and RCA inputs, two pairs of each.

 

[kylekincer]

Hey there, i just bought this exact mixer about 2 weeks ago, and I could not be more happy with it for the price.
As bouldersoundguy said, once you fill up the mic inputs which have the phantom power supply, you'll have to have some sort of external preamp to have good quality input. I tried, and you definitely cannot plug an electric guitar right into this mixer. you need to plug into an amp with a line out or similar.
It's a damn good mixer though.