And the results are...
I certainly don't mind the look of the more common model, and it's quite compact this way.
Definitely - it's a lovely multitrack and both methods look as good and have different advantages. It's great to know yours had been looked after, broken multicore cable is a PITA, and it's really nice to have everything neat and tidy too. My console design has a big space where the amp rack would mount (if the meters were moved to the front panel) which is handy for storing the cabling. Nice having a tiltable mount though - and I *definitely* agree with you about the design being rugged - this thing's built like a tank!
I didn't really believe it weighed nigh on 6 stone until I actually tried lifting it...
I'm in the process of acquiring a second M308-B to try and cascade with the one I have now
Excellent! They look like nice little mixers, never used one myself but they must be a million miles from a digital desk - great stuff!
I've been reading Sweetbeats' thread on here about the M308 he acquired in Jan 09.. very interesting! I wouldn't mind a Mackie 32-8 myself, or ideally perhaps a Trident or something - *nice*!
(We've got a Teac 2t at the space as well... big Tascam fans over here!)...
Oh right, which one? I have a Tascam 32-2B myself which I've enjoyed using, it's sick at the moment though (needs a couple of new belts, after the existing ones went slack). I haven't mastered to 1/4" for a while now, I found it was changing my "carefully" balanced mixes too much at the bottom end! I'm hoping perhaps time will have improved my technique enough now to give it another try
I'll try and get some pics of the whole shebang once I've (finally) gotten the setup rigged together. I honestly can't wait much longer
Awesome!
I'd love to see your setup, I hope it all comes together for you real soon. So you're playing the waiting game too? That's a pain - seems to be so many people still working towards getting a space set up, I feel dead guilty that I've had access to mine for a good while now! I hope it all works out ASAP anyway
Just an update on my MS-16...
** SHE CALIBRATED TO SPEC! **
Yay!
So I'm one happy guy. The demagger arrived from across the pond (I felt a lot better about my chances after using that - and *not* magnetizing everything by accident!), my new Tentelometer arrived too and showed the backtension as being healthy, perhaps a little light, but I can address that if needs be. I calibrated the inputs and VU meters, used my 320nWb/m cal tape to set the machine for 250 (+2.1 VU with a 320 tape apparently), and did a basic calibration on some dodgy 456 that came with the machine. The short story is that all tones sit between +/-0.2dB and +/-1.2dB on the meters - so I'm *very* pleased with that! You're right Cory - those heads are *gooood*
I did encounter some wierdness though, most of which I put down to mistakes I'm making, being new to this still. I fed a +4dBm signal into the amps and compared the input level to the output level on my scope - and I had to trim *all* the inputs up to max to get an equal gain!
I thought the trimmers would control some opamps, it seems wierd to me the max gain is 0dB - but in any case I get out what I send in now which is great.
My calibration tape was in a *bad* way, and needed baking before it could be used without shedding huge chunks of oxide on the lead-in
not good! It had both IEC and NAB tones, which was lucky, because the 1KHz IEC was wavering badly on the edge-tracks, and the 16KHz IEC was all over the place! On the scope it looked like scrape flutter or something, definitely varying pitch, I put it down to sticky tape - at least I hope that's what was causing it! I did my best with the IEC section, and got the 16KHz signals in the right ballpark, allowing for the rolloff I'm sure must have happened on the tape already. I then used the 1KHz NAB to check my calibration at 1K, and made sure the 16KHz NAB tones read the same on the meters - at least I know they're pretty much consistent now.
Calibrating record was *odd* - the manual says to turn the Bias trimmers counter-clockwise, and then find the peak, and continue until the meters show -3 to -4dB. Almost all the channels appeared to *be* at the peak fully counter-clockwise!!
Surely that's not right?? I'm assuming the tape I have is 456, it might be 499, but that shouldn't make much difference should it?? In any case I did find the -4 drop, and the tones were sounding good coming back off tape, so I'm hoping everything's okay there. Setting record levels went fine, and record low-frequency EQ too (although channel 3 has about a -2dB attenuation from all the others at the lowest freq's - odd). However, setting the high-freq EQ dead on wasn't possible on channels 12 thru 15, not because there wasn't enough gain, but because there was *too much*! So I'm assuming I should reduce the playback high EQ there - I must've lost more top-end on the test tape than I'd made allowances for. They're only a tad over anyway, nothing much to speak of. All these little things included, all frequencies sit about +/-0.5dB on reproduction - I think she's good to go!
I'm waiting for some proper stock to arrive now, so I can calibrate properly for that, but I'm very glad to have everything as good as set up, and still can't wait to hit some 1" tape for the first time!!
Just a worrying side-note: I discovered from the ATR and RMG sites that all available modern 1" tape has a 320nWb/m operating level!!
So much for me wanting to try some 406/456 type stock.
I'm going to roll with it for now and see what she can do as she stands, but I'm a bit concerned about pegging all the meters if I want saturation effects, and I don't fancy modding all the amp cards to cope with +9 tape - I guess if it's gotta be done it's gotta be done. But I'd rather leave this deck "original" and find some 250nWb/m tape instead - it's such a shame it's not manufactured anymore...
Oh, and I got all paranoid and re-capped the PSU - I figure it's gotta be a good thing to have a full set of backup components, and I've used high-temp caps instead of the 85 deg C ones that were in there. Hopefully they'll last for a good long while!
So there's the good news!
My next step is to wait for the tape to arrive, make up a 32-way loom to run to the patchbay, and see if I can track down some tubing for the damaged lifters. Exciting times!
I'll keep you posted...
Cheers!
Ahh, yes, I am rather proud of that! I think the design with the meter bridge mounted in the front panel is nice too mind you, it's handy not having the XLR's protruding out of the back an extra few inches if you're short on space. According to the manual the MS-16's came with a few brackets (and a cable if I remember right) so you could convert the design from one to the other quite easily, you might have had those perhaps with your machine. There was another stand type though wasn't there, I noticed one of the MS-16's on eBay is in a tiltable console. Glad you like the avatar - it's not the final version but it'll do for now
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