thoughts on tascam 38 on local craigslist

[joe lp]

Here's the ad

"Excellent physical condition. Powers up fine, all meters light and motor works.
It has not been used in years. It is being sold as is. Photos available
Sale $200"

It's been posted for a month or so with one or two price cuts. What do you guys think? Should I check it out?

 

[cjacek]

Never rely on written description to make your decision. I always recommend checking it out in person, spending a good 20 minutes, running tests. $200 for a good condition local 38 is a great price, even if it needs minor servicing like capstan belt and pinch roller replacement (which you should always do regardless of condition). Pay special attention to head ware. Yeah, make an appointment with the seller. I would.

 

[sweetbeats]

+1 to that. The $200 asking price makes it worth looking into if you are in the market. Look close though as I'm wondering why, if it is truly in the described condition, it hasn't sold yet. Being a skeptic is good with this stuff, so just go prepared. Good luck!

 

[mixmkr]

I'll say this...on the other end. I have a 38 that has been sitting in my closet for close to 10 years now. I can't part with it, for all the multitrack tapes, etc. It works perfect, I'm the ONLY owner, but one day, it's going to go. Maybe the first $200 too

Breaks my heart to see the prices on some of this now, considering what I paid for it new...and the DBX units and the tape......and...that was prices back THEN.

My saving grace is I recorded some good stuff that I liked and MORE than got my $ worth out of it...not to mention watching those reels go round and round, and round and round.....

 

[sweetbeats]

My Ampex AG-440-8 would cost about $70,000 in today's dollars, though of course that would be for a new one that's all shiny and, ah...new and, ah....functional and stuff...unlike mine which is...ah...none of those things. Hm...maybe that's why it was such a bargain...

 

[dodgeaspen]

I would check it out. I love my 38. The sound I get with my ATR tape is incredible.

 

[dodgeaspen]

My Ampex AG-440-8 would cost about $70,000 in today's dollars, though of course that would be for a new one that's all shiny and, ah...new and, ah....functional and stuff...unlike mine which is...ah...none of those things. Hm...maybe that's why it was such a bargain...

hey Sweetbeats, I called Teac about new hub adapters for my 38 and asked how much my deck was new and what was the year of manufacture. He told me the 38 was a vintage 1982 and was app 2,700.00 new. If I were to pay for this unit in today's dollar amount it would be about $6,075.00 Hard to believe.

 

[cjacek]

If I were to pay for this unit in today's dollar amount it would be about $6,075.00 Hard to believe.

What's even more hard to believe is that, with the exchange rate, that's even closer to 10K in Canadian dollars. One could find a nice 38 for about 500 today.

 

[joe lp]

Well, I was ready to go check this out but a couple of days ago my paypal account was hacked and my back account was freaking cleaned out. I'll have to wait for this mess to be resolved before I can consider the deck.

 

[joe lp]

All right! Got everything sorted out and picked up this 8 track for $180. The belt had turned to goo and pieces of it were all over the inside of the deck so I cleaned it out and put on a replacement and it's spinning really nicely now.

I also put some time into cleaning up the tape path and I think this thing is going to turn out pretty well. However, it's missing a bunch of screws on the case so i need to make a run to the hardware store.

Ok, so the main problem I've encountered is with the meter on track 8. All other channels work fine, but while channel 8 does seem to pass audio through, the meter doesn't move. I swapped the card around and it worked in another channel so it seems to be a problem with the meter itself. What do you guys think? I still need to get some tape so that I can fully test it but I just want to get a jump on this problem.