Warning: I bought a piece of crap

[invisiblenemies]

omgwtf are you serious!?! (jk) But really, I didn't know it had all THAT!!! I'm deffinitely going to be making invis's phone ring off the hook now

My phone has yet to ring!

 

[A Reel Person]

Hello Everyone!

I have just a couple questions.

1. Is the Tascam 414 a good recorder? Its the older one not the MK2.

2. Is $125 a good price? My brother-in-law is said he would sell me his for that price.

Thanks this thread is very very helpfull!

BWW

Welcome to the board!

This is a very touchy question, at the heart of it. I'll try to be as clinical as possible.

Is the 414 a good recorder? It's better than some, and not as good as others. It's a midline Tascam, not topline or bottom line. I'm assuming if it's your brother in law's machine, that at least you're familiar with it.

My basic thoughts on the 414 are that it's a good compact size, yet it retains a full feature set. It's mixer is adequate, not fancy. It gives you 8x2 mixing (insert cables are required for stereo on inputs 5/6 & 7/8, otherwise they are bridged-mono pairs),... with 2-simul recording in buss mode and 4-simul in direct mode, (a worthy feature also found on high end Portastudios). Mmmmmmmmm,... what else. The EQ is fixed, so that's not real fancy, but it's functional. There are 2 eff-sends, one of which does double duty as Cue Monitor. The recording sound quality on the 414 is good. It uses 2x speed, hi-bias tape and dbx noise reduction, that are features geared toward producing a more hifi sound. It's not as feature rich as the 424mkIII, but I don't really feel like it's a matter of "cutting corners" that makes the 414 a smaller & lighter unit, but of "smart engineering". It doesn't have the fanciest features of the Tascam line, but I think it's a winner in the realm of mid-level gear.

Is the 414 worth $125? Only if it's in dead-mint condition, completely dust free, 100% functional and you love him very much. Otherwise, in used and excellent condition, it's worth probably more along the lines of $100. I mean, he's your brother in law, so you don't want to insult him. $100 is fair & square, and that's based on actual research I just did on Ebay, etc. Okay,... $125 if it's mint or near-mint, and $100 if it's in excellent condition. If by chance it's very dirty, I'm sorry, it's less than $100.

Keep in mind you can get a brand new 414mkII for $250, and the price of used equipment varies every day. I've seen 414mkII's go for silly-cheap prices, but on average I'd say $100 is fine.

Let me add, that Prepal dot com says the 414's price is $138 & holding, (I think that's a little high), and I've seen 414's go for anywhere from $50~$110, just based on a quick check of Ebay. I personally got a great condition 414mkII for $85/delivered, and a month later got another one for the same price that 2 input jacks were broken,... so does that prove anything? It proves that great equipment can be bought for insanely low prices, but low prices might also indicate gear with hidden problems.

Aaaaaagggghhhh! Sorry for the ramble!

I gotta say, the bottom line is $100 is fair enough, unless it's mint & you're really, really close, and really wanna kick down and party, then maybe $125.

Y'gotta also know, that there are great Ebay deals on 424mkII's for $85-$125,... 464's for $75-$125,... 424mkIII's for $100-$175,... just to name a few for comparison's sake. (Those are all high end Portstudios). I've personally gotten many spectacular deals on Tascam gear, so wildly low that if I told'ya, it'd probably bring'ya to tears!

So sorry for the long post! Offer $100 & you're good! Thank you & good luck!!

 

[Bilywonderwamps]

Thank you for the information this is very helpfull.
My Brother-in-law showed it to me today he only used it once. It is in its original package and comes with 10 high bias tapes and a cleaning kit.

I will ask him about the price though.

Thanks for your help A Reel Person.

Bil

 

[A Reel Person]

In that case, then...

$125 seems fair.

10 high bias tapes might cost up to $10, and a cleaning kit might cost $20 by itself.

Go for it.