What's the difference between Fostex B16 and E16?

[wearedios]

what's the difference between these machines? is one 'better' or have features the other lacks? personal experiences anyone?

[leftofthedial]

Old post, but deserves a response:

Very similar machines.

The Bs are belt driven capstan
The Es are direct driven capstan.
There is also a B16D which is also direct driven capstan.

I have no opinion as to which is better except belts can be hard to find. Also, the transport on my B-16 is much more reliable than that of my E-16. The E-16 sometimes loses it's mind and goes into crazy fast forward wind and when this happens, it's best to let it go to town (just like the dog in christmas vacation) as if you try to stop it, tape stretch or breakage is almost certain. The B does not exhibit this.

The E-16 has a couple more locate points and a better remote although the 4050 remote will work with both and is pretty nifty piece of equipment (assuming you can find the right cable to interface with the B-16).

Both sound "good". My E has no problems with edge tracks. The B suffers a bit on track 1. Could be just my machine.

You will not get "Tape Saturation" with either of these machines. They distort pretty fast and that sound is not pleasant. But when used correctly, the sound is sufficient to create very good sounding recordings without the hassle of computers or the expense of 2" tape.

Electronically, my E is perfect. My B has some issue on tracks 1-2.

The meters die on both the E's and B's. Which is ultimately why i own both. It seems to be cheaper to buy a whole machine than replacement meters on ebay. But those and the erase and play/repro heads are about all that are interchangeble on these machines.

good news also they both use the same MRL and alignment/setup procedures are very similar.

Swapping amplifier cards and heads, and some of the system boards is pretty straight forward. So it is probably a good idea to have a spare. I wish I had two of the same machine. Don't really care which one. Just wish they were both the same.

Cheers.
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