What board to get for a Tascam 38

[atavacron]

I have a pretty good 24-track tape setup here, but now someone gave me a Tascam 38 in good condition. I'd like to use it to do onsite work, usually in people's practice spaces. So I need a board for it, and a small one at that.

I'll bring along two DBX 163s, a Fatman, an RNLA, a four-channel PM-1000 rack, a Reamp for weird processing with guitar pedals, and a digital reverb/delay. I'll probably be tracking with compression and effects, which is totally opposite of how I'd do it at home. Typically I'll be working without much isolation, and drums won't go above 4 mics.

Mixing will be fast and furious to some basic but solid 2-channel converter, immediately after each tracking session.

The board:
? Under $500
? Must fit in back seat of car and be manageable by one person. The smaller the better.
? Does not need a meter bridge
? 8 channels is adequate, 12 is perfect
? 4-bus is cool if there's direct outs, but 8-bus is ideal for patching ease
? 8 returns, preferably inline, can be on knobs
? EQ can be real colorful and/or funky, but should be useable. Sweepable mids.
? Cannot say Mackie on it.
? Could totally be some weird-ass off-brand from the eighties

Ideas? I'm looking at some of those older Tascam boards, smaller Soundcraft 200bs, the half-size Topaz, a few different Ramsas, and....just trying to figure out what the options are. Cheers.

[getreel]

Hmmm, you need something sturdy if you're going to cart it around to rehearsal spaces etc. The Tascams are usually really reliable but I'll bet the Soundtracs sounds better. I have a Topaz which I love but would not want to carry it around much. It's good build quality but doesn't seem like it would like being moved around much. I bet the Ramsa would be more weight than you would want to haul too. The Soundcraft 200 was alive board so that one could be good, but I have no personal experience with them.

[Sean Sullivan]

I say a smaller delta. I think overt clam might be selling his (I'm not sure).

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I'd suggest a soundcraft series 1 if you can find a good one. It's big but movable for one person, 16 or 20 channels, 4 busses, good sonding eq with high and low shelving and 2 sweepable mids and it's built into a road case. They're easily modded for direct outs (I added transformer balanced outs to mine) or you can run to tape from the insert.
They're mid 70's era so most will need a bit of work but they're easy to fix and can be found cheap. I got mine for $100 and spent a few weeks recapping it. It's the front end of my mobile/location rig.

[lefuquaire]

allen and heath mix wizard 16:2 would work nicely..
you could use 8 channels for your inputs and the other 8 for playback,,,

[permanent hearing damage]

i used a soundcraft 200 for a few years with my tascam 38. not the lightest thing out there, but definitely solid and i'm sure you can find one for well under $500

[Chad Etchison]

+1 on the Soundcraft recommendations. I have the RAC PAC with my 38 and it works great, the pres are really clean and you could use the board for live recording also. You should be able to pick one up for $200 or so.

[Harry]

I have an old tascam m 30 that I would sell for about $75 + shipping.

I have not tested it at all other than turning it on(all VUs light up)

I'm pretty sure I'll never get around to doing anything with it. And I would assume it will need some work. But it looks pretty cool:)