Tascam MS16, 1" 16 track good deal?

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:25 pm

A pawn shop has a Tascam MS16 for sale, $800 with the stand, some snakes, and the service manual. Didn't study it too much because obviously its not hooked up, just checked it out for curiosity. There was an identical unit on Craigslist a couple months back for double that, I'm assuming this is the same unit and its owner gave in to financial pressure...but maybe not. It is fairly clean in appearance, did not check out the heads or anything as there is a reel installed.

So my question to the Tape Op gods, is this a fair price, assuming that it works (which I would have to take it home to check it out, and they said they'd accept a return within 24 hours). This is not my first tape machine so I have a reasonably good idea of what to look for and what to expect with getting it running and keeping it happy, but just want to see if I have a reason to jump on this deal, or if I should pressure them to drop the price. I left them my phone number in case they wanted to move it and work on the price, as they said they've had it for sale for 3 weeks.

I have a crazy idea that I want to throw this thing and a board in the back of my SUV and punk rock mobile analog bands, am I retarded or is that a niche?

Nick Franklin · Post by **Nick Franklin** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:42 pm

I used to own an MS16. It's not really a "pro" machine, but hey, I recorded and mixed a whole bunch of music on it that I'm still happy with.

If it's in full working condition and the heads are good then I think that price is OK.

At the end of the day, bands are infatuated with the idea of 'tape sound'. It will probably win you a couple of clients a year

Does it come with the remote transport?

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:05 pm

Nick Franklin wrote:I used to own an MS16. It's not really a "pro" machine, but hey, I recorded and mixed a whole bunch of music on it that I'm still happy with.

If it's in full working condition and the heads are good then I think that price is OK.

At the end of the day, bands are infatuated with the idea of 'tape sound'. It will probably win you a couple of clients a year

Does it come with the remote transport?

Did not see the transport, but I could have missed it. There was a big pile of snake under the machine and I didn't want to appear too interested in their asking price...

I agree about it not being a high end machine but in perspective, I have achieved what I consider very good results with my Tascam 388 (and I found my drummer a matching one so he and I can dump ideas back and forth...), but I consider the 388 to be lacking in modern conveniences and only really cool for people when they have lowered expectations (ONLY 8 tracks?). That and its a little noisy and 7.5ips.... Fair to assume that at twice the speed and twice the track width it is twice as good (I am only half serious in this question)?

So yes I was kind of counting on using it for bands that are infatuated with the tape sound getting delivered to them, rather than trying to find a local studio with a decent tape deck that they can afford (which doesn't really exist in 200 miles). I am not interested in mobile recording via laptop+Pro Tools, but I do have an Alesis HD24XR for digital stuff but mainly I use it for transfers from tape.

Matt C. · Post by **Matt C.** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:01 pm

assuming it's in decent working condition, that seems like a fair price. I paid quite a bit more for mine last year and I still feel like it was pretty worth it.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:16 pm

So got the price knocked down and took it home with only a basic power on and transport test...did not have time or space thoroughly go through it at the store. But the guy said he'd give me until Monday to check it out and return it if necessary.

Bad news is, the tape on the machine has some sticky shed issues. When I got it home was having some slow FFWD/RWD issues at times, and times where you could press play and it wouldn't catch to start playing....intermittently depending on where I was on the tape. Was able to adjust the play tension to get it to go, but found still wouldn't work totally reliably. So this is when I wound the tape off and got to look closely at the heads and such....definitely sticky shed but overall didn't seem bad when cleaned up.

So....I've never encountered sticky shed but will this cause transport issues like I am experiencing or should I return this deck and call it a day? I spent $700 for the whole unit which I felt was fair if it worked but not really interested in spending that much for something which will be a project before it even functions. I wish I had access to a brand new reel by Monday but that's probably not going
to happen. I'm probably going to call the previous and probably original owner tomorrow and see what he can tell me and if he has any newer tape to try...his address and phone number are handwritten in the service manual.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:31 pm

Forgot to mention that when the transport is operating it appears somewhat creaky, squealing a bit.

Waltz Mastering · Post by **Waltz Mastering** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:01 pm

Yes sticky shed will cause transport issues so it's best not to play those tapes at all. I would give it a full cleaning and demag and see if you can get a clean reel of 1" tape over the weekend.

Zacharia Matilda · Post by **Zacharia Matilda** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:53 am

I am totally out of the box with a TSR 8. I would LOVE to have 8 more tracks. I hate having to bounce drums. If it all specs out $800 seems like a good buy.

I would hate to have to truck something like that around, though.

Zacharia Matilda · Post by **Zacharia Matilda** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:59 am

I also once bought some tape that had to much tape wound onto the reel for my machine to handle it..It made my deck behave in much the same way it sounds like yours does.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:20 am

Zacharia Matilda wrote:I am totally out of the box with a TSR 8. I would LOVE to have 8 more tracks. I hate having to bounce drums. If it all specs out $800 seems like a good buy.

I would hate to have to truck something like that around, though.

Ha well wasn't totally serious about hauling it around much, though I can it's rather heavy. I think with the right rack it wouldn't be bad, but not into the Tascam rack cart.

I know about having only 8 tracks...I have a couple 388s. That said you can get a very serviceable drum sound with 3-4 mics (kick, snare top, snare bottom, and mono overhead is a fav of mine, though the bottom could easily be nixed).

79_Limited · Post by **79_Limited** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 11:23 am

Does this have the remote? If not this is not such a hot deal. I would offer $600 without the remote. I have seen the remotes pop up from time to time.

Does this have the noise reduction feauture?

I had a MS 16 and did some good stuff with it. It never gave much trouble. Some of the channels would go out from time to time. It was usually an easy fix like removing the channel card and reseating the card.

I say go for it. Get a decent 24 channel mixer and start lining the punk bands up.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 12:23 pm

79_Limited wrote:Does this have the remote? If not this is not such a hot deal. I would offer $600 without the remote. I have seen the remotes pop up from time to time.

Does this have the noise reduction feauture?

I had a MS 16 and did some good stuff with it. It never gave much trouble. Some of the channels would go out from time to time. It was usually an easy fix like removing the channel card and reseating the card.

I say go for it. Get a decent 24 channel mixer and start lining the punk bands up.

No remote, just the rack, service book, snakes, deck with it's controls, and box with the VU meters and connections. No NR, which is fine by me because if i wanted noise free then I would use my Alesis HD24XR. Got the Tascam for $700, which is cheaper than any I've seen currently for sale, and was only a mile from my house, so no $600 freight charges. I agree would have been a hotter deal if it had the remote, but not a big deal at the moment.

Already got a 24 ch board though no unfortunately not exactly plug and play...my board has 1/4" direct outs and tape returns, while the deck is RCA and XLR.

DougK · Post by **DougK** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:27 am

I had one of these for years,
and actually did what you described with a Ramsa desk and a van, going mobile.
It was surprisingly sturdy through all the abuse, although I did have it re-aligned a few times from getting knocked around.
Anyway, the best sound out of it for me was running at 15 ips, the bass response was huge and great for hip hop and dub. No matter what I tried, the high end was always a bit lacking so I just catered to it's strength in the low end and dealt with the highs with additive eq. I hated the nr for it and never used it.
I believe that part of the equation of buying any tape machine these days should be not only the purchase price, but the cost of a complete tune up or minimally a pro evaluation (lest the domino effect of component failure come back and bite you on the ass and render your investment useless).
edit:meant 15, not 30 ips. oops. been a while.

Message Board

Tascam MS16, 1" 16 track good deal?

Tascam MS16, 1" 16 track good deal?

Who is online