Hi I was just wondering...

Obviously I realise that there are a ton of different tascam rackmount cassette models but...

I'm just starting a fun project with my best mate from back home (Aylesbury England).

He's now in Sheffield England, and I'm in Athens Georgia.

We've both bought nice Tascam (Cassette!) 4-tracks and some nice Ampex and Quantegy tapes.

Were going to do a 'Postal Service" style project where we will each start songs and then mail the tapes to one another so that we can each add to the others tracks. I have Pro-tools etc but we are trying to keep it super Lo-Fi in the vein of Guided By Voices and Pavement etc.

Now what I am wondering is this, I want to use an external cassette recorder to bounce down to and mix down to etc.

How do the Beocords stand up to pro Tascam cassette decks?

I'd rather add the beocord to my 5500 set up, but I can get Tascam cassette mastering decks for as little as $40 including postage on ebay.

The 5000 and 5500 seem to generally run around $100-$150.

 

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

kris
 

I think soundwise both are really good decks, but for your application, 5000 might be a better choice since it has conventional sliders for setting the recording level, and a proper level indicator (separate for both tracks). But if you use a mixer in front of it, you can control the level on that and probably have good VU meters for the master tracks also.

5500 on the other hand would obviously fit the rest of you 5500 system better. I'm glad I don't have to make this decision  

Yeah I've bought a tascam 644 4-track and it has a 16 channel mixer (pretty crazy for a 4 track!), so levels shouldn't be a problem.

It's funny, but for the past few months there have been a TON of beocords on ebay and now that I'm looking for them, they've all vanished! Typical eh? 

I believe that the 5000 offers slightly better performance due to its conventional none auto reverse system when compared to the 5500. The 5500 uses a much smaller combined rotating erase/playback head, compared to the full sized fixed heads in the 5000.

It also has the advantage of one large flywheel, instead of two small ones.

 Ben.

I would go for an 8004 - cheap and the best tape deck made by B&O. The 5500 is limited by the autoreverse. A 9000 is an option but probably not any better than the 8004.

Peter :

I would go for an 8004 - cheap and the best tape deck made by B&O. The 5500 is limited by the autoreverse. A 9000 is an option but probably not any better than the 8004.

Agree if it's a stand alone application but surely the BC5000 would integrate better with his 5500 system?

Personally, I think the Beocord 5000 is an undiscovered little gem, and they appear to be worth about £20-£40 on UK eBay at the moment, even in working order!

 

krisb,

i am currently in sc ~3 hours from you.

i have a cosmetically challenged bc5000 that may need belts as well (can't remember -haven't touched it in eons.)

i will be happy to pull it out tonight and give you an evaluation of it if you are interested.

as it is simply taking up space at present -you may have it for free if you are interested. (sort of a pass on as others on this site have done the same for me -makes me all warm and fuzzy!)

don't get too excited though, as it ain't that pretty!

Wow! Thanks!
That would be absolutely amazing, thats very generous of you!

Where are you in SC? I was down in Charleston this weekend for the Spoletto festival actually!

Saw the new "Gorrillaz" related musical,"Journey To The West". 

 

Kris 

kris,

i float between columbia and the coast -spending a lot of time in charleston.

columbia is my hub though -and the location of the bc5000.

i will de-mothball it tonight, and try to take some pics.

again, not very pretty... but happy to help!

kris,

below is a pic of the bc5000...

story: bought it several years ago. it was damaged in shipping -not from use/abuse. i ended up using the case and removed the (2) datalink pins for another piece. the existing case is actually from a bm5000 -they are identical, but the bm lid is not clipped in the back allowing it to open. i actually never tested it... until tonight!

so, pulled it out, plugged it to a bm1000 i am testing, threw a marley tape in and viola! it actually seems to work just fine! i couldn't actually believe it! of course, it may well need belted in the future, and she ain't pretty!

in the pic, you'll see the damage to left top corner (front) -the glass is "powdered" -furthermore, there is a decent chip dead center on the upper plastic lip. besides that -general wear/tear from stacking.

the good news is that the bad glass is in a "dead" area -i.e. no lights are damaged. at this point, the only issues seem to be cosmetic.

so, if you want it, she's yours! you won't hurt my feelings if you don't. feel free to pm me if interested and we can work out whatever the details may be...