Tascam 134 vs 234 vs reel to reel, help needed!

[analoguelute]

Dear Friends,
I am a lute player and constantly searching for the good way to record our music....
I am a really tew to the tascam/ teac analogue equipment, although I posess the teac C-3x tape recorder which already beats in some way (not talking about noise or resolution) a lot of digital things I heard when making a recording....

I am considering buying tascam 134 or 234 cassete deck and wonder if there is a huge difference in quality on this machines. What attracs me in 134 is that it still has a normal speed. Although the high spped option is what makes me love the idea of buing one.

And last but not least: are these decks any close in rec quality to reel-to-reel recorders?
I am also willing to buy one, considerinthg teac 3440 .....

The idea is to record analogue our music ( lute solo and duets) and doing it seriously.
We would appreciate any advise! Thanks a lot sorry for not being short enough.
Honestly I was just blown away by some humane features of the recording with teac -c3, that I just made at home, it looks like this is the right road for the lute recording....
THANKS! www.luteduo.com

 

[Patrice Remy]

I own a Tascam 134. The only things lacking is a tape type selector (standard, chrome, or metal).
It's a solid unit and the sound quality is fine.

Open Reel is way better. I own a Teac x1000r open reel deck.
The tape is twice as large as cassette tape and speeds are 7 1/2 inches/second and 15 inches/second (in regards to the teac 3440 you want). The Teac x1000r has 3 3/4 and 7 1/2.
The Tascam 134 cassette deck has 1 7/8 inches/second and 3 3/4 inches/second.
This means more dynamic range on open reel and more 'presence' too, since it records over more tape surface than a cassette deck.
The only drawback for open reel is that the tapes are much more expensive and harder to find nowadays than cassette tapes.
So, in the end, due to high tape prices, the open reel deck remains unused most of the time, collecting dust. I use my Tascam 134 a lot more
conclusion:
Tascam 134: solidly built
Tascam 234: less solidly built than the Tascam 134.
Teac 3440: It's a consumer grade deck, so, not as solid as a Tascam deck. I'd search for a Tascam open reel deck if I was you.

 

[analoguelute]

Dear Patrice,

Thanks a lot for your feedback! I ve been looking at some tascams and also revox recently. Here in Europe it seems that revoxes are many around so it is a bit easeir to maintain etc. Also i indeed looked at tascam 34B which is really great 4 track machine.... Revoxes 4 track version is unfortunately without the 38 speed.....
So I should really think about all pro and contra and guess next month I will go for it! Thanks a lot! Anton

 

[Patrice Remy]

Hello Anton,
If you like Revox, you might want to look into Studer products as well.
Studer is the professional product company whereas Revox is the consumer grade product company.
Studer has reel-to-reel tape decks and cassette tape decks as well.

 

[christian.marcelli]

I know they aren't on your list, but I've been in love with the Tascam 48-OB 8 track reel to reel. I've also felt great about the Tascam 238 8 track cassette deck. Are there drawbacks? You betcha. The tape is small for 8 tracks (especially on the 238). Parts are tough to find. Maintenance is high. Still, coupled with solid class A preamps hitting the tape hard and a nice mixer, you've got yourself some good sound. I've seen 48s available in Germany....

 

[SkywaveTDR]

I concur with Christian, a reel deck is always going to be better than a cassette that was really made for convenience not for production. The 48 is capable in the right condition of making a finished product. The cost for tape and reel is higher but the tapes you make will last longer as they are on a more robust type media.
Cassette is too easily damaged plus they are not making fresh cassette tape these days so all you can find is unused old stuff. Don't buy that Chrome crap they load in Korea as that was the tape than no one wanted in the past which was BASF- why do you think it was sitting around all these years? New tape from RMGI (Pyral) and ATR in America is still being sold today- it is fresh and some of the best tape made to date. I am told by Don Morris (RMGI) that tape sales continue to increase in the last few years and that means 2" tape as well. Somebody has to be using this stuff.