WANTED: Tascam/Teac gear - M30 mixer, MU40 VUs, 80-8 8 track r2r, A3300SX 2T r2r...

[Geefresh]

...plus a DBX 118 and 3BX. Stuff I've been looking for for ages to complete my little bedroom recording studio. Once that's complete then I can move onto getting a bit more serious in the Hi-Fi department!

Thank you please!

[Virtual-Symmetry]

I used to have quite a few of the old DBX units with the teak end cheeks. '2BX' Dynamic range expander etc they were great

[Geefresh]

Yeah, I'm looking to get a 3BX and mod it so that it's a multi-band compressor instead of expander, to strap across the mix buss on the way to the 122 for a bit of DIY mastering.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi Geoff
Think about using a Type 1 DBX, as they had better specifications for higher tape speeds, never the less
a 118 or 3 BX will be very good. The advantage with DBX is ability to store on tape sound that is compressed
and then externally using the replay playback side expand on playback. In the process gaining added
dynamic range. IMO DBX found the perfect recipe for companding with Type 1

Some recording artists were Anthony Phillips using a 155, and Vangelis had recording studios fitted with 180a
having used many other Type 1 processors.

http://www.nemostudios.co.uk/nemo/tour/recording/recording_br.htm

"The dbx was a far less popular noise-reduction system among professional studios compared with Dolby, but Vangelis
liked the subtle characteristic sounds it gave to his recordings. The dbx also tidied up the sound, as well as offering a
wider dynamic compression than Dolby. dbx noise reduction was first used on multitrack tapes for ‘Albedo 0.39’, and it
was used for almost all of Vangelis’ subsequent works. On the other hand, Dolby A-Type noise reduction was used for
encoding the final master 2-track recordings on the Scully."

" The first dbx units at Nemo Studios were eventually upgraded in the mid-1980s, and a new set of 12 dbx 180 dual-channel
Type-I noise-reduction units. The new dbx units again covered all of the 24 tracks of the Lyrec TR-532 multitrack tape machine."

Circuit wise I think the 180a is perhaps the best, as it is simpler in design. Its power supply though needs
better heatsinks. I have 2 that I am slowly rebuilding.

Type 1 were typified by the 180a with screw terminal posts , the 155 with RCA
and the 150x with phone plugs. the 180a and 150x have balanced audio ability.

Cheers / Chris

[Geefresh]

Thanks for all the info! I will require some actual noise reduction for my Teac reel to reel eventually. I was looking at a 155 that was on eBay a while ago actually, but it was an "untested" listing (i.e. probably knacked!) so I passed. I hope to swap my A3340SX 4 track for an 80-8 8 track soon anyway, and so will hopefully be able to pick up a Teac DX-8 to go with!

However, my uses for the 118 would be actual audio compression, as in, not for companding/noise reduction purposes, but just as one would apply compression to drums, say, in a recording studio. I already have a 117 and 119 and, since they're basically the same circuit, I am going to mod the 117 for extra compression, maybe upgrade the opamps to burr browns on both. The 11x units are still relatively cheap (I got the 117 for £35) and are apparently a budget way to get the sound, or at least a flavour of, the DBX 160! There was a rumour that they in fact had the same VCA in as that fabled unit but this turned out to be false.

My main recorder at the moment tho is the Akai MG614 cassette 4 tracker, and that has some rather sweet sounding DBX built in.

Thanks again!

[Virtual-Symmetry]

Geoff. The best mixer i ever had was the Tascam 'M224'.. Not a massive desk but was big enough for my synths at the time..

[Geefresh]

The biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig brother of my M-208! Same mixer...but with A LOT more channels! I'm actually selling it tho, on the evil place at the moment. I'm just in love with the M30! I'm a sucker for padded arm rests, raised VU meters and wooden side panels!