You can't go wrong with an Otari. I have one 1/2" eight-track and four 1/4" two-track machines. There are loads of them out there for cheap, and parts are readily available. I definitely agree with Hiwatt about testing one out before you buy it. check to see if it plays back smoothly and with consis...

Did you try the Cubase.net Forum ? It's not the most friendly forum, but if you state your problem intelligently they will be accommodating. You have to be a legal owner of cubase to register. I'm using SX2.2.0.39 on my PC, and I must say it's a huge step up from SX1.06. I know what you mean about l...

I'd recommend trying some cabinet modelling software. It allows you to try limitless design options and instantly see the results. All the tedious calculations are done automatically. I use Bass Box Pro and Xover Pro. They have an extensive driver database that is periodically updated when new drive...

Keep in mind that RAID 1 will only protect against hardware failure. You still need to make regular backups. It won't protect you against corrupted files due to software crashes or accidental deletion. Oh, and while we're bashing our least favorite brands: I have one Maxtor and four WD drives. The M...

For Fenders and Music Man Amps, I love Svetlanas. I've been using Svetlanas for many years. They are very clean and clear, and they really can take a beating, too. Make sure you don't get pulled into the name trap. They are now called SED and have a "winged C" logo (Cyrillic S). The "Svetlana" bran...

Fender 400PS - biggest fender amp ever built I'm still amazed that that amp uses a 6L6 as a driver tube. I think that an amp that can be used for guitar or bass must posess a versatile preamp and a clear power amp. It needs to have enough range in the tone controls to get the desired sound. The pow...

While I'll admit that the sound of hifi VHS is better than cassette, it's been horribly unreliable IME. All you have to have is one glitch that causes the player to mistrack, and the first thing to go BZZZZZT is the sound. On the subject of 4-tracks: most of them record at double speed only. Also th...

Some questions come to mind: 1. What is the sensitivity of each cab? A 4-10 will likely be much more efficient than a 1-15. Unless you pad down the 4-10, you might end up with a weak low end. 2. Are the impedances of each cabinet equal? You don't want to place an uneven load on a tube amp. I am curr...

I think the bigger issue is that some guitar amps will flip the polarity of the signal. Even this wouldn't be much of a problem since you could just flip the polarity of one of the mics. As far as phase differences between the two amps, just make sure the mic distances are the same. Or don't. It all...

OK, it's not exactly lo-buck, but M Audio is releasing a new portable recorder . It looks like it should be a promising piece of gear with plenty of i/o and recording quality options. I've been video taping some shows recently and would love to have a better quality soundtrack. This may be the devic...