can anyone tell me about these tape machines? are the transports reliable, parts available...what is a good price to pay for one? is it comparable to something like a jh16/24?

thanks.

We have a 2" 16 M79. I like it, but lots don't. It's not super precise for punching, and we don't have the stock remote, so there's some limited capability there. They're old decks (we think ours is '74) and they act like it. We don't use it all the time, but try to keep it in as best alignment as possible. It's not super precise there either. I've seen a number of them for sale in the last 2 years, which may mean folks are just fed up and want something newer. That's pretty much the avenue for getting the more critcal parts. Bet you'd be much better off with something a bit more "common"...

I've got a 2-inch 24-track M79 for sale. Previous 2 owners were the Power Station (used on some Bowie records) and Mitch Easter.

I bought it from Mitch when I thought I'd own my own studio someday. I don't think I'll own a studio anymore, so it's time to let go.

Contact me off-list if interested:

bweston@ripco.com

Bob

John Klett has a ton of experience with these machines. Check out his forum in the Recpit at www.prosoundweb.com.

-C

(edit) Looks like the Recpit is closed. You can still view the archives if you want. It's under "Community Forums"

I think this topic came up once before.
My opinion is stay away from the 3M machines. They don't work right in almost any way. Whether or not it sounds ok is irrelevant because you won't be able to record anything on it. Unless you are brilliant and like fixing things on a constant basis like John Klett, Bob, or Otho, stay away.

greg wrote:I think this topic came up once before.
My opinion is stay away from the 3M machines. They don't work right in almost any way. Whether or not it sounds ok is irrelevant because you won't be able to record anything on it. Unless you are brilliant and like fixing things on a constant basis like John Klett or Otho, stay away.

Greg, how the hell is Bob ever going to sell his machine?

John Klett just rebuilt the M56 I'm about to buy which makes me feel better about it.

-chas

I thought I'd keep you all posted on my attempts to use a 33 year-old M56 in a professional recording situation (that means paying clients).

So far so good. The machine has been playing and recording for ten days now. We line it up every day and it generally looks good. The outer tracks are a little wobbly up at 10K. We need to find out if it is even possible to make them perform better. We have had to make use of our stash of spare cards - one record channel was not recording enough bass and one playback channel was super-bright. The playback card might just have a bad pot. As long as we have working spares around we'll be okay.

The machine also blew a fuse on the first day we had it. It was entirely my fault - I was poking around trying to solve a problem that didn't exist and I shorted something out.

It sounds better than anything I have ever owned, so that is nice. Also, it is the machine that Eddie Van Halen bought from Sunset Sound for his home studio. It recorded the first three VH albums and lots of other classics around that time. I think that is pretty cool.

Wish us luck in proving Greg wrong.
Charles

3M's sound real neat, when they work. Greg's comments should be given great consideration. I used to work for a place with an m-79, and though I rather liked the way it sounded, it was often a big problem during sessions. This machine was rebuilt by Otho so it's not like it came out of a basement in Iowa. I'd go with an MCI or Otari and save myself alot of headache/money. Sorry if this hurts your sales Bob and hope your good luck stays steady Charles.