Tascam 130

Advantages: Good features, sound quality, can be bought cheaply on ebay.
Disadvantages: No phantom power some leaking issues.

...The most expensive of Tascams portastudio range. The 424 MKIII is a very good purchase for the musician on a budget who needs more than just plug and play features. The unit contains, 4 unpowered balanced XLR inputs. 4 jack inputs. (you can't use bolth the xlr and jacks at once) and 2 further jack inputs. So if you were to use XLR - Jack converters. You could run 6 microphones through the unit at once. The unit does have a tricky operation however. First you must select the input, line/mic - for microphones and jack inputs off - for no input tape - for monitoring whilst recording on another channel to monitor without leakage. Then there is a 4 band e.q., high, high-mid, mid and low. Very few portastudios have a 4 band e.q. Next are the effect sends, if you have a compressor of effects unit connected, these dictate how much... Read review

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Advantages: Tough, affordable, high quality, low noise, versatile
Disadvantages: No sliding faders.

...(NB I've revised this review in response for requests to include explanations of some of the more technical terms in the text for the benefit of anyone just starting out in audio. It's not my intention to patronise those already in the know) I bought this mixer for a little under £300 back in 2004. I had read a lot of favourable reviews in the various studio websites and magazines, most notably in Sound On Sound. I work from a PC with a 24-bit 10-channel soundcard and a pair of Mackie THX active monitors (professional studio speakers), but I was still getting a little noise in the system from my old Tascam digital Portastudio which had gone into retirement as a mixing desk. I needed a noise-free 12-channel mixer that could be configured conveniently to interconnect my PC audio inputs and outputs to my monitors. synthesizers... Read review

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Advantages: A handy combo for practice or small gigs.
Disadvantages: A little heavy to carry on your own, especially with a bass.

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