Tascam BB-800

[b0b]

Has anyone here used the Tascam BB-800? Looks like it would be perfect for simple on-the-fly rehearsal and gig recordings:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BB800



I really like the fact that it has built-in speakers and a remote. Phantom power on the external mike inputs is a big plus, too.

[b0b]

Here's a link to the manual.
http://www.tascam.com/i-3738-232-128-0-CEAF06E2.pdf

Seems to be a pretty nice recorder.

[Jan Dunn]

I recently bought a BB-1000 (and not because the price cut-it has been replaced by a rack mount recorder,the 1000 is priced the same as the 800 at present)but because for a niche market (me) it's ideal. First off, who won't like or want it. If you're fortunate enough to have your guitar near your computer and do all the fancy recording with Pro Tools and the like, this will seem well, primitive. If you are fascinated by new technology, you'll turn your nose up. Want it to fit in your pocket? You can start laughing now (picture a notebook computer but 5 inches thick-backpack, yes, pocket,no). Addicted to menus? Nope. This one has actual knobs and buttons for almost everything. That is definitely old school but some of us liked that. Turning a knob rather pressing a button 10 times to turn up the input gain is sort of satisfying to an old guy like me.

So why this one? I'm strictly a bedroom player (and a poor one at that) and my computer is two floors away in my home office. I wanted a recorder that had

Line-in (I wanted to convert my old audio cassettes)

Pitch control (gotta tune those old cassette speed variations rather than the guitar)

Speed control (how else to slow it down with out a computer handy?)

Looping (I need to hear it over and over again to start to understand what's going on)

Line-out (to go to my amp or a mixer)

Headphone out (why make the wife suffer?)

Over-dubbing (maybe I want to record while playing to a track).

Ability to put markers in an audio file (might want to jump to that part I'm trying to learn)

The BB-1000 met those criteria and was the only one I could find that had ALL of them. But there's plenty more. Two front mics and two rear mics. 2 XLR Phantom mic inputs (like I know what that is!). Two speakers and a 10 watt amp to drive them (sounds as good as a higher end analog boom box from the old days with no distortion when turned up loud). There's some minor editing abilities but you'll want to take the SD card or CD (records both and from the SD to CD) to a computer (a plug for multi-track studio-inexpensive and very easy to use software). Center 'channel' canceling to maybe cut out vocals. 2 tuners-a chromatic and an oscillator as well as a metronome. Runs on AC or 8 AA batteries and has a remote control.

Did I mention no learning curve to use it? Twist knobs and press buttons. Sorry, but that's important to me.
To my ears, the sound quality is excellent if the source is excellent. My old audio cassettes are reproduced very faithfully and with some cleanup on a computer are darn good. Recording my guitar through the built in mics produces an accurate reproduction of the original sound.

I'm guessing that the target market was music teachers since the operation is simple and providing a student with a CD of a session is easy. Plus no need to play through an amplified system. It's all self-contained.

I've never used a Zoom H4n or one of the new pocket recorders so I can't tell you its better, worse or comparable as far a quality of a recording. I'm sure everyone with a digital recorder is happy with theirs and can sing the praises of it. My problem with them is they don't do everything the BB-1000 does without post processing in a computer. On the down side, you don't get 4 tracks of recording with the BB-1000 like you do with the newer recorders. Size can be a problem as it can't clip to the leg of your guitar unless you want the whole thing to collapse into an expensive mess. Best to sit it on the floor on its own little legs. No automatic recording triggered by a signal exceeding some threshold (the remote is a help but...).

So, if you currently have a tape player as your practice tool (yes, there are a few of us left) and you need to make the jump to digital, the BB-1000 is the least painless way to move up. Frankly, it's an ideal way to move up if you have requirement similar to my own.

[Jan Dunn]

The BB-1000 in fact does have auto start and stop recording triggered by a signal threshold you set.

[Darrell Owens]

Bob,

That looks like a good recorder, especially with the playback speakers.

I bought the Tascam DR-100. It is about the same price point, and it is smaller and easier to carry around. It has excellent built in mics that are switchable from omni to close-up recording applications.


http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DR100/

Here is a quick link to a tune I recorded just to demo the recorder. Just the Tascam DR-100 using the built in mics sitting about 10" in front of the amp. I am sure the quality of recording is about the same.

http://www.box.net/shared/static/uc1c5hxs6u.mp3

[jolynyk]

Very Nice Darrell, great tone..