Nice, the MT400 is a serious bit of kit!
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I just picked this up for a good price on eBay I am looking forward to it arriving to make some wicked tape delays with it
Does anyone have recommendations for small quantities of colored cassettes in the US? Thinking of making a very small run of an upcoming release for my 2 fans.
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I’m strictly analogue when it comes to recording, have ten (or possibly more) multitracks now and these two are currently waiting for parts. Nothing major, just a belt for the one on your left, and a blown VU that needs attention for the one on your right.
Depending on what part of the world you’re from, you might be wondering what the hell they are, so I suppose I’d better explain. These are basically Hi-Fi stereo systems with built-in 4-Track cassette, 6-Channel mixer, built-in Turntable and Tuner.
They’re completely old-school analogue design throughout.
They hiss, crackle and boom like crazy, they’re factory-calibrated for ferric and they sound proper organic in ways that other multitracks just don’t. They have that ballsy 70s fatness to them, and because they’re calibrated for ferric, you also benefit from an extra-beefy bottom end.
And it goes further. They’re factory calibrated to run at normal tape speed by default, meaning the pitch knob will drop the speed below that of even a standard cassette player which again adds to the fatness and overall vibe of how these machines sound.
Want more? Well, it has two forms of analogue equalization connected in series. You have EQ and noise reduction filters per track which is fed into the most amazing three-band booster circuit I’ve ever heard (all analogue of course).
I keep emphasising ‘all analogue’ and I’ll do it again by telling you that it’s completely old-school ‘through-hole’ analogue as well. So when you factor-in the slower tape speeds it allows, the ferric it prefers, the two-part equalisation/booster system that’s arranged in series and an all-analogue through-hole design, you might start to appreciate why these machines sound so fat and organic.
It’s not all good news though, because they suffer from three very serious design flaws:
- The first is that there’s no official way to do send/return.
- The second is that the Booster circuit is fed to the output, not the recording.
- The third is that the upper deck is just a basic Hi-Fi deck.
The good news is that all of those limitations are gotten around by simply owning a pair. People who know and love these machines tend to learn this lesson pretty quick. You basically have to think of them as a pair of love birds that can never be separated.
Ignore that requirement and basically you’re screwed.
People used to throw these in skips because the design is quite different to how normal multitracks work, leading the owner to believe it’s a fault when actually it isn’t, it’s just done differently due to being a 4-Track Hi-Fi hybrid.
Personally I love them to bits. They’re my favourite multitrack because they’re just so organic, hissy, boomy, crackly and creamy, like some fusty-old cassette deck from the 70s that’s been left rotting away in a basement for 40 years but has you scratching your head wondering why the hell newer gear dosn’t sound like that!
Regards appearance, they’re a product of the mid 80s and look blatantly so. Bold colours on the faders and knobs, and although it might not be obvious from the photos, they have an angled front panel which gives them a futuristic appearance.
The matching speaker units that came with them also have an angled front, although the speakers are absolute crap, usable only as 80s eye candy!
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