Topic: TCD D8 preamp

[Kelso]

I know I've wondered around asking stuffs for a long now but I'm still looking for the best 16-44.1-rig-with-decent-preamp-and-converter. First I was very interested in the jb3 option, but the complete rig (I mean with the AD20) is too expensive since I have a VERY little amount of cash (and all the cash I have I spend it for audio hardware). So here is my point.
Yesteday I found a 2nd-hand offer for a TCD-d8 for 450? (760 new here), and I'm still waiting to know more about this unit. And discovered it has a real preamp with gain, and didn't knew that. Which mean I could start recording with nothing else than a mic and a batt box (still to be found).
I wanted to know how good is this preamp, how much gain do you get, and how noisy it is. Also how is the converter?  And last question what is this plug-in power,and  how much voltage does it provide?
For the mic I was thinking about either my 1" condenser mic (Studio project B1) or buy an AT 30331. Let me know what you think about this rig. Also note I want to record in quiet environment and I'm not sure I can do that w/o a dedicated preamp.

[momule]

well no offense but i don't think I would pay 450 for a D8. hell you can usally get a M1 for that if ya look around.
Or a D100, there is one for sale now for 350 or something

And My thought's On DAT, If you on a limited Budget to start with, I would stay away from DAT, cause it will take some money to keep up, I know most folk's Don't see it as an expense, But a trip to pro digital every couple years should really be figured into the total cost's aswell.
I see it as you could buy a new Jb3 for what it would cost ya to realign the head's and a clean up every couple year's.

And You still have to deal with tape flip's .
That was my main reason of not going with DAT, Second was the damn transfers.

I just don't care for DAT at all, Just my personal preference

I would suggest looking into some sorta hard disc recorder , you can buy a referb Jb3 for just around $200 from creative. Compared to the price of a used DAT ya can buy 2 for that matter, and allways have a back up.  

Good Luck with your ?'s

Nick

[Kelso]

you're right about the jb3, but the d8 would let me begin with a decent preamp and converter. With the jb3 I would have to buy an external preamp and maybe converter. That's what bother me.
The trick is: I live in France and all these stuffs are either really expensive or hard to find (not to say impossible). That's why the d8 is 450?, it costs 800? new. There's no way to get a moded ua-5 with battery, or an ad20, and I'm a little reluctant to send 400$ overseas (I had transport trouble from here, and I know how UPS and else "care" about what they carry: there was footprints on my boxes). And if I add the jb3 price to this it's a more expensive than the
d8.  It sucks to be french

[jpschust]

i would wait around here for someone who is reputable and get a d100 or m1 from them.  i dont know how VAT and customs work, however.  people on here are really trustworthy, see the top thread in the yard sale about buying and selling on ebay and here for info on how to rate a seller

[tchoub]

you're right about the jb3, but the d8 would let me begin with a decent preamp and converter. With the jb3 I would have to buy an external preamp and maybe converter. That's what bother me.
The trick is: I live in France and all these stuffs are either really expensive or hard to find (not to say impossible). That's why the d8 is 450?, it costs 800? new. There's no way to get a moded ua-5 with battery, or an ad20, and I'm a little reluctant to send 400$ overseas (I had transport trouble from here, and I know how UPS and else "care" about what they carry: there was footprints on my boxes). And if I add the jb3 price to this it's a more expensive than the
d8.  It sucks to be french

I totally agree with you. I also live in France and the least that we can say is that getting a DAT at a decent price here doesn't seem as simple as it is in the US...

You may pay taxes if you buy equipment abroad : that's what happened to me a few days ago when I received my ad20 by Fedex... Actually, even with taxes, it is cheaper to buy the ad20 in the US than buying it in France  

I also bought a D8 from an US seller for $350 (with 7 pin cable included and a sm58 mic) some months ago. Unfortunately, everything was supposed to be in perfect condition but :
 - the D8 never worked... After more than 4 months, the repair section of Sony France has not yet fixed the problem !
 - the sm58 doesn't work...

So I would say :
   - buy your equipment abroad but from trustable persons (like those you will find in the "Yard sale" part of this forum   ) or companies (SP is very helpful and really quick).
In this case you may pay taxes (~25% of the total price)
  - buy your equipment in France. This will be more expensive but could avoid some problems...

[jlykos]

The problem in the D7 and D8 is not so much its preamp, but its awful A/D converter.  If you have US$450 to spend on a DAT deck, look into a Sony M1 or D100; both of these have good A/D converters.  You can send the Sony DAT deck to Oade Brothers in the U.S. for them to modify the preamp in any Sony deck for US$100 so it will record at full gain using the mic-in.

As for inexpensive microphones, some popular choices around here are the AT853 stereo pair for stealth / unobtrusive recording and the AKG C1000 full-sized microphones.  The AT have an external 9-volt battery box that supplies the power and the AKG use internal 9-volt batteries for power.  Just connect the cables to the mic-in (or line-in) on the portable DAT and you will be set!

You can expect to pay ~US$250-300 for a used Sony D7 or D8; US$450 for a used Sony M1 or D100.  The Oade Brothers microphone preamplifier upgrade for the Sony portable decks is US$100 I believe.  The microphones I listed should run ~US$300 or less for a pair.

[Kelso]

Ok didn't know the ADC was that bad, I was considering the D8 cause I expected better converter than on the JB3 and was interested by the intagrated preamp. Now I'm considering buying an AD20 with a JB3 from here if I find it. I don't like much the DAT technology, and it's a dying, expensive technology.

[George]

damn, i paid $375 on ebay for a used M1 and it works flawlessy...so far  

But i didnt get a lot of the accessories with it (no 7 pin cable, remote).

Guess i can always check partsolver for the remote, not sure about where (and what kind of) 7 pin cable i would need.

[Cooker]

one option you might want to consider is buying stuff in england, and going there to pick it up.

[Tim]

And You still have to deal with tape flip's .
That was my main reason of not going with DAT

so you see a lot of shows that run for more than 3 hours straight?

Tape flip? Not an issue.