Topic: Stock Marantz 660. Worth a damn???

[mikesalvo]

hey,

is running a stock 660 even worht it? does it sound decent unmodded?

thanks!

[digifish_music]

hey,

is running a stock 660 even worht it? does it sound decent unmodded?

thanks!

Looking at the specs on paper you wouldn't think so, the S/N looks particularly ordinary. However, a friend of mine uses one to capture sounds for sample CDs (music production), and the results sound great to me. That said, the PMD 661 is on it's way...stay tuned.

digifish

[newplanet7]

There is one fella in the 660 team thread who uses it unmodded.
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,83918.0.html
I believe he is from japan.
Might want to pm him.
His user name is rockthing.
EDIT  http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=profile;u=18385

I know that even with my modded box when I ran it my first time out without the pad on I bricked.
So I wouldn't get it if you weren't going to get it modded.

Are you looking to get the one in the YS?
I'm not sure if busman or Oade mods them anymore.

[jacobmyers]

From what I've read, the preamps of the stock PMD660 have improved greatly over the past three years. That said; the only reason I'd get one stock would be to do a side-by-side comparison of the stock/modded preamps. I'd be more than willing to do it if Marantz would be willing to loan me a PMD660 to use for a week or so. I'm reticent to buy another recorder just to compare a stock recorder to the Songcatcher 660 that I'm more than pleased with. But with the PMD661 in the pipe, the price of the PMD660 may go down. And that sort of thing (pseudo-scientific technical comparisons) does float my boat... Maybe when I'm done with the stock one, I can send it to Busman (if he's still working on them) and do an Oade/Busman comparison. That could be fun.

[newplanet7]

It's the a/d that bricks under high spls.

Unless you're getting it modded I'd pass.

[stevetoney]

Offer $300 and get Busman to mod it for $160 and you'll have one of the best sounding mods in the business.  My opinion.

People can argue about 24 bit and I like 24 bit for sure, but it's the sound you want and the bus modded 660 is bar none one of the best sounding out there.

[newplanet7]

Offer $300 and get Busman to mod it for $160 and you'll have one of the best sounding mods in the business.  My opinion.

People can argue about 24 bit and I like 24 bit for sure, but it's the sound you want and the bus modded 660 is bar none one of the best sounding out there.

Is he still modding these?

[stevetoney]

Offer $300 and get Busman to mod it for $160 and you'll have one of the best sounding mods in the business.  My opinion.

People can argue about 24 bit and I like 24 bit for sure, but it's the sound you want and the bus modded 660 is bar none one of the best sounding out there.

Is he still modding these?

Chris is in the business of doing mods...it's his living.  Can't imagine that he's not, but shoot him a pm and confirm!

chris@busmanaudio.com

[newplanet7]

Yeah, I would definitely shoot him a PM.
The 660 mod is not on his site anymore but check into it anyway.
I love mine.

Here's the mods he is currently doing.
http://www.busmanaudio.com/mods.html

[kirk97132]

Chris will pretty much mod anything you want modded, plus he stands behind his work.  His concern about your satisfaction goes way above and beyond what you would expect.  I'll fluff Chris any chance I get, any custom work you want done,  quality work, great guy, superb customer relations what more can you ask for?

[stevetoney]

^^ Seconded.

I've had three business transactions with Chris and they were all really top notch and he definitely stands behind the work he does. 

In one transaction, I idly mentioned not having the time to get a mod completed before a festival that was 1 1/2 hence.  Chris emailed me and said 'no problem'.  With 9 days before the festival started, I sent him my HD-P2, he modded it and sent it back to me with the mod completed and it arrived with 2 days to spare.

I'm not saying that he can turn everything around that fast, but I _AM_ saying that he delivers on what he says he will do!

[hypnotoad]

Yeah, I would definitely shoot him a PM.
The 660 mod is not on his site anymore but check into it anyway.
I love mine.

Here's the mods he is currently doing.
http://www.busmanaudio.com/mods.html

Oh, is he only doing specific mods these days?  I never noticed that page when I was on his website.  That's probably why he never got back to me.  I've sent him pms and emails over the past few months to see if he could mod some Naks for me, but he never replied.

[newplanet7]

Yeah, I would definitely shoot him a PM.
The 660 mod is not on his site anymore but check into it anyway.
I love mine.

Here's the mods he is currently doing.
http://www.busmanaudio.com/mods.html

Oh, is he only doing specific mods these days?  I never noticed that page when I was on his website.  That's probably why he never got back to me.  I've sent him pms and emails over the past few months to see if he could mod some Naks for me, but he never replied.

I know he was moving and shut down for a few.

[mikesalvo]

interesting input from all here. Thanks so much! I guess when it coems down to it, Im just looking to get an all in one for a smaller rig. However being that Im pretty much consistently happy with my UA-5>JB3 i'm going to stick with it for now... 

[paulbaptiste]

Yeah, I would definitely shoot him a PM.
The 660 mod is not on his site anymore but check into it anyway.
I love mine.

Here's the mods he is currently doing.
http://www.busmanaudio.com/mods.html

Oh, is he only doing specific mods these days?  I never noticed that page when I was on his website.  That's probably why he never got back to me.  I've sent him pms and emails over the past few months to see if he could mod some Naks for me, but he never replied.

he modded my naks probably 2 months ago, so i'm sure he'll still do it.  I believe he said something about no longer doing the 700 series, but if you got 300's (like mine) you'll be alright.

[DATPAT]

I just bought a stock 660 and am fairly happy with it but I don't know what to compare it to since I never used a seperate Pre and haven't used it with any of the usual mic's yet. I used to tape quite a bit back in the 90's. I used a DA-P1 Dat and a Marantz DAT (Model #?) looked like a brick. The same deck was available under Aiwa and HHB. I never once used a seperate mic pre because I couldn't afford it. I ran several AKG Models including C-61 Tube's,  460's and a vintage Electret condenser called a SE-10. I was generally happy with the sound I got with both dec's and I wonder if the current pre's are about as good as the ones that were the old Dat decks I used. Especially compared to the Marantz DAT since it was from the some manufacturer. My only concern is in the spec. it listed a S/N Ratio of 80db. I thought most digital recorders were generally 90db and up. Anyhow I used it with some Oktava's the other night and was fairly happy.