Topic: Joe Co

[cybergaloot]

Anybody have any experience with their gear? I'd like to pick up a rack mount multichannel recorder (as in 16 channels) and their stuff looks attractive.
http://www.joeco.co.uk/main/index.html

[John Willett]

I have seen it and some friends have it - excellent piece of kit.

[mandoman]

Been drooling over these too. I wish they made a more consumer friendly price point 16-channel version to hook into my mackie 16-channel mixer. Something <$2k, and I'd be all over it.
Perhaps I'll get one when they have been around long enough to find easily on the used market.

If you get one, let us know how it is.

[Patrick]

First time I saw these things in the field is when Mike Gordon's crew was using them to multitrack.  I had a lengthy discussion with his FOH engineer about it, seemed to work well for their purposes.  The units are pretty bare bones, and sports some features that I find a little odd in a professional unit.. But you absolutely can't beat the price and footprint for 24 channels in one rack space.  Also the fact that they have analog and digi input versions of the units is just awesome.  They really hit the mark with these things.

[cybergaloot]

It will be a good while before I can afford one of these but they sure look like what will fit the bill for me. Space is at a premium where I record most often. I'm looking at the BBR1U with Unbalanced analogue i/o. I don't see me needing anything more than 24 channels and most of the boards I'd probably run into with this would have unbalanced insert points or direct outs. I wish I would have had one last weekend as the show may end up on a live CD release. Instead I was mixing to stereo on the fly.

[gtalife]

Had one for a 18 months, have the first version (analog, unbalanced) Love it! Use it with a Glyph 500GB HD. Quick easy set up, traveled to Europe with it, carry on luggage.
The Alesis HD24 used to be my Multitrack workhorse...life got a lot easier to multitrack with the Joeco, basically idiot proof operation. Worth every penny, pricey it is, luckily picked up a demo version at $2K at the time.  i know (via the Team Blues) you do a lot of recording, buying this kit puts you into another level.

[cybergaloot]

Had one for a 18 months, have the first version (analog, unbalanced) Love it! Use it with a Glyph 500GB HD. Quick easy set up, traveled to Europe with it, carry on luggage.
The Alesis HD24 used to be my Multitrack workhorse...life got a lot easier to multitrack with the Joeco, basically idiot proof operation. Worth every penny, pricey it is, luckily picked up a demo version at $2K at the time.  i know (via the Team Blues) you do a lot of recording, buying this kit puts you into another level.

Thanks! I'm pretty much sold but wont get it until sometime next year. I don't want to get into multichannel for all the acts I record but I'd love to get better recordings of some of them and multichannel is the way to go. After all, with some of these blues guys you wont get another chance!

[kcmule]

Thanks! I'm pretty much sold but wont get it until sometime next year. I don't want to get into multichannel for all the acts I record but I'd love to get better recordings of some of them and multichannel is the way to go. After all, with some of these blues guys you wont get another chance!

I've pretty much gone with only the multitrack these days.  I've been using an HD24,
but I gotta say those Joe Co units look pretty sweet!

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Having tried multi-track recording several years ago with a laptop computer (what a headache), this looks like a great, straightforward piece of gear.  Wouldn't mind getting my hands on one for awhile.

[cybergaloot]

Before I can go with the JoeCo recorder I am picking up an Allen & Heath ZED 22fx console and a new laptop. The good news is that the board is $700-800 and I can get the laptop on payroll deduction through work. So hopefully sometime in the spring I can get the JoeCo box. Zzounds.com has a program where I can get the board from them and make four payments. Not bad.

[oleg]

running  couple for the last year - zero problems for 24x2 or 48  tracks
 

[cybergaloot]

Any recommendations or warnings about hard drives to use with it?

[Patrick]

running  couple for the last year - zero problems for 24x2 or 48  tracks

Interesting.  Really glad to hear a positive review of these units. Gearslutz has a few scary reviews but overall they seem solid.  If I owned a digital console I would be all over the Joe Co boxes... Definitely no contest at this price point.

[cybergaloot]

I'll have to see what the comments at Gearslutz are. You hit a key word, "digital." Some folks from the analog school seem to have trouble with digital equipment. I've heard them say "lick it but don't stick it." On old analog tape recorders you would let the meter needles go into the red some but you can't do that with digital gear. Once a digital "word" is full, its full. That's it, you can't stuff no more in there. What you get a brickwall effect.  Analog gear just got progressively distorted. And the meters are actually different. Zero on a digital meter is all there is. There is no + side. There is no going into the red.

[F.O.Bean]