Comments on: The Fostex 250 and 250AV cassette four-track machine https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/ information and ideas about audio history Sat, 04 Feb 2023 13:41:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Ken Weidner https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-630513 Sat, 04 Feb 2023 13:41:51 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-630513 In reply to Mark Watson.

If you are still looking, I have a Fostex 260 on which I am replacing the belt and cleaning it; the pinch roller looks fine. I’ll be using it to move the remainder of my 4-track media to digital and plan to sell it after that (via Cl, Sweetwater G, or Reverb). If you are still looking for one, let me know.

]]> By: Mark Watson https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-619825 Sat, 12 Mar 2022 20:20:56 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-619825 I am interested to purchase a working Fostex 250, and am willing to pay for a refurbished model. Anybody???

]]> By: Paul https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-566424 Tue, 12 Feb 2019 15:39:02 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-566424 In reply to Serge.

Hi , i have the same issue… no pages 18 and 19 on the web.
Did you manage to find them? if so, could you send them over by any chance?
Cheers

]]> By: Peter Wood --Jenkins https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-431612 Sun, 01 Oct 2017 10:46:25 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-431612 CAN ANYONE TELL ME COULD i GET A DECENT RESULT JUST USING a 250 FOR VOCALS I would need to download a Wave backing track on to the FOSTEK TO SING ALONG TO
And then down load the Analogue vocal tracks onto my P C Digital recorder for a mixdown

Am I making sense ?? Cant stand the digital sound on vocals

]]> By: Serge https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-391945 Thu, 16 Feb 2017 10:20:44 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-391945 In reply to Mike Calise.

Hello, Mike.
Can you send me (or tell me the info) pages 18 and 19 from the manual?
This pages contains one important part for me about stereo recording and it absent even at the relevant section of fostexinternational.com (in .pdf file)

]]> By: John https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-371896 Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:24:59 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-371896 In reply to johnny.

You dude, I pulled my out of storage today. Not used in 15 years. The belts were all disintegrated and the motor wouldn’t turn. I opened it up, took the belts off. I sat there in dismay. I walked away and left it on. In 15 minutes the motor decided to at least turn, no belts just the motor. It was noisy by itself. I found a bag of assorted elastics. I found two suitable elastics for belts. I had to mess around a fair bit. It wouldn’t play but it would FF and RR. After doing this a bunch of times it started to play the tapes. How cool is that. When I lay the thing flat, the elastics eventually fall off, well just the big one, not the small one. So I put it on it’s side and it works fine no problem. Heads are fine, works well much to my surprise. Now I’m dumping all tracks into Logic Pro X before tapes and machine finally bite the dust. see ya, signed one happy guy!

]]> By: johnny https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-344390 Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:25:40 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-344390 In reply to Scott.

wow i have the same unit, i wrote a ton of songs on it. then went digital. i wanted to download all the old songs and it turns on but wont turn, maybe it is just a belt.
1. where did you find the belt
2. do you recomend a tech to repair this? I want to give it to my daugther who is now writing a lot of tunes.
thanks
-JB

]]> By: Mike Calise https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-326189 Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:54:39 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-326189 I’ve owned this machine since the mid 1980’s when it first came out. Very practical and easy to use. If anyone is interested, I have the original owner’s manual. You can contact me at my listed email if you need it.

]]> By: Skyler https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-290166 Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:48:35 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-290166 I currently own two of these 250’s and a good number of other 4 track cassette recorders and have in the past owned, yet a great many ( over a dozen ) other Multitrack cassette recorders. And this one I have to tell you, sounds the best out of all of them! Even now, some 30+ years after it was built it sounds nearly just as punchy as my Tascam 38 1/2″ recorder. I think the obvious comparison to it would be a Tascam 244. Which I believe came out about a year or earlier to the 250. I do own two 244s as well, one for parts and one that only works on 3 tracks currently. They do sound very close, but I still give the edge to the Fostex by a few % points. I’ve owned a TON of Tascams from a 414 to a 488 all the way up to a 688. The 488 and 688 feature wise are in a class a bit higher, and even to this day sold for upwards of $300-$400 but don’t really match the sound of the 250s! Among the my current 4 track recorders I am almost on an every day basis recording with are A Tascam Porta one and Porta two. I like them for making demo’s at regular speed 1 7/8 so I can listen to my music on a Walkman. They simply just don’t sound as nice as the 250. Only about 60-70% as good to my ears! This also goes for my current 414 mk2. About 65 to maybe 75% My Yamaha Mt 100 I’d rate only about 55% – 60% even with good clead heads! Fostex X-28H 60- 65% Korg CR-4 60 -70% ( I like the fx on this one) and lastly my Fostex 260 at about 75 – 80% Really nice mixer on the 260!!! Sound wise both of my 688 ‘s only came in at about 70% but the with 8 tracks the bandwidth obviously narrows! I have never owned a Tascam 246! But hear from a lot of sources that this was the best 4 track ever made!?!? : / If it sounds like the 244, I would have to give them their due credit. Lastly my 244 comes in at about 90-95% to the 250’s 100% but with only a slightly easier layout. The Fostex 250’s are a little screwy in only headphone level design with a 12 O clock setting giving you ZERO VOLUME!

]]> By: Bill Fulbright https://www.preservationsound.com/the-fostex-250-and-250av-cassette-four-track-machine/#comment-165742 Thu, 04 Jul 2013 23:58:44 +0000 http://www.preservationsound.com/?p=2032#comment-165742 In reply to Demetric Cooper.

am interested. is it still for sale? 7/4/2013

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