2-band EQ is a wee repressive; so, if you can find and afford the 424, that is the path to follow. Needless to say, the 424 has more"more stuff." However, before tackling any mixer or digital recorder, these cassette recorders are an absolute tutorials in recording. If you can master these, Grasshopper, you are then, and only then, ready for the digital world. You do not know me, but trust me. (Sgt Peppers was cut on 4-tracks; are you up to that? Then use the guys. When you master them, you are ready to spend the big money. I promise, these can make an engineer/producer out of you! You can make beautiful music with these if you know your stauff. If you can't, then you won't do it on any thing. Plus they are quick side-kicks for quick ideas that may not have returned... God bless, Roctor

I've had mine since '98, still works fine. I recently purchased a Roland MicroCube and use it for guitar and also run an SM57 through it on the "mic" setting to record vocals and acoustic guitar. The combination of the three gadgets really works well. I run guitar direct out of the Roland or just mic it. For vocals and acoustic I run the 57 into the Roland, then line out to the mixer. You can learn a lot from using the 414mkII, not just about recording, but about how mixers work in general. The sound quality is really very good. Remember, what comes out is only as good as what you put in. If you don't like what you hear check the mirror along with the manual. I have a complete desktop PC recording setup also, but I still like working with the 414 because it's simple to use and doesn't freeze up or need "autosave".

This is a great way to get into home recording. It is priced about right and above all most folks that are into home recording now will mix down to a computer so the cassette thing is not that big of a deal. A simple unit to use and have fun with with great results.

This is a nice little tape recorder except for one thing. The level meters do not let you see your left and right stereo buss level when you mix back! How is an accurate left/right stereo level going to be achieved when you are putting your mix to your master cassette or cd recorder? I still have the 4 tracker prior to this one; the Tascam Porta 07 which was sold until almost the year 2000, and was about the same price, and it has a switch on it which converts the track 3 and 4 level meters to left and right stereo buss meters. That way you can see your left and right output levels rising as you turn up your individual channel faders, therefore avoiding distortion before you get the recording level on your master deck. (Very important if you do not want to hear clipping when you hear your final mix on another stereo system). This machine is packed with more features than even my Porta 07 has, but why did Tascam forget this?

I bought my Tascam 414mkII in the Christmas of 2002 and it is still going strong. It was my first home recording studio, and compared to some pc products I have tried it's very simple to use. Yes it may take a few hours to get to grips with how it works, but I would imagine any other similar product would be the same. I managed to complete a few tracks on the day of purchase. In general the sound quality is excellent for its price and extremely quick and easy to use. One negative feature is that it records at a faster speed than normal cassettes, so an (easily to set up) output is needed to connect the studio to either another tape recorder or pc for cd rom mixdown.