The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: Dave W on April 01, 2013, 02:46:48 PM
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The fake Gibson April Fools story is down, but while trying to find a cached copy, I found some real Gibson news.
Gibson buys majority stake in TEAC (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/gibson-buys-stake-in-teac/). Better get your pre-Gibson Tascam Portastudios now before the price doubles.
Gibson and Nissan join forces (http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/nissan-and-gibson-harmonize-on-2013-nv200-2013-new-york-auto-show.html) for mobile guitar repair. Coming soon to a venue near you?
Kalamazoo Gals (http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/03/kalamazoo_gals_book_to_inspire.html), a new book about women who worked at Gibson during WWII.
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Gibson buys majority stake in TEAC (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/gibson-buys-stake-in-teac/). Better get your pre-Gibson Tascam Portastudios now before the price doubles.
TEAC/Tascam has never been great quality anyway, pricing to the contrary.
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TEAC/Tascam has never been great quality anyway, pricing to the contrary.
I can't speak for their entire product range but I will say that my Tascam MP-BT1 bass trainer has been going strong for years now, and it's rattled about in the bottom of bags, pockets, been dropped, knocked against solid things like Boss pedals, etc. and I won't have a bad word said against it.
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They have a terrible problem with tape transports or any moving parts across all their products from cheapie cassette decks to the top line digital multitracks. They didn't even start offering mixers with balanced outputs until almost ten years of being trounced by Mackie. Not all of their stuff is crap, but for what it costs, it's usually pretty easy to find a superior product from someone else.
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The only TEAC/Tascam product I've owned was a fairly expensive TEAC cassette deck 20 or so years ago. The wow and flutter was so bad I had to take it back.
Whatever problems they have, I'm sure Henry J. will fix it right away.
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Whatever problems they have, I'm sure Henry J. will fix it right away.
So, how long will it be before Peavey or Behringer buys them after Gibson stops all their production, yet advertises new models and shows product at trade shows?
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Gibson buys majority stake in TEAC (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/gibson-buys-stake-in-teac/). Better get your pre-Gibson Tascam Portastudios now before the price doubles.
Oh god....I smell a Gibson Karaoke Guitar model...simply pop in a recording of the song and have your fingers pretend to play it.
So...looks like all the 2012 tales of Gibson financial woes may have actually been Henry cutting overhead to free up funds to buy into more brands? The guy certainly has a vision.
I've owned many Teac/Tascam products over the years...4-, 8- amd 16-tracks open reels and the larger mixers. All great stuff. It was Teac that pioneered home-based multi-track recording in the 70s before anyone else. I'm guessing the soft economy, trend towards software/computer recording and the tsunami in Japan probably all has weakened Tascam alot over the last several years....but enough to let Gibson get control? Can't say this has fared well for a number of other brands.
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les paul radios coming your way. :rolleyes:
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Tascam stuff has always gotten mixed reviews. Some swear by it, some swear at it.
I can't believe Gibson would make big changes to the existing lines unless there are serious losses. Some of the company's resources might be used for the next Fireturd X type project to come along, and we could possibly see some Gibson branded electronics, but my guess is that it's mainly just Gibson diversifying its portfolio.
Flametop portastudio, anyone?
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I dunno, some of those old portastudios were rock solid (many still used by student-age indie bands near you). The 424 mkII is a classic with a strong cult following. Certainly their cassette multitracks were not any worse than Yamaha's (I used both as a youngin)... I don't recall any other brands even being available here.
It's all moot however, because the era of the hardware portastudio (and any audio medium requiring any moving parts) is pretty much over anyway (some exceptions, large format tape in fewer and fewer pro studios, niche hipster use etc; negligible), which is why Tascam makes DAW interfaces now. Personally, I think the strength of the company is in their more specialized products (audio interfaces and recorders for DSLR cameras for example - not nearly as crowded a market as prosumer level interfaces, though also not as lasarge, but large enough, and they'd never in a million years convince pro audio engineers that they're at their level now.... film guys on the other hand, already use their stuff all over the place, but even there, I'd have to concede that the Cadillac is not in Tascam's product line).
Gibson has been going more high tech recently, what with that robotic Les Paul that I barely glanced at, so it does make some sense to acquire Tascam, who has the design and production capacity to handle what Gibson needs.
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At least there isn't a guy NAMED Mr. "Tascam," to be banging his head against a brick wall after Gibson ruins his good name. There's already enough blood on that wall from Ned and Mike.
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At least there isn't a guy NAMED Mr. "Tascam," to be banging his head against a brick wall after Gibson ruins his good name. There's already enough blood on that wall from Ned and Mike.
Ned and Mike chose to sell their companies along with their good names. Gibson bought those companies at the wrong time. Gibson didn't manage them well, but even the best management couldn't have kept those styles in favor, especially at the prices they were selling for.
I've also heard Gibson blasted for running Trace Elliot into the ground. The truth is that the company was about to go under when Kaman bought them in 1992. Gibson was trying to revive their tube guitar amp business when they bought it 5 or 6 years later; the bass end of the business was already in the toilet.
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The problem with Gibson and Trace Elliot was that Gibson kept saying it was still being made, kept the website with the full past product range displayed, and claimed warranty support (which they actually would not provide on anything made in England), when the only things they were making under the Trace Elliot brand were overpriced acoustic guitar amps. Trace was kind of an odd phenomenon; they made REALLY good, really expensive amps with some weird idiosyncrasies, but after the New Wave bass sound played out and the exchange rate favored the pound, they were eclipsed by SWR, who pretty much co-opted their whole brand aesthetic with an American twist. Kaman made some bad decisions after buying them, but ultimately, Trace Elliot just wasn't a feasible brand for the US after the 80's. I doubt Peavey is doing any better with them. I have seen new production models that have the same problems that Kaman-era Trace products had. Even Marshall isn't building their amps in England anymore.
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I've used both TEAC and Tascam tape drives from time to time - never had a problem with them. I have a TEAC Reel to Reel at home that I'm still using to transfer old RR tapes to digital.