TASCAM CD-BT1

See my previous review for a more hopeful outlook......The funeral arrangements are pending for my now deceased CD-BT-1. Born 2004, died 2007. I kept this turd runnin' like a Cuban keeps his '54 Chevy runnin'- with chewing gum, bailing wire, and duct tape and in my case, super glue. The difference is the Chevy was made well. This is like an old Chrysler K car...a truly disposable unit. I'm considering cremation.

Works great, for a while

This unit will self destruct, slowly at first, then it'll surprise you with nasty little nagging problems. Self destructs like the tape recorder in the old "Mission Impossible" t.v. show.

Forget it, they didn't address my problem or concerns at all. They just said I should buy a new mp3 based version. Think anyone would after seeing a Tascam product implode like this thing?

This hurts to say, but this is the only product that I'm aware of that does what this does, in this configuration. It's indispensable when its actually working. If anyone wants to suggest a better way to do the same functions, or another, superior product..PLEASE contact me before I have to go and buy another one of these!

Reasonably easy to use, just like most modern daily use items, like the cd player/radio in your car, or a cel phone... you just have to find which buttons do what. Instruction manual is good.

I have to say here, because the rest of this review will NOT be favorable, that I cannot do without it, it is a very effective practice tool, and it on at least this level is pretty unique.

This product COULD have been a great tool for bassists. I have no idea why Tascam didn't test this product before putting it on the market. In the first month, the tiny on off switch broke. The pots and input jacks are scratchy and intermittent. I dare not ever touch them. The cd door latch broke and required disassembly to repair. When it was apart, I was appalled at the tiny flimsy looking parts inside. I use it with the ac adapter, the battery pack is unusable, as in my case, the on off switch is stuck in the 'on' position. WHY didn't they build this to LAST? A great idea, poorly executed.

Teac responded to my issues with the product, and a request for a newer heavy duty design, with the following:

The CD-BT1mkII uses a different mechanism on the cd door.

If you're not attached to a CD based trainer, you may want to wait for the introduction of an MP3 based trainer for bass similar to the MP-GT1.

Do you think this answer addresses my problems? No, of course it doesn't. It seems to be a take it or leave it attitude, very common in today's corporate world.

I was really tempted to put the 'what a hunk of junk' rating here, but in all fairness, I DO still use it, and love what it does.... It's features are great, but the quality of the electronic and heavily used parts are unacceptable. Will someone else please make a product like this that will actually last more than a year? I will buy one if you do!

The interface is a mix of easy to use buttons and a clunky rocker
button. The button requires navigating menus by pushing the right
side then the left side, then the up and down and... well, eventually
you get what you want but its not intuitive. The manual is often required to get past this deficiency.

Plug my active bass straight in and get good sound.
I don't play with effects.

The greatest weakness of this product is the delicate input jack.
It's hard to understand why Tascam designed a cheap jack that is
held in place with solder joints and weak plastic. Escpecially
hard to comprehend when standard procedure for musical equipment is to bolt the jack to the guitar or amp body. I've broken two units. One fell forward onto the carpeted floor. This caused the jack to
break off inside the unit and shear off a tiny, tiny diode. The next unit broke simply by the strain of my cable on the front of the box. The unit was never mishandeled either.

I asked for a replacement jack. They sent it free.
Then I tried to get a replacement diode. They didn't respond.

Good device for anyone playing bass. I wish there were an MP3 version. I wish the jack was more robust.

After I figured out the mix options so I could actually hear my bass over the CD I found it easy to use

The sound quality for the bass if fine as far as I am concerned but the bass boost for the CD is not worth it as it just muddies up the mix

I would love to say I am very happy but I am not, mine is two months old and I keep loosing the sound from the CD, sometimes the CD will not even play. I called a repair depot and they said it is most probably a laser problem and to send it in for repair. Now I'm looking at shipping cost plus being without my new toy.
Hopefully I just have a bad one and most never have this problem.
Tascam was not much help.
Anyone else have this problem?

Just a short reply telling me to send it to my nearest repair depot.

Wish the bass boost worked better and wished mine did not break down
:(
I actually for the most part when it was working loved it.

This is a great machine for it's INTENDED use. What I mean about that is that Tascam advertises the effects in this machine including the "bass cut" feature which really does not exists. The effects are mediocre at best and the "bass cut" feature does not mean that the actual bass line of the song is cut. It means that the bass frequency of the music is gone meaning that the music will have no more bottom once you use this feature. What the machine was intended for--playing along with CD's and being able to slow down the songs to learn them--was successfully accomplished.

The mix adjustments are very useful as well. Let's say you have a song that is lower in volume than the other CD's (typical of CD-R recordings), you can just adjust the mix level to even out your sound.

As far as the ease of use, the manual was not very helpful. I learned how to operate the machine on my own and I do agree with another reviewer that this machine needs a dedicated enter button because that one button for all of those different functions can become confusing after awhile.

I haven't tried editing any patches yet because I don't use the effects. I use it for it's intended use and that's it.

Great sounding machine. It almost sounds like I'm playing along to a large-sized stereo system. My headphones may have a lot to do with that (I use Denons).

Watch out when you slow down a CD because the sound quality distorts HEAVILY. The good thing is that you can still hear the bass line enough to learn the part but don't expect for it to sound the same when you slow it down.

I use the product as a stand-alone (without an amp) and I got the power supply with that as well. Don't waste your time getting batteries for it because this power-hungry machine will just eat them up like candy.

The effects in this machine, like I stated before, are useless (in my opinion). They basically SUCK!!!

I would NEVER gig with it. It's just for my home and personal use like when I'm trying to learn a song or when I want to play along with something.

I got this machine for Christmas. It seems dependable so far.

I've never dealt with Tascam and from the reports I have been hearing about their customer service, I hope I never have to.

If it were lost or stolen, I would most definitely want another one. Because I live in an apartment, I can practice as loud as I want without disturbing anyone. This is the main reason I requested it as a Christmas present. Another thing is that this machine is mobile. On the rare occasion that I'm not near a power outlet (say while traveling), I can slip some batteries into the machine and practice. I would suggest rechargable NiMH batteries for this product since they seem to hold power longer than alkaline batteries.

Like the other reviewer states, it needs a dedicated enter button to be able to go back and forth to desired functions. As it is, you have to go all the way around again to get back to a choice.Buttons feel solid,clean layout,smart looking compact unit.The ac adapter which is sold separately($20)is mandatory because the unit eats up the 4 AA batteries's extremely fast.Disc load in is very easy.

The bass enhance works well in the off,bst,and cut mode but the Enh mode is too much and makes a normal level bass sound too boomy and explosive-unuseable,though it might work well for a recording with almost no bass on it. In normal playback the sound is just fine-you can hear everything well.When you engage the slow down function(down to 50%), the sound quality gets a little funky, but that's an acceptable tradeoff to get the bass parts at a more distinguishable speed.I don't normally use effects but the ones on here are fun and seemingly useful- distortion,delay,etc.You could probably use this unit's effects to record with.You can set up 2 EQ's for your bass(or off),and these sound pretty good. I plug in my Warmoth "P" bass with Bart's and can get a full thick sound. You can EQ to get the sound to be like the recorded bass-for example,learning jazz standards I want to get an "upright" type sound and can get an approximation using the EQ.The bottom line is that you can hear the bass well enough on a CD to learn the parts-whether you slow it down to half speed, or change the key, or fine tune the recording to your bass so you are in tune.The key can be modulated up or down two whole steps I believe, so you can play it according to a chart that is in another key than the recording.You can loop segments and have them played at a very slow tempo for learning or transcribing purposes.

I have owned it for about 1 year-so far so good, though the AC adapter smoked on me because of a defect(bare wires at the power module).The main unit seems well built.

Don't know for this, but I needed a belt for my Tascam Porta One Mini Studio and they were helpful enough.

I have nearly worn out my Tascam Porta One Mini Studio as I was using that to learn bass parts from recordings. This new tool is much better as I can slow things down more, change keys, enhance or cut bass,etc.Plus, CD's are quicker to access than Cassettes and sound clearer.If you are a bass player that has to learn a lot of songs for a particular gig-originals or covers,this tool is indispensible. For that fact alone it is worth the price but it is also a lot of fun to jam with your musical heroes and influences.There is a built in tuner so you don't have to do that prior to plugging in.Again,not a toy,it helps you to learn parts for gigs and develops your ear,style,and repertoire-pretty much indispensible.

THe thing is cool except it would have been easier with a dedicated enter button, you keep wanting to go back on the menu but that is the enter button.

Great sound really good

IT has some quirks, I called Tascam they pretty much told me to get bent.

This is the worse customer service I have ever seen I mean really. I sent many emails no responce. No 1-800- number, and I logged over 200 minutes of HOLD TIME, that was during one call, I had to call like 5 times. Then they wer rude, told me to forget teh manual just do as he told me. Argued with me about my warranty. I was told later that Tascam is famous for wasting yoru warranty then they want to talk to you. STAY AWAY I HAVE SINCE FOUND MANY PEOPLE UPSET ABOUT TASCAM

Good if yo have a problem with learnign for cd, just beware some options don't work and Tascam does not care.