Tascam 35-2B
A two-track mastering deck that made its case on the balance sheet — and backed it up with NAB-spec tape.
Overview
Tascam's own advertising for the 35-2B opened with a dare: "If we said you could maintain high production standards for less than $2000, you'd say we're unbalanced." That pun was the whole pitch. The 35-2B was a two-track recorder/reproducer built around a −10 unbalanced system rather than the +4 balanced convention, and Tascam's copy was refreshingly blunt about why — dropping the line amplifiers, transformers, and balanced cabling saved "hundreds of dollars." The claim that came with it was that unless a studio is running cable hundreds of feet long, input/output levels and impedance simply aren't factors in recording quality. Buyers were left to decide whether that reasoning held for their room.
What the deck actually delivered on tape is the part that matters. The 35-2B met NAB standards at 185 nanowebers per meter, and Tascam was careful to frame the priority as "the signal that goes on the tape" — the language of a broadcast production tool rather than a hi-fi toy. The transport was a rugged three-motor design with full IC logic controls, and editing was clearly a design concern: cue and edit functions plus a flip-up, hinged head cover made splicing less of a chore. A switchable 1/4-track playback head was built in at no extra cost, giving owners flexibility to play back quarter-track material on the same machine.
The published 15 IPS figures are respectable for the class. Wow and flutter was rated at 0.03% RMS (NAB weighted) and ±0.05% peak (DIN/IEC/ANSI weighted). Frequency response ran 40 Hz–22 kHz, ±3 dB at 0 VU. Signal-to-noise was specified at 65 dB A-weighted (NAB), referenced to 1 kHz at 10 dB above 0 VU (650 nW/m) — and 92 dB A-weighted with integral dbx noise reduction, which was available on the deck.
That dbx-equipped version is the one that turns up in period advertising. A 1980s mixdown equipment listing paired the "TASCAM 35-2B w/DBX" with the Tascam 32 and Fostex A2 as the two-track 15 IPS options for finishing a project, and a package deal in another trade ad bundled the 35-2B with dbx, a Roland SEQ 315 equalizer, a bi-amp, reverb, a stereo limiter, a pair of JBL 4312 monitors, and a Roland SDE 2000 digital delay as a complete mixdown rig. It also appeared in dealer stock lists as the "35-2B STEREO RECORDER IN CONSOL" — that is, offered in a console configuration, with the CS-600 Console noted as optional in Tascam's own literature. As a two-track mastering machine it sat at the end of the chain in the Tascam 16-track system advertising of the early 1980s, positioned as the affordable alternative to paying 2-inch prices for a multitrack setup — the final pass where the mix got committed (DB Magazine, May 1981, p.43).
Collectors and working engineers chasing one today should read the spec sheet for what it is: a broadcast-oriented two-track with logic transport, edit-friendly head access, and switchable quarter-track playback, with dbx available for noise reduction. The unbalanced I/O is the thing to weigh honestly — it kept the price down, but it means the deck is happiest in a short-cable production setup rather than patched across a large facility. Buyers should confirm which configuration they're getting, since the machine circulated both as a standalone recorder and in console form, and the dbx option is worth verifying on any individual unit rather than assumed.
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