I'm particularly thinking of the 8-track variants. These first rolled out in the early 80's, I believe. I've got the first version with the channel electronics and the transport in separate cases. The legendary "Bleach" deck used by Jack Endino for pretty much all the early Sub-Pop stuff was the Mk-III, which is an all-in-one-box version. (The eq curves for that actual deck and many more analog beasts can be seen here.) Fort Apache had one of these, too, and probably used it on early Pixies, Treat Her Right (pre-Morphine Mark Sandman), and all sorts of Boston indie stuff. I really think that the arrival of these machines had a big impact on the 80's indie-rock boom, and the ripples continue through stuff like the amazing Leaves Turn Inside You, Unwound's home-recorded swan-song.

These are 1/2" 8-tracks machines, about the narrowest track width that will get you sound that could be pro-level. SNR isn't great on NAB, but IEC does better and is pretty decent. While the hookups are XLR, they are unbalanced with pin three hot, which famously confuses people--it was almost a running joke how many times there was a new thread at the Tape-Op forum asking why the deck didn't work with the poster's Mackie. (There was an option to have balancing transformers fitted or retrofitted.) Relatively cheap tape costs, easy to work on, maintain, and align (three heads, unlike many but not all Fostex and Tascam decks) still make them a solid choice if you're considering working in analog. Parts are pretty available, too.

Oh, on tape--the +9 tape like GP-9 or Emtec 900 are wasted on these guys as you're buying headroom you can't use. For Ampex/Quantegy, the 456 and more vintagey 406 work great, and Emtec/RMGI 911 (456-ish) and 468 are the go-to stuff that's still in production.

Bear