I was interested in getting the Tascam 414mkII to do a little solo stuff (guitar, electric bass, upright bass, and drum machine) that I may possibly go to the studio later for a more pro recording. Will this be good enough to get me an ok sounding tape to show off?

I think so. Although I'm sure you would get better quality with more expensive, or with digital equipment; however, I've had wonderful success with my 414MKII. The trick really comes down to playing with it and trying every feature, over and over and over and over. I found recording guitar and vocals fairly simple. Our vocalist has a 5 octave range as well, and it still sounded good. Keyboards turned out well as well. Drums came out surprisingly well. I tried different micing, and using all 4 tracks, and then bouncing them to one, but you lose some quality in bouncing the tracks. Then I tried sending them through a mixer, and that wasn't bad either. Ultimately, I just wound up with 4 mics through a mixer, and I had great quality on the kick and snare. I was pretty happy with it. The real problem was with bass. What works was sending out a line to the mixer. When I was recording "live" I recorded direct without much problem, even though I don't have a DI. I used a compressor, but that was about it.

I've had several recordings come out surprisingly well, and have received compliments over the quality. It's possible, it just takes work and experimentation.

PS. I recorded some vocals with our singer standing in the shower. Great acoustics. Great for practical jokes opportunities as well.

I think the MK414 is a fine machine to get started with. None of the lower end cassette recorders are going to sound fantastic, but I think that's part of the fun. If you really want clean, use a pc and a multi-track program you can download samples to try before shelling out the dough. But for making your own music and recording small performanaces I've really liked my mk414, it's simple and with trial and error it can actually sound quite good. Every recording is a new learning expereience and for the past year that i've had my Tascam every recording gets better.