I have had two of these over the last 9 years. They work but are built so poorly that you have to be very careful with them. The CD door is the achiles heal of the unit. They also could have cut some cost originally but not bothering with the effects and tuner. The basic function of cutting the baseline out works well enough for the unit to be useful and the slow down function also works. The sound degradation with the slow down down function is there but I haven't experienced it being so bad that the function is unusable. The bass elimination also works with mp3's run in to the " line in " jack but you cant use slow down or looping. This is how I use mine these days. I tun my iPod in to the unit. Tascam came out with an mp3 version of these years ago but I guess the discontinued them. Seemed like a right move as CD format has been on the way out for 10 years. I'm sure there's an app out these days that can all of this now. Over all the unit can function at its basic job but I'm sure there are better choices on the market now. I wouldn't recommend buying one of these unless you get it for under $30.00.
First one, on/off switch broke. Then, the CD door pins broke. Got the second one. CD player stopped working. I actually disassembled the older one, and swapped the CD drive to get it working again. This is a terribly made product that I truly wanted to like and use. Do what I did- either give it away, throw it in the trash, or if you're smart- believe this review and avoid this chunk of waste product. Just plug your sound card output into a mixer, turn down the bass on the source channels, plug your bass in, and play with ANYTHING on the internet. Note to TASCAM... this was a truly serious error, not making this a more durable product.
I have mine last december. i really love it. it cuts off a lot of problems in the past. Like mobility, loops, and clearer notes because of speed reduction. I'm not quite sure of the bass reduction, it seems less to no effect at all. totally the trainer is a very useful tool.
I am a working musician and on jobs where I get a lot of new material each week, I immediately reach for the BT to figure out and rehearse parts. on my jobs, rehearsal are brief before show time. Things I like: 1) LOOPING FUNCTION I often get CD's in lieu of sheet music with instructions to cover the bass part exactly as played. The BT looping function allows me to zoom in on a part and play it until I get it straight. 2) KEY MODULATION The song is in G, but your singer wants to do it in Eb. No Problemo, now you practice both. However, the sound quality gets creepy the further you move away from the original key. 3) CD/BASS HEADPHONE AMP. My family appreciates this, especially when doing looping. 4) TUNER Nice to have. The slowdown function in theory sounds great, but doesnt really work well. I have a good ear and use the looping function instead to decipher parts. Don't really care about the effects. In summary, the BT is a valuable tool for me.
I agree with the primary aspects of the reviews - especially the need to BUY the 'Wall-Wart'. However, I disagree that the headphone amp is adequate. I use a PA2V2 (Pocket Amp 2 Version 2) from Electric Avenue.com to power my headphones (Sennheiser HD600). I use a mini to mini jumper cable which comes with the amp to connect from the headphone out jack. Lowering the volume on the Tascam from 'Max' cleans up the sound and the PA2V2 gives a solidness to your bass that cuts through the mix. Headphone amps are addicting! I use the Headroom Total Airhead with my iPod (with Etymotic ER4 in-ear phones). I use the Tascam to practice and learn new songs while the family sleeps. I like the Loop function, but I HATE the effects - totally unnecessary for me. All-in-all a GREAT piece of gear!
I travel a fair bit for my job and like to bring along a bass to play in my hotel room in the evenings. The CD-BT1 and a Steinberger bass combine to make a very portable/airline-friendly setup. The slow down feature that people have mentioned is great. I would like to emphasize the point made by the reviewer ahead of me: The loop feature is very useful. You mark the start/stop points and it will repat it over and over. This particular feature is very useful for learning parts and, other than one other reviewer, doesn't seem to be mentioned.
I hated the idea that it did not have 1/4 inch out (headphones nor line out). but my amp has cd inputs so I bought an 1/8 inch male to a set of male rca and bango I got it. I have yet to purchuse 1/8 inch head phones. Can anyone help on that topic? I've had three in the past 2 years I always have oneside stop working. I love the loop effect. I have LOTS of problems learning by ears alone. This helps a lot.
On the pro side, if you primarily learn songs or practice by playing your bass along with a CD, then you'll get good use out of this gadget. The best features it brings to the table are the capability to slow the tempo to half it's original speed without changing the pitch of the song, and the ability to easily loop song sections. There's a bass enhancement feature that lets you essentially eliminate the bass frequencies from the CD, boost the frequencies, or run "enhancement" on the bass frequencies. The "enhancement" actually sounds horrible, BUT it's VERY useful when you've got the tempo slowed way down...at a very slow tempo the bass lines can become quite difficult to pick out. The enhancement gives the bass lines a very distinct sonic character that allows you to definitely pick out the bass line pitches and rhythms. On the con side, a company with as many years of experience as Tascam could do a much better job with some bass-specific EQ and effects. In fact, I would expect Tascam to do some things that are very innovative with this product (like make the slowed down play sound better, invent some way to make the bass lines much more intelligible, build in some basic amp/cabinet simulators, etc.), and do without increasing the price. In my humble opinion, the on-board effects are, for the most part, pretty much useless...I want my bass guitar to sound like a bass guitar rather than a spaceship. The EQ/bass enhancement features definitely have their use, but don't plan on recording direct into a recorder from this device. Finally, as others have said, buy the AC power adapter or a suitable 9V substitute. Would I buy this product again? Absolutely yes, but I would like to see Tascam build more innovation into this product to make it do what it does better than it already does it. I gather by the number of reviews that this product is fairly popular...Tascam has a limited window of opportunity to really make this product shine. If they don't, one or more competitors will step up and displace this CD-BT1 with a product that does the same thing better.
This is not a review in as much as a rebuttle to the comments that Windows Media Player is an acceptable substitute for the CD-BT1. Windows media player works ok as far as the guitar rifs and slowing them down, however anything less than a 15 to 20 percent reduction in speed makes the bass totally unintelligable on all but one recording I used it on.
I pretty much agree with the other reviewers, but I must like mine more because I rate it at a 9. If Tascam would include the AC adapter I'd give it a 10. I didn't get mine for the effects or the EQ. I bought it to make my practice with a CD more efficient and it does that well. I bought the foot pedal and have found it to be very useful. Just tap the foot pedal and start at the beginning of the phrase you're working on. If you practice with CD's you need this tool!
