TAC Matchless 36x24 1987

This is a rare, fully intact TAC Matchless 36/24 console. As of August 2026 it is disassembled and in storage.

This sale includes several (about 12) mostly broken channel strips that have a ton of good parts on them. These are valuable for keeping the board running. There is also a second master channel module that works, but is from a slightly different revision of the board.

The sale will include at least one EDAC snake that came with the board, this allows you to connect gear to the patch bays. There are other ways to get signal into the board as well.

This board is 8 feet long and weighs almost as much as a small piano, it is for local pickup only from Providence, Rhode Island. You will need a crew to move it.

I am happy to show it if you are local, and can send more photos and answer questions.

Background Info

The studio owner from whom I purchased it (in 2020) told me it was ordered and owned by Twisted Sister for their home studio in the late 1980s early 1990s. I did in face find a 1987 magazine article mentioning that a handful of these had been ordered and were being shipped to New York, which aligns with his story, but I have no concrete evidence for the boards provenance.

The second owner, who purchased it in the mid-1990s, upgraded the faders to Penny & Giles.

I upgraded the microphone pre-amplifiers on channels 1-8 with Langley preamps, and the original preamps really don't sound bad either.

It's a great sounding vintage console that is functional, but not fully functional (see below).

It has been the console in our studio for the past six years, we recently acquired another console that is similar and we can't keep both.

The video attached is from a band that recorded with us, you can see the board in action around the 25-45 second mark - the audio is a rough mix from the console.

Known Issues

Here is an incomplete list of a few issues - so you know what you're getting into. Any board of this age is going to have quirks and require maintenance. You will need to know how to solder and work on electronics, or know someone who does, to keep it running.

Patch bay could use some maintenance - it works but it's a little wonky. I repaired it years ago, but it is due for service (some broken grounds, loose connections).

Channels 25-36 were mostly replaced with channel strips from a slightly different revision of this console. They work fine as channel strips, but the mute groups are not operational on these channel strips, also they have a slightly different monitoring configuration from the rest of the channel strips.

Aux 1 is unreliable.

Two channel strips have unreliable EQ on the treble pot, probably just needs the pot replaced (which you could harvest from one of the broken channel strips that are included)

A couple mute switches have burned out bulbs, channel 7 on the meter bridge stays lit even when not in use.

Lastly, the power supply is good, we have never had any issues, but is probably over due for maintenance, i.e. replacing the capacitors. One of the fuse housings in the power supply broke due to brittle plastic and we had to improvise an internal fuse connection. It works fine, but you will notice one of the fuses on the case is not in place (because it is inside the box).