If you want to make cracker jack digital black & white prints you have to pay your dues so to speak just like people had to in the traditional darkroom.
Why would you own an Epson 3880 for 3 years without using it? That tells me you want a low effort turn-key system that produces excellent results with little or no effort on your part. Well it ain't gonna happen.
The Epson ABW system can make excellent prints with the proper profiles like Eric Chan used to produce for the 3800 and 3880 or perhaps ones produced in house in your own studio. Seems like you would have known this already.
Using non oem B&W inks can produce even better results if you are willing to dedicate a printer to it. You can pickup a used Epson X8XX for a song and convert those into dedicated printers for much less money and operating costs than a new printer. I would advice you to steer away from Michigan Ink Supply, aka www.inksupply.com, as their service seems to have hit the skids in the past few years. Cone inks are quality products if you want to look there.
I really don't know what to say to your comments. I've spent a great deal of time developing my color photography and printing skills. This year I decided to turn to black and white photography and printing, and so I am in the learning curve. As an artist, developing one's own techniques, style, and process is one of the most important aspects of their craft. In the end there are really only a very few people I need to please with my work...myself...my wife, and my God. So, if I choose not to use a certain technique, or to use a different technique then the 'accepted' one, so be it.
Regarding not using the Epson printer for several years, I used it exclusively for the first year I had it, but then I received a free printer (the Canon Pro-1) from B H Photo during a promotional when I bought some other photography gear. After using both for a while, I determined that I preferred the images I was getting from Canon Pro-1 over the 3880. I later bought a large format Canon iPF6450 printer for my larger work and the 3880 fell into complete disuse.
BTW, I'm happy to report that after sitting idle for well over a year, the 3880 is back up and running with no problems. It took a few cleanings and some usage, but it seems to be working fine now.
My main interest is in expressing myself through photography, not in how much dmax my photographs exhibit (not that I don't care about that because I do to an extent, but only as a creative expression). Because of that, I'm not adverse to letting the printer manufacturer provide me with equipment and hardware that are capable of producing excellent quality prints without me tinkering with their equipment. For goodness sakes, they have a whole legion of engineers, designers, and suppliers working on that process. Why can't I focus on what I want to focus on without having to fuss with that part of the process? (And that's not to say I don't fuss over it somewhat, because there is a geek part of me that does that anyway.)
Enough said. What I really want to know is whether the latest model printers, the Pro-1000's and P800's produce better prints than the previous Pro-1's and 3880's. The reason I'm asking here is because I don't want to go out and buy my own printer to find out. I've already spent enough money on this hobby.
Thank you.
Patrick