Jim,
Sorry to say, you're right. The world has passed you by.
A person could probably do everything you requested with your ES single
quad, assuming it was a good instrument, they had a battery of enzymes
(proteolytic and glycosidases and such), paid the same attention to
chromatography as is needed for internal Edman sequencing problems, and of
course they knew how to use it and interpret the data. But it would be
hard. A newer instrument will do some of these things better or easier. A
tandem MS is certainly another dimension.
Mass spectrometry doesn't do everything. It really doesn't give N-terminal
sequences from intact proteins. Interpretation of a complete sequence from
a product ion spectrum can be quite tricky, but getting a significant
amount of partial sequence is usually easy. MS is ideally suited to the
study of posttranslational modifications. MS is much faster and more
sensitive than Edman sequencing.
I feel like I've said this before somewhere and I'm sure there a number of
true Edman sequence type people who will reiterate my comments.
Roland Annan
SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals