Problems with Tascam 8 track Recorder!

[drewby97]

I recently bought a Tascam 488 MKII 8 Track Cassette Recorder, and im having some weird issues with it. Sometimes when I play the tape back, it will slow down and pitch and then it will go back to normal pitch in a few seconds? Any ideas of how I can fix this? Thanks - Drew

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Hard to say exactly. It might be a worn drive belt or worn rubber edged idler drive cam wheels. You might want to ask the previous owner if those parts had ever been serviced/changed when they owned it.

Failing that, it might be a bad tape if it only does that on one tape but not others.

After that, it might be possible electronic problems with transport's voltage regulation which might require changing capacitors in the power supply that feeds it or in a failing regulator transistor.

If you're not comfortable/experienced doing those kinds of maintenance jobs, maybe seek out a local experienced repair shop and get an estimate from them.

Cheers!

 

[thunderstation]

I recently bought a Tascam 488 MKII 8 Track Cassette Recorder, and im having some weird issues with it. Sometimes when I play the tape back, it will slow down and pitch and then it will go back to normal pitch in a few seconds? Any ideas of how I can fix this? Thanks - Drew

I also have a Tascam 488 - and what happened to you also happened to me. It turned out to be a capstan motor - luckily for me, my town has a guy that fixes stereo equipment.
the repairs cost me about $100.00 - I also changed the belt (not for the faint hearted) because changing the belt was much cheaper( about $8.00 for 2 belts) because I did the labor myself. - However changing the belt was not the issue - the capstan motor had burned out.