newbie tascam 388 questions

On your last question the answer is no.

Which meters are you talking about?

If you are talking about the PGM BUSS meters, they won't show any signal unless have the corresponding input mic trim knob set to an appropriate level, have the corresponding channel fader set to an appropriate level, have the channel routed/assigned to a BUSS, and have the corresponding BUSS MASTER fader set to an appropriate level. There might be something else. As always, refer to your manual. Did you do all those things? What I can't recall is if there is anything you need to do with the record mode status to see levels.
 
I didn't adjust the bus no . . . but from what I gather from the manual if I plug a mic into to channel one, select mic on the top switch, turn up the gain/trim pot and then the fader, I should be seeing the red indicator (in the VU light box) flashing as the signal becomes too hot right? I'm not even getting this far.

I'm really not sure what to do in this situation as when he phones me back after spending two hours on the machine, i'll have to make a decision on whether to continue the trouble-shooting. He's told me he's never seen this issue before so can't give any assurance that after spending 6 more hours on it he'll have it fixed. Also, as I don't know the history, once this logic issue is resolved, there may be other issues that need attending to. At $130 a hour this could get expensive really quickly. The guy is a pro tape machine tech used by all the big studios in my city and used to work for tascam servicing their stuff in the 80s, so if anyone can crack it I think he can. If he spends a couple of days on it however I'm looking at $2000 so it's kind of scary. Hopefully he calls me after the initial 2hr check with good news. If he's got no idea I think he's going to recommend I not take the gamble. I live in a country that is quite wealthy (and so things like tape machine repairs are expensive) and I'm never going to see another 388 again most likely. I've never see one and don't know of anyone who has one. I'm also a musician on below average income so there's that. I've always wanted a 388 though! Hmmmm. . . what to do?
 
Where do you live? I find it strange that the repair guy used to work for Tascam and he's never even heard of the issue that you're having. He's been in the business for 30 years and this is the first time he's ever seen this issue? That would make me a bit stressed too, but try not to get down about it. Sometimes these guys will come on like it's the toughest job ever and they're not sue it can even be done, just to call you the next day being like "Yeah, it's all set. It was the -------- but I fixed it!" and look like a hero. Haha. Hopefully that's what's going on.
 
gosh I hope that's whats going to happen. I'm In Australia. I noticed one other 388 that was for sale here on a shop's website (but was sold along time ago) and that went for 2k.
This repair guy has been really good since the start, he told me to buy the belts etc myself and see if I could save myself some money before bringing it to him. He's a busy tech, servicing all the high end studios and broadcast facilities etc in the city. I'm a bit younger/poorer than his usual clientele so i think he's honestly a bit scared of having to call me and tell me he's been working on it for the past six hours and has gotten nowhere. Hopefully he's just preparing me for the worst-case like you said. Unlike other tascam/hifi repairs who would basically just be have a go at repairing it, I figure he doesn't need to rip me off if he's the best tech in town on $180us an hour.

But yeah, for a veteran gear tech he's not inspiring much confidence. Anyways, for the positivity Level Anything!
 
It's really hard to see whats going on in the video.It's real dark.There should be no action with no tape and both tension arms all the way down.I believe the VU will not show input unless the track is put in the record ready mode.If it was a "logic" problem,the data and address busses would not be up and running and the display would not work-that's the typical failure mode.Too bad you're not here in the L.A. area.I work on these all the time and worked directly for Tascam for 25 years.
 
wkrbee said:
If it was a "logic" problem,the data and address busses would not be up and running and the display would not work-that's the typical failure mode.
Click to expand...

the display works but the take up reel is locked and the supply reel seems to have the same torque and speed no matter what function is selected. What else could it be if not a logic issue?

The only indicator of history that I have is that I replaced the take up table reel as it was bent on top so the tape reel wouldn't spin level with surface underneath it.
 
drrats said:
the display works but the take up reel is locked and the supply reel seems to have the same torque and speed no matter what function is selected. What else could it be if not a logic issue?

The only indicator of history that I have is that I replaced the take up table reel as it was bent on top so the tape reel wouldn't spin level with surface underneath it.
Click to expand...

Is there a service manual for the 388? Or are the details of the functioning in the User's Manual?
In the Tascam MS-16 manual (I think there are a service and a user one) I remember seeing a chart that listed what happens when you press one of the transport buttons...eg. 'When you press 'PLAY', then such and such sends a voltage, this is then interpreted........etc.'

Without knowing all of this, might make it impossible to track down a logic issue as opposed to a fault with the voltage going to the take up reel.
Good luck.

Al
 
The Tascam 32 manual has a truth-table for the M54410P controller chip. Not sure if the 388 uses that too, though. Looks like a datasheet for that chip is still available, for all I know it's still in production for cassette decks and the like.
 
Your statement"the take up reel is locked"means to me the take up reel will not move even when the unit is not powered up and you try to turn it manually.Is that true? There are infra red sensors connected to the tension arms to control the torque. They may have failed,have broken wires,there could a be shorted motor driver power transistor on the supply side of the reel motor.The tech may a great tech,but if you do not have schematics,it can be difficult to trouble shoot the 388.There are pages and pages of schematics that jump from one board to another with motherboards,connectors and cabling.
 
sorry for the confusion, I can move the take up reel table manually with my hand.

What's really confusing for me is that when it had bad fuses in it and I first powered it up and everything was going haywire, the take up reel would constantly spin despite there being no VU lights and the transport being unresponsive. So the take up reel CAN move by itself too.
 
he should be getting back to me any day now, he's going to spend two hours on it and advise from there. I'll keep you guys posted for sure though!
 
Okay, an update at last! repairman had family issues so took him a bit to get around to it. He made up for it by only charging me for a couple of hours work when he spend the better part of a day on it apparently.

So he's fixed a bunch of things on it and has worked out that the 'take up reel motor' needs to be replaced. Anyone have any idea if the motor is interchangeable with the TEAC x-3 parts? I know the reel tables from the 388 and the X-3 are interchangeable.

He's recommend I find the part and put it in myself as he's confident I'll be able to do it. From there, once all the mechanical problems are fixed we can try seeing if the mixer section is working properly, dbx etc. befrore calibrating it for my tape.

Overall he says it's worth putting more time and money into as heads are in great condition. He told me if he opened it up and it looked like a nightmare then he'd tell me, so this is good news.

So does anyone have any leads on a take up reel motor?!
 
gosh seems i just can't catch a break here. It's not all bad though I suppose.

I've just installed a new take up reel motor. The machine is mechanically doing great now bar on small problem... the take up reel motor is spinning in reverse. Clockwise. This is with tape on the machine also so it's not a reverse to keep tension thing. Strange no? Does anyone have any ideas on why it might be doing this? I'm really hoping I've just done something silly here. Is there any difference in direction for the supply and take up reel motors? Maybe the seller has sent the supply motor thinking they are the same?

Also the other problem is I'm not getting anything from channel two. No audio, no VU reading. All the other channels are fine (thank goodness) I'm going to open it back up and reseat the channel and take a look at the board. If anyone has any common troubleshooting tips for this i'd appreciate it.
 
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The motor is DC 24v
I'm sure i put the wires back where they were to begin. But it looked like it had been desoldered at some point so maybe they put them back on wrong. So of the three wires that need to be attached from the reel motor to the 'MECHA JOINT PCB' - black was at the top of the PCB, red was in the middle and white was on the bottom.
 
Hmm, not sure. On the 32, the schematic shows two connections. On the MSR-24, three - presumably the same as the 388. Looks like it's doing something more complex, so I don't know if changing it would help.
 
Flip the wires. You may have put it back just the way it was, but the motor may be wired for supply internally. Flip the wires and report back.
 
I think i did have it wired the wrong way. I put it around the right way but unfortunately made a big mistake. I had the tiniest most minuscule bridge of solder on the MECHA pcb between points 19 and 20. I was trying to wire the reel motor to 20, 21 and 22. When I turned it on I smelt something burning so immediately switched it off.

I removed the tiny bit of solder bridging the two connection points (19&20) on the PCB. I also replaced a fuse which had blown. The tracers on the MECHA pcb have blackened on the 19 and 16 tracer lines. So now when I engage the transport with tape on, the take up reel spins the right way but only for a split second and then jams the whole thing. When I engage the transport without a tape on, the take up reel table doesn't move except intermittently on FF where it spins along with the supply. The supply always spins. Have I fried the MECHA pcb or could this be something even worse?

So frustrated and angry with myself right now. There's not a lot of light in the room I'm working in so I really should have gone and gotten a lamp to see things better, I knew something like this might happen.
 
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im going to have to repair these tracers... my soldering is bad but it looks really bad in this picture.

I also swapped out the 2nd channel card with the first. Exact same problem as before so the card itself is fine. What is the common troubleshoot after doing this?
 

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