Tascam 244 3rd and 4th Channel Not Working

I honestly think/hope that it's the tape that im using that's causing this to happen.

Ok. Theres a lot of back and forth going on. Now we're at degaussing, which seems to be beyond the current knowledge of the op.

Did you even clean the heads yet?????

Start with that.

Before you begin chasing shadows. Start with the obvious and basics.

Clean the heads.
Then read the manual. :D
 
I would not be concerned with degaussing. There were millions of cassette machines made (I fix a few of them!) and because they used a common record/[play head the bias current kept them pretty free from "maggin up". Of course, if a very strong magnet was brought close it could happen. Never did in my exp'.

I have also owned several such machines and used to record "critical" stuff such as high quality FM radio 3 and viny, mostly classical, Bach and his mates and over the years I never found any build up of noise which is the only symptom of head magnetization I am aware of? Certainly can't kill a channel completely.

Then, ill informed use of a degausser can make matters worse!

Dave.

Yes, we shall all be better informed when OP has done a deep clean and a cassette flip.
 
Got me some Type II High Bias tape and i'm still having troubles with 3/4 channel. I also did a good clean of the tape heads and others. Also, when I flip the tape over to listen to the good C1 and C2 recordings on the C3 and C4 play back channels, everything seems to work except the C3,C4 VU meters don't seem to show any signals, while C1 and C2 continue to have signals on the VU meter. Still trying to get to the bottom of this!
 
Good that you are getting playback of the C1 and C2 recordings on C3 and C4 after the tape flip. Are you sure you have the output selector switch set to remix for playback? All 4 VU meters should be lit. If you still have it set to sync it will only show the output on the the C1 and C2 VU meters, even if there are recordings on C3 and C4 and only these 2 meters will be lit.
 
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Good that you are getting playback of the C1 and C2 recordings on C3 and C4 after the tape flip. Are you sure you have the output selector switch set to remix for playback? All 4 VU meters should be lit. If you still have it set to sync it will only show the output on the the C1 and C2 VU meters, even if there are recordings on C3 and C4 and only these 2 meters will be lit.
ooooh I switched it to remix for playback and to safe for record function and now the C3 and C4 are working! Yet, I still get nothing from C3 and C4 when I record when the tape isn't flipped.
 
Well that's a start! What if you try recording on C3 and C4 and flip the tape? - do you see anything on the C1 and C2 meters and hear the recording in reverse when you switch back the monitor to remix? Silly question but you are switching the record selector to sync and then tracks 3 and 4 when you record on them?a
 
Well that's a start! What if you try recording on C3 and C4 and flip the tape? - do you see anything on the C1 and C2 meters and hear the recording in reverse when you switch back the monitor to remix? Silly question but you are switching the record selector to sync and then tracks 3 and 4 when you record on them?a

It's the same thing as when it's not flipped actually. Barely anything on the C1 and C2 meters.
 
Sounds like it is a problem in the recording circuits of C3 and C4 then. How far down are the levels? Maybe a bias issue. I've had loss of record levels in channels one at a time but never together. Let's wait until some of the other guys have a think about what could be going on here?
 
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Sounds like it is a problem in the recording circuits of C3 and C4 then. How far down are the levels? Maybe a bias issue. Let's wait until some of the other guys have a think about what could be going on here?

The levels almost sound like they are whispers. Very quiet and non existent :(
 
Can you take a photo of the machine (from above) showing all the settings when recording to those tracks?
 
Can you take a photo of the machine (from above) showing all the settings when recording to those tracks?

IMG_0139.jpg

This is how channel 3 looks while i'm recording on it. Is there anything obvious that i'm doing wrong and screwing myself over?
 
That looks right, but I'd turn faders up so they're in the little block.
Have you tried recording on track 1 and then routing it to track 3? From memory the 244 is unique in that you can do this by plugging your mic into channel 1 and using the pan knob to rout it to 3 (i.e. keep the pan knob hard left, and on the "safe" section keep it on track 3). This might help narrow the problem down to something on that 3rd channel.
 
That looks right, but I'd turn faders up so they're in the little block.
Have you tried recording on track 1 and then routing it to track 3? From memory the 244 is unique in that you can do this by plugging your mic into channel 1 and using the pan knob to rout it to 3 (i.e. keep the pan knob hard left, and on the "safe" section keep it on track 3). This might help narrow the problem down to something on that 3rd channel.

That worked! When I routed what I recorded on channel 1 to channel 3, there was normal signal on the 3rd channel VU. Does that mean there's some problems with the 3rd and 4th input?
 
I assume you have the pan pots centred when you record to make sure you have signals going to channels 3 and 4? As Nola says, a photo showing your settings would help. I'd hate to suggest fiddling with stuff inside before checking that. As an aside, I've had the same problem one channel at a time with (1) a loose plug to the dbx encoder board, (2) record level trimmer needing adjustment (3) bias trimmer needing adjustment.
 
I assume you have the pan pots centred when you record to make sure you have signals going to channels 3 and 4? As Nola says, a photo showing your settings would help. I'd hate to suggest fiddling with stuff inside before checking that. As an aside, I've had the same problem one channel at a time with (1) a loose plug to the dbx encoder board, (2) record level trimmer needing adjustment (3) bias trimmer needing adjustment.

Hey Findlay, I posted a picture above. Do the pan knobs need to be centred before hitting record or are they supposed to be panned L or R?
 
That worked! When I routed what I recorded on channel 1 to channel 3, there was normal signal on the 3rd channel VU. Does that mean there's some problems with the 3rd and 4th input?

Yeah I think it means something is wrong with those inputs or the entire channel. Maybe the preamps are blown on them or maybe it's something simple like a component or wire failing, but you now know it's those 2 channels. The good news is the way the 244 is designed you don't really need those channels because you can just input into channel 1 or 2 and route it via the pan nobs and channel selector switch to get the signal onto channel 3 and 4. So I'd just do that until you figure out how you want to proceed. At least you can use the machine. The only problem will be if you want to record 4 tracks at once. Other than that, you can use it as is.

I still think learning how to degausse and maintain the machine is a good idea. Check out that video I sent you on how to do that and pick one up for $10 or so. It basically removes any magnetic charge on the heads. Since you bought the machine used and don't know the origins or how the prior owner cared for it you should degausse it. Just go slowly and carefully and read up on instructions before doing it.
 
Hi Freddyk - I usually centre the knobs as before recording to make sure I always get signals to any channel I want to record on. Otherwise the pic seems ok. It seems after Nola's help everything is ok now?
 
Hi Freddyk - I usually centre the knobs as before recording to make sure I always get signals to any channel I want to record on. Otherwise the pic seems ok. It seems after Nola's help everything is ok now?

For the time being! It seems that we narrowed it down to it being a 3/4 channel input issue. I'll have to get that sorted soon. Thank you!
 
Yeah I think it means something is wrong with those inputs or the entire channel. Maybe the preamps are blown on them or maybe it's something simple like a component or wire failing, but you now know it's those 2 channels. The good news is the way the 244 is designed you don't really need those channels because you can just input into channel 1 or 2 and route it via the pan nobs and channel selector switch to get the signal onto channel 3 and 4. So I'd just do that until you figure out how you want to proceed. At least you can use the machine. The only problem will be if you want to record 4 tracks at once. Other than that, you can use it as is.

I still think learning how to degausse and maintain the machine is a good idea. Check out that video I sent you on how to do that and pick one up for $10 or so. It basically removes any magnetic charge on the heads. Since you bought the machine used and don't know the origins or how the prior owner cared for it you should degausse it. Just go slowly and carefully and read up on instructions before doing it.

Thank you for your help Nola! I hope to get that channel issue sorted soon. Right now, I'm only planning on doing bedroom stuff that require only 1-2 inputs at a time so i think i'm good for now. Is there any other situation where i'll be needing all four inputs??
 
Thank you for your help Nola! I hope to get that channel issue sorted soon. Right now, I'm only planning on doing bedroom stuff that require only 1-2 inputs at a time so i think i'm good for now. Is there any other situation where i'll be needing all four inputs??

No problem glad it works.

Not really. I've had my 244 for like 6 years and never used all 4 channels at once. All I can think is if you're recording your band or you want to record say acoustic guitar in stereo and also have a distant room mic for ambiance. Other than situations like that you should be fine.

PS. Get some good tape from NAC, too. Their chrome tape is good.
 
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