Tascam 38, no repro on 8 but sync works...

I think I know where to go with this, but I wanted to bounce it off you guys first to see if I'm on the right track (no pun intended).

This 38 has been a thorn in my side for so long and I think I finally have it 'working' to the point of actually using it. A friend of mine gave me a reel of songs that were recorded on a 38 back in the early 90s and wanted to get them digitized to keep them safe, and this worked for the most part; channel 8 on repro does not budge. Fortunately, track 8 was usually a stereo drum bounce or something non-critical for these purposes... but, I really want to have it working because I know aside from some potential relay issues on 1 or 2 cards, the playback was almost perfect minus that last track.

I did swap the card around and the issue doesn't follow the card. Just for giggles I bypassed the K102 relay anyway, obviously no help. Now, in SYNC mode, channel 8 works. But, sync won'y play back more than maybe 3 or 4 channels while the rest are dead. So I can get track 8 in sync mode, but not in repro. Now, I've reflowed the solder joints on that mainboard at least twice in the time I've owned it and had it all torn down, had the rear RCA panel replaced with all the connections... I'd try swapping the heads but I don't really want to. My theory is that what ever bus the repro comes off of on the mainboard is cracked/bad or the head itself has a problem in track 8.

As Dr. Raymond Stanz said, we're close I can feel it!
 
**WARNING** This is mental. It should work but is pretty risky and I would exhaust other possibilities before attempting it.

I have a head assembly for a TASCAM 38 as spares. On mine, there are three groups of cables ending in a cluster of plugs which presumably go onto the mainboard somewhere. Black is the erase head, red is the record head, and white should be the repro head.

If you are of stout heart, and have taken numerous photos of it first, or better still, have a manual which says exactly which colour cable goes where, you could in theory unplug the red plugs and plug the white plugs into the sync/repro header. Since sync works on track 8, you could then try a sync playback with the machine in this condition and see if track 8 responds (i.e. the head is OK).
This is not for the faint-hearted and may result in a 16-piece puzzle trying to get it back together in the correct track order if you did not meticulously document what it was like before you messed with it.
Ideally, if you know which colour cable is for track 8 (and they are the same colours on both record and repro), you might be able to swap just the headers for track 8.
 
The 30 series-32/34/38 were notorious for bad solder joints on the motherboard.The only way to fix reliably is to take your 38 apart and resolder every solder joint.
 
WhinyLittleRunt, did you ever resolve this issue?? I just got a 38 recently and I’m having the exact same issue. Thanks!
 
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