Tascam 388 monitoring problem

mjt335

New member
I've got a new issue with my 388 and wanted to ask for advice here (and at TapeOp!) before taking it to my tech. I found an old thread from 2010 that describes the exact same problem I'm having, but there wasn't a solution posted in the thread. He articulated the problem well, so I'm copying/pasting below but changing the track number to correspond with my current problem... (I'm a new member so I can't post the link to that thread yet. Will add that later...)

"Track 2 meter does not read on record function enabled (red light on track 2). So no monitoring of input regardless of what channel is used to assign to track 2. The actual input does work on both Line & mic in (channel 5) and I can record on track 2 fine enough (assigned from whatever channel). The VU meter does show signal on playback AND IT CONTINUES TO SHOW LEVEL ON TAPE EVEN WHEN THE TRACK 5 RECORD FUNCTION IS ENGAGED (which is when it should be reading the line/mic in).

Should I be looking on the Channel Rec/Play PCB boards? or could this be something in the record function section? Am I correct in my assumption that this would have to be an actual problem on a PCB board somewhere (dead Capacitor etc.) NOT just a mis-adjustment somewhere?"

Any insight would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Mike
 
No easy answers here, though I suspect it is a problem on the R/P amp PCB.

Have you tried swapping amp cards to see if the problem follows the card? Ask for clarification if you don’t understand what I’m asking...there are no stupid questions.
 
Thanks, sweetbeats.

No, I haven't tried swapping cards or anything yet. All I've done at this point is make sure the heads are clean (and a lot of internet searching). Are those the cards that are located up in the top panel? From what I've found online it looks like those are pretty easy to pop out and swap if so.
 
Do you have the manual? If so refer to the service section. There is a picture that details what is what in the cardbay. The r/p amp cards are in the left two rows of cards, but you also have the dbx, meter and balance amp cards in there. I’d try swapping the channel 2/4 card with another one and see if the problem follows the card swap.
 
Thanks, sweetbeats. Yes, I have a copy of the manual printed out at my studio. I'll look it over and will report back once I've had a chance to try this. Hoping to get a whole in the schedule soon to try this. The nice thing is, I can still record to the channel, just can't monitor while doing it. Luckily it's not a catastrophic problem or anything! I appreciate your help... will report back soon!
 
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