TEAC 3340 problem

snipeguy

Andy Goldsworthy Wannabe
I can't beleive it. After going on and on about my old reliable 3340 I now have a problem. Channel 4 plays back all previous material but last night when I went to record, it showed normal signal on the VU and the red light lit up but when I played back I got almost no level and could just barely hear what I had done. Like I said, the playback circuit seems fine as all my old stuff sounds great with normal levels. The problem seems to be in the record circuit. The fact that my VU's show level when I'm in source/record mode tells me the inputs are fine. Any ideas? :(

Snipeguy
 
The simple and obvious ones are the first thing to check which is the tape itself and the cleanliness of the path.

Does it reproduce the problem with a different roll of tape - fresh stock?

Same lack of level off the sync and repro heads?

Dirty input pot on deck - turn it a few times just in case?

Dirty sync/repro monitor switch on channel?

dbx cable link problem/calibration level on dbx unit if any?

After that, it gets ugly and internal; re-seating cards - intermittent internal wiring harnesses...

Let us know your findings!

Good luck, man!

Cheers! :)
 
Ghost, You won't beleive it.
This is so weird. Just after I tried 'all the obvious and simple ones' and realized that it was indeed 'internal and ugly', I scored ANOTHER 3340 for $150 CDN. It actually a better unit as my old machine was a A3340S where this is the true 3340. You know .....vari speed, input swithches, function select, etc. I swear it even sounds a bit better. Maybe that's just my joy ringing in my ears. The kicker is that I got an Otari MX5050 8 track with the deal. (with the remote but no cable) The transport won't engage when you press play and the pinch roller has a bit of a bite out of it but everything else seems in pretty good shape. Any ideas about this fix? I'm just gonna enjoy the new 3340 for now but when I get to fixing up the 5050 I'll probably pick your brain....again.
Snipeguy :)
 
Congrats on the 3340 score! :)

What an incredible deal you got, especially with the Otari thrown in! :cool:

I've got zero experience with Otari repairs but there are a few Otari dudes on this forum so who knows? Maybe one of them will have the magic fix for ya on it?

What are your plans for your old A3340S?

Cheers! :)
 
I am going to keep it for now. It was given to me by the bass player in my old band (The Snipetones) I kinda have to give him first choice of refusal. I will probably get it fixed at some point as the heads have a lot of life in them. For now have to settle in and get some recording done. My wife plays for a folk group called Tamarack and they are going to do some pre production stuff here. Also my long awaited (ha ha) solo project is overdue. I just ordered 20 reels of 1/4" from Long and McQuade. It would make my wife very happy if I stopped spending money and started working.........but then there is that Otari and maybe if I.......no, no, I must have strength,LOL.
If you're ever in the Greater Guelph Area you'll have to stop by.
Snipeguy

BTW I will start a new thread about the OTARI
 
If you're ever in the Greater Guelph Area you'll have to stop by.
That sounds like a plan for sure! :)

Only, I have no idea when I'll be up in your area? :confused:

I have a buddy who lives in Totenham and I do get up to his place once or twice a year so who knows? Maybe I'll make a detour one of these days?

Cheers! :)
 
I'm losing it.

You can tell I'm pushing 50 and my brain is slowwly dying. My new deck is a 3440, NOT a 3340 but you probably figured that out and were too polite to say. Time for some milk and cookies and then bed.

Happy Snipeguy
 
Hi. I just got a 3340. I seem to be having the same problem you were having. I admit I have not yet tried cleaning/demagnatizing everything and using a brand new tape. If I play a commercially release tape...all is fine. If i record something, the VU meters seem to be accurate...but when i play back what i just recorded, the left channel plays normally But the right channel plays back very quitely. Im hoping this is not something serious.

In any case, I have a blown light bulb on one of the VU meters. Do you know how to change them? Thanks
 
You gotta clean the head thoroughly with a light but firm scrubbing action,

with tactile finger pressure applied directly to the head, and repeat a few times, before going forward. ;)

In other words, don't just swab it lightly with the stick type swab. Get your finger on the swab tip and head surface, and apply a reasonable finger pressure while cleaning.

Sorry if I repeat myself, but sometimes the cleaning issue is glossed over lightly, and some oxide residues may be tougher than you might think at first. ;)
 
Make sure the input and output pots are really clean (Caig De-Oxit). Also those stupid cheap sync swithches are notorious for going intermittent. Clean, clean, clean.
 
Yes, the black sync switches on the head blocks are prone to shorts. Cuts the signal right down to nada in some cases. It's really a drag to sit there wildly clicking a bad one back & forth to get it to kick in.

I recently finished transferring my entire tape archive of multitrack tape work from the mid 60's to the mid 90's to Nuendo. Including my early early 70's 3340 stuff...which luckily consisted of songs that had reels and reels of unmixed slave four track reels that I didn't erase during the submix process between two machines.

I'm pretty excited to have kept the early stereo/mon and 4-track multitrack things on separate reels. I've flown them all in to Nuendo and can now nudge the individual song tracks from the various reels back and forth to sync, clean them up and then remix and remaster the old stuff again. This time, without the inane submixing that constantly had to be done between two machines in the early days.

Now that everything is transferred and accounted for, I realize I'll probably never use that 3340 again. I thought for a minute about selling it, but I think I'll just keep it around like all the other Tascam stuff around here.

I thought my kids might be a little interested, but, teens that they are, they're pretty much into computer daw recording and video editing stuff...they sort of snicker when they take a look at the analog recorders..."what?..you mean I have to WAIT for the tape to rewind before I can add the next idea? No thanks Dad."
 
!!!

Submixing between two (analog) machines is pretty insane,... no argument there,... but the "track bounce" philosophy still survives today in the ranks, whether it's "external" or "internal" reduction mixes. It's still a useful way to boost track count with some known compromises in production value. I did it up to it's most extreme points, way back when,... but put it behind me long ago. My philosophy is that if you're track bouncing, your music would be better served to find a format with higher track count.

Analog's still cool, though! I love it!

I'll now return you to your regularly scheduled topic! ;)

Oh,... good luck with the TEAC 3440!
 
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