Tascam 488 Mkii Track 4 Not Working, Need help diagnosing the problem

[eyeball226]

Track 4 on my 488 MkII isn't working properly. When I record to it, the played back signal is weak and crackly and when I record again, it seems to overdub without erasing the first recording. This almost certainly means the erase head isn't working properly on that track, but is that also the cause of the crackly and weak recording/playback?

If the weak recording/playback is due to the rec/play head not working, it would seem to be quite a coincidence that both of them would be not working which makes me wonder what would cause both on the same track to do that. All other tracks are fine including 8, which I believe is next to 4.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Liam

[eyeball226]

Bump? Hasn't anyone got any ideas?

[Tom_B]

Have you/do you clean your heads?

[sweetbeats]

eyeball...yeah, sorry for not posting a response. I saw your question and it is kind of a head-scratcher, although the other thing I would look at (aside from making sure that the heads are clean-clean-clean as TomB said, and properly demagnetized) is to open it up and see if there is a loose wire to the record/reproduce head and or a cold or cracked solder joint from the PCB to track 4 of the head...that's where I would start, but that is a shot in the dark...

[A Reel Person]

The head elements on the 488 are so incredibly tiny, that any spec of oxide could cause this problem. It could be something else, but I'd start with a thorough cleaning first and foremost.