Tascam 388 - tape loading diagram

[A Reel Person]

[A Reel Person]

Second verse, same as the first...

[regebro]

Behind? Nooo..... Below.

The tape should go 'south' of the tension wheels (thats the small weels far to the right and left that moves). It should go between the capstan and the pinchroller. The capstan is the small steel pin, and the pinchroller is the rubberwheel that pinches the tape to the capstan when running. It should go north over the two remaining wheels (otherwise the tension wheels has nothing to "tense" against. )

It should also go south of the head stack.

After loading, make sure to pull up any slack in the tape. The tape should lie directly against the heads, and the tenstion wheels should be pulled up by the tape.

Oh, and check in here: http://www.voxvendor.com/chat/ for online help.

[wildflower soul]

heres a closer view

[regebro]

Yes, you are making it too complicated.

Threading tape does not involve any actual threading.

The tape goes below ALL of the head assembly. Everything of it.

And also, you haven't gotten the tape between the capstan and the pinch, and that means that there is nothing to pull the tape forward.

[wildflower soul]

i got it! thanks for all the help

i know you all probably think i'm stupid now...

[regebro]

Nah. But now we come to the complicated part: Doing it all backwards! (Yes, really, but maybe we'll take that later).

[wildflower soul]

you need to load it backwards for when the tape ends right?

[regebro]

Yes, and for doing 'Tail Out' winding, which is recommended.

You put the empty take up reel on the left hub, and the full wheel on the right slot, thread it backwards, and then REWIND the tape to the beginning!

Then you start recording. When you are done, you then rewind the tape to the beginning again, and instead of fast-forwarding the tape onto the original weel, you PLAY through the whole of the tape to the end.

That way you get the tape nicely and evenly wound for storage. Also, any print through comes after the original, and that way gets masked. Although that's a minor problem.

[A Reel Person]

Regebro, excuse me, but shut up for a moment!

Your tape should go UNDER the tape-guides/tape-head-stack assembly, and BETWEEN the capstan & pinchweel.

You have it threaded ABOVE the tape guides, and THROUGH the headstack assembly, and then ABOVE the capstan. THAT's CLEARLY WRONG.

Work on it some more, & I'll follow up with a webcam pic of my own, asap.

[regebro]

Originally posted by A Reel Person
Regebro, excuse me, but shut up for a moment!

Too late.

Your tape should go UNDER the tape-guides/tape-head-stack assembly, and BETWEEN the capstan & pinchweel.

I thought that was what I said?

[wildflower soul]

well everything seems to be working really well now...

thanks for the diagrame A Reel Person, i printed it out and looked at it while loading. I did some tests on recording drums, everything seems to be working well.

ill take another pic in a minute to make sure i've got it right now

[A Reel Person]

It's pretty hard to escape your genius, though!

>> Tape Loaded on Tascam 388

[A Reel Person]

Head Stack, 388

[A Reel Person]

Tails-Out, 388.

After the session, wind all tape from the left reel onto the right reel in PLAY mode. This creates a nice, neat pancake of tape that's better for storage, since it helps prevent tape-edge damage from handling, that you'd be prone to if the tape was stacked unevenly, like from FF/RW.

Store reels in boxes, standing on edge instead of lying flat, whenever possible.

[A Reel Person]

I used the nice digital camera for those pics, not the webcam.

Anyway, WTG, you worked that out.

It's known as "cockpit error".

[wildflower soul]

oops i had the reel on the left side....

it seemed to be recording fine that way though, i better switch it though?

[A Reel Person]

With the reel in tails-out configuration, as in above photo, implied is that you'd do a full REWIND before each session, then wind the tape tails-out after the session.

In the photo above, my reel's already in tails-out configuration.

In general, the mass public thinks of putting the full reel of tape on the left side. That's normal. However you do it on the first shot is not important, as long as you wind the tape in PLAY mode all the way to the right, after the session.

Also implied, is that if you're destined to use tails-out, then you'd probably want to put the new reel on the right, so as to keep the tape on the original reel it came on, out of the box.

Beyond that, it doesn't matter that much, especially if you have a few empty reels available. Just be certain to label each tape as well as possible, plus keep a track sheet, if possible.

[A Reel Person]

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[nitrochromium]

[SIZE=2][COLOR=DarkOrange] Just got one of these tape thingys!!

[A Reel Person]

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