424mk111 line out problems

[colhol63]

Hi has anyone tried to take the back of aTascam 424mk3? I have an intermittent fault with my two line out rca jacks [I have to wedge them up to make them work] I need to get inside to see whats going on, as it stands I cant mix down to my stereo deck/Pc
I removed all the screws from the back, but couldn't remove back,so Im stuck at the moment?
any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[A Reel Person]

...

You must remove the 10 or 11 screws on the bottom of the unit. The Pitch knob must be removed, or sometimes it will pop off when you try to separate the top and bottom halves. When you separate the top from the bottom half, you must unplug several cables that connect the top and bottom together. The tape mech must be removed from it's mounting to get it slightly out of the way, as I remember. The bottom circuit card is held on by a few screws and clips into the front side of the bottom chassis. Once you remove the bottom circuit card completely, you must turn it over to get to the connection traces where the RCA connectors solder onto the card. Use a proper soldering iron that's not too hot, so as not to burn the traces altogether, which would be problematic. Use a solder sucker, desoldering tool to remove the old solder, then flow new solder onto the connection traces. Reassemble Portastudio components in reverse order.

 

[colhol63]

Wow thank you very very much for that , what a great post , I must admit I am a bit apprehensive at the moment looking at your pics, but I will pluck up the courage to get in and have a go!!!! Thanks again

 

[A Reel Person]

Yeah!

For a seemingly simple problem, the solution requires a pretty thorough teardown. I've done it a couple times already, and I have a couple more to go. It could take up to an hour, on average.

When you dismount the tape mech from the bottom panel, you may have to remove the one wide/brown connector from the mech, or at least is how I remember it, but you don't have to remove each connector from the tape mech to the card. Just remove enough to get to what you want. When you flip the bottom PC card over, you can't really tell, but the tape mechanism is still attached to the bottom card. When you disconnect cables, they are color coded & sorted by number of pins and then the length of the wires, so getting them mixed up is not too likely. Also, before you remove the tape mech and circuit card, another connector will have to be removed from the Pitch Control PCA. Just be careful when reassembling to dress the cables away from pinch points in the chassis halves. and you'll be alright.

PS: When you have the card turned over, you may wiggle the RCA connectors and look carefully for the break point failure of the existing solder joints. It may be subtle so look closely. I recommend desoldering with a solder sucker tool and resoldering the connection points, vs. just reflowing the existing solder. I think completely resoldering with new solder will be more solid and last longer after the fix. If you don't relish the prospect of doing this repair, think of not wanting to do it again in 6-9 months! Of all the components on this fine machine, I think the RCA Line Outs get the most wear and tear & I think it would be the most common point of failure that I've seen to date. Sometimes you have to pay to play & this may be one example, but in general I think this is an exceptional unit, overall.

 

[colhol63]

Thanks again for that extra info I will have a go after xmas hopfully I plan to record my band live in the new year , Not sure yet whether to record with 4 mics on direct strategically placed around the room, or two mics placed and record in stereo.... thanks again , as you say this is a great machine .....

 

[A Reel Person]

Sure,...

I'd usually go for 1 mic on the drums, 1 on bass, 1 on guitar & 1 on vocal/PA, assuming a simple 4-piece arrangement. Anything else above that & I'd try to strategically group instruments while maintaining some separation of the instruments to the 4 separate tracks, and record in Direct Mode. The more tracks and separation you get to the 4 tracks on first pass, the more flexibility you'll get on mixdown. Live in the room you'll get a small amount of bleed between mics anyway, but it can be minimized with proper mic placement.

I'd only go 2-mics to stereo, live in the room, if I'd planned on using the remaining 2 tracks for overdubs & sweetening of the basic stereo tracks.

It depends on the scope of what you're trying to accomplish. Good luck!

 

[colhol63]

Hi yes its just Guitar ,Bass, Drums and 1 vocal , so it will be 4 mics on direct as you say. as there`s no panning involved, I think this will be the easiest rout to take. I am hoping to get some decent recordings to play about with. I use an Alesis Microverb 2 on mixdown set up as send/return type, I get great results with this ....I normally mix down to a Teac Cassette deck, but recently I purchased a Behringer Xenyx 5 channel USB mixer ,I now connect the line out L/R to the line in on that , and Mix down to Audacity on my PC or Laptop with good results , then burn to CD . it works quite well !!! Thanks again ,you have been a great help

 

[colhol63]

Success!! I finally plucked up the courage to strip the Tascam down . you where right , the double line out socket had become loose on the board , I got the soldering iron out and repaired it , I was dissapointed to see that all the most used sockets are just soldered straight to the board
.I now have a mint Tascam 464, comparing the quality the 464 certainly looks and feels streets ahead, I understand they are built to a price point, but the 464 feels totally different ,a very solid machine.
I did a recording/mixing comparison of the two machines, same guitar.[Gibson SG] amp[ Marshall Class 5 Head with a Marshall 2x12 cab] mic`d with an SM57 It was very interesting how different they sound on mixdown through my monitors. The 424 mk111 sounded quite cold and brittle compared to the 464, which sounded beautifully compressed. I mixed down to my Teac Cassette deck and did an A/B comparison, and I have to say the 424mk111 won on this test. Altho that could have been my Mixdown deck settings,I kept them the same , I think with the 464 I need to push the meters a bit hotter .
I have my Alesis micro verb set up on my 424mk111 on send/return which works great. I would love to get that to work on my 464 , for mixdown. but I dont have a manual, and I cant get it to work as on the 424,

The 464 seems a a bit more rare than other portastudios ,as I cant get a manual anywhere, altho it is very similar to the 424mk111 in how it works...Im not sure how to get the effect send /return set up which is a pain.......Thanks again for your help!!

 

[A Reel Person]

...

Cool man!