Getting my 488 repaired

K

keglined

New member
I've got a MKI portastudio 488 and the tape relay motor (I think) gave out a few years ago. RW, FF, rehearse do not work, and playing the tape results in the tape being eaten.

Nowadays I'm all digital, but I have a bunch of tapes I'm trying to transfer onto my PC.

Is this a common problem, and if anyone has successfully repaired this kind of problem, what exactly was the problem?

Thanks in advance.
 
There seem to be quite a few people in this group who own 488s. Perhaps one of them lives close enough for a loan to be possible?
 
Yo KEG [of beer I hope]:

I have had two 488's. I have one in my storage area but I don't want to sell it.

If you have mixed your tracks on the 488 to stereo and to tape, you can simply put the sounds back into your digital system and remaster it. I've done this with many "good" cuts on the 488,using my 2816 Yam.

If you only have the 8 tracks on the recorded tape, then you will need another 488 unit to play & mix them to the stereo two tracks for further work.

Green Hornet:p :D :D :p :cool:
 
Thanks

I'm glad to see other 488 owners here! I bought mine before the MK2 came out but eq was never a real problem - though sometimes I saw the ads for the MKII and thought it'd be nice to have three EQ controls for each track.

The machine had been SO good to me for almost a decade, but in 1999 or 2000 its seemiongly simple problem of motor or relay broke. Took it to a couple electronics shops who told me they couldn't do anything without schematics. Which I searched for desperately and never found.

It seems such a waste to have such a valuable machine go to ruin because of the failure of a simple motor.
 
Regarding FF/RW & eating tapes during PLAY,...

Deep within the cassette mechanism, there's a motor and idler that drives the left & right hubs, and is responsible for FF/RW and take-up during PLAY.

This "idler" is composed of a dual pulley with two little rubber tires. USUALLY, what fails is the rubber tires, that get sticky or detents, & that compromises normal FF/RW function and takup function during play.

THE GOOD NEWS, is that these rubber tires are like .65c items, each.

THE BAD NEWS, is that a MAJOR DISASSEMBLY is required to replace them, which if you're talking "shop-time", is probably a $150 job.

THE LESS LIKELY THING, is for the FF/RW motor to fail, which is almost unheard of, since the "little rubber tires" are what fail most often, due to the normal decomposition that these rubber parts experience, after 10-15 years of normal use.

Hope that helps! BTW, I've been there & done that!

THIS is PRIME TERRITORY for the HARDCORE DIY'er, but if you're not technically inclined, or have no previous experience disassembling a Portastudio, then it's best left to Tascam Service, or your local qualified tech.
 
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