Tascam 38 bias question?

M

mdainsd

Member
I came up with one of these machines over the weekend. Why? Cause I have a condition that draws me towards analog tape machines. It is a serious condition (with no known cure) as I have no reason to want or need a consumer multitrack. But there it was on craigs list "doesnt work, dont know whats wrong" so I thought Id at least just look at it, right? So I show up and the guy has it set up and turned on and demonstrates that it kinda rewinds and kinda fast forwards, but play is out of the question. I almost laughed, but I didnt. There it sat threaded up with Scotch 226. I could see that the capstan wasnt turning and that the pinch roller was melting right off of the aluminum hub. I pulled the tape and looked at the tape path, what a mess, looked kinda like the rusticles on the titanic only they were horizontal and streaking clear off of the heads and guides. I shrugged and said I didnt have much use for it and was ready to leave. I hadnt offered him anything as I wasnt going to be insulting. I got to the door and he asked if I'd give him 50 bucks for it, so I did. Was ready to leave and he stopped me and said, oh I almost forgot, got the box for it.

Its home and its what one would expect the capstan belt is toast and the pinch roller is goo. But after a very long cleaning session on the heads and guides it looks pretty fresh. I ordered a belt and I may build a mold here at work and mold a new pinch roller onto the capstan hub.

Im going to want to run an alignment on it and so finally to my question....

Does this machines electronics have the ability to bias for the hotter tapes? 499 is my favorite.

Thanks all,

Mark
 
Although I biased mine for SM911, I've read on this forum that the 38 may not bias up much higher because the trim control won't go that far (or other reasons). But I was able to test bias up on a 499 tape and my trim control was able to go that far. It seemed ok, but then I biased back down to +6 tape for use with +3 tape (Scotch 206).
 
The 38 can't bias that high. Not sure if it is even possible to modify the circuit to get there. It is possible on the 48 and 58 and MS16. However you can use that tape with lower bias and have great results. Can you make pinch rollers yourself ? there is a guys that rerubbers them Terry's Rubber Pinch Rollers & Wheels, for the 38 i think it will be like $45. I know because i sent him in the past a roller for my TSR8. Do you have plenty of 1/2" 499 lying around ? if not, i would go for standard bias and SM911 tape which is great.
 
Thank you! I guess in the grand scheme of things I should just leave it alone and send it on its way to a new owner. But its good information to have.
 
Here at the company I work for we do tons of rubber molding. And the tool shop turns out tools fast, so I figured why not? Being the director of engineering it is easy for me to get "specials" made, LOL. I can also play with the different rubber formulations we have and other non-rubber formulations like Hypalon.
 
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