Tascam M 520 Troubleshooting

R

rito25

New member
I know I already made a thread about this but that was a disorganized mess. I want to do it again but much more logically. So disregard every thing in that thread.
I plug a mic in. It's an SM58. Phantom is off. I plug it into channel one, I set the selector to MIC. I set everything to pre. I turn up the gain and trim to max. No overload LED lights up. The meters don't move. Routing doesn't appear to work.

If i use the D. Out or Sends to an external mixer I can hear the mic.
 
OK,

I have one of these boards. But I'm not near it at the moment so this is off of memory. Ghost or sweetbeats feel free to chime in too. Do you have the manual? (It seems odd to me that some guy woudl have the PSU, Console, Manaul, and even the acc s/r jumpers but somehow lose the pwr cable...but stuff happens...)

The 520 has a ton of routing options. So you've plugged a mic into *channel 1*. You need ot have the s/r jumpered. You need to assign it to a buss. The meters (although this can be overridden too) reflect the buss outs. So you need to assign hte mic to a buss. 1-8 there are switches for that. Choose two or more and leave the pan pot in th emiddle to start with. Then if you're monitoring off headphones, you need to push the monitor switch, (I think the choices are PGM. AUX1-2 AUX3-4 SPARE and one more) in this case you want PGM and turn up the monitor knobs (16 knobs above the headphone jack)
 
I can't assign it to any of the buses and get the VU's to respond. I don't have any playback in the headphones. Monitor is on, all the busses are panned center an d set to 12 o'clock. All busses set to Bus.

Seller said he moved a few days before I bought the mixer, said he thought he lost it during the move.
 
rito25 said:
I can't assign it to any of the buses and get the VU's to respond. I don't have any playback in the headphones. Monitor is on, all the busses are panned center an d set to 12 o'clock. All busses set to Bus.

Seller said he moved a few days before I bought the mixer, said he thought he lost it during the move.
Click to expand...

The meters can be set to an internal path or switched to an external patched position. In order to see a signal on them, they have to be switched correctly. Page 29 of the manual/page 23 of the .pdf will explain this in better detail. Please take a look at it.

As to monitoring anything on this mixer, you not only have to assign a signal to a buss, but you also have to have the buss faders up and (this is key), you must also make use of the monitoring mix system, which in on the upper right side of the mixer surface. And there too, there are assignment toggle switches which need to be in the buss or tape position with its levels also turned up. See page 27 and 28 of the manual/page 22 of the .pdf. That sub-mix system is what feeds the final monitoring section that feeds the headphones and the control room outs to feed an amp and speakers.

The manual is pretty complicated but it will help you if you take the time to read it over...as many times as necessary until the road map becomes familiar to you.

So the key to working all this is learning how the board should work, by the book, and then if it doesn't, you can then fret over the technical internal faults, if any. But if you don't get your head around the "by the book" operation, you'll be chasing your tail looking for electrical faults before you've ruled out user error.

Cheers! :)
 
Yes. The channel switch is on. I should be making the OL LED flash on like crazy, but they do not. The meter's are set for an internal source. All my settings are set correctly. I still don't have sound or working VU's.
 
rito25 said:
Yes. The channel switch is on. I should be making the OL LED flash on like crazy, but they do not. The meter's are set for an internal source. All my settings are set correctly. I still don't have sound or working VU's.
Click to expand...

If you are 100% sure that you are setting the board correctly and still not getting sound or meter movement, it might be time to talk to the seller about his claim that the mixer was in working order when he sold it to you. Maybe at least bring it back to him and power it up at his place and get him to show you how it works. And when/if it doesn't, demand your money back.

Otherwise, get ready to become a repairman or pay one to fix up whatever issues the mixer has.

Cheers! :)
 
I'm trying to get in contact with the seller. I'm having trouble. I listed the mixer locally to see if I can get atleast some of my money back.
Disappointing to say the least.
 
Don't sweat the OL lamps not lighting right now. That could be an issue with the rail that drives those OR it could simply be oxidized LED tails. When I got my M-520 there were several LED's that weren't working and the contacts just needed cleaned.

You are getting audio through the direct out and the SEND jack. its clean sounding? If so that tells me that your audio power rails are happy and that the entire channel is working because the direct out jack is post fader...it includes everything on the channel up to the ON switch which is the last thing before the signal goes to the assign bank.

Do your SM-58 test on all channels and make sure you at least get audio out to the direct out jack.

just to make sure, your buss faders are up, monitor channels 1-8 are set to buss, monitor trims are set to maybe 2 o'clock, and you have "MON" depressed in the MONITOR SELECT switch bank and you have the STEREO A and B faders up. You should have audio out of the STEREO A or B jacks in the back.
 
I'm all for for trying what you can before throwing in the towel based on your skill level, but from what I’ve read so far in the two threads I say take this thing back to the guy who sold it to you before you drive yourself crazy. A lot can go wrong between the PS and the mixer if it’s not wired right. And there could be things wrong with the PS or the mixer or both. And IMO a guy doesn’t just “lose” a proprietary mission critical cable like that in a move right before he sells the mixer. I don’t believe that really happens, but it’s a great excuse for the seller to not have to setup the mixer before you buy it to show you if it works.

I’ve often said you can spend a lot of money trying to save money. It seems reasonable enough at first to think it’s a great price and all you have to do is find or make a cable and you’re in business. But I rather think if it were that easy the previous owner would have done just that and got a lot more money for it if he’s that confident in it. You’re already contemplating ripping this thing apart and looking for God knows what. This time next year you may still have it in pieces. By that time I don’t think the guy will take it back.

“It worked last time I used it, but it’s been in storage and I oh damn, I can’t find the power cord.”

What’s wrong with this picture? :facepalm:
 
The cleanness depends on channel it is. Some channels sound clean others don't. Could be because of trim.
I am trying to contact the seller but I am not getting anything back from them. I guess I'm too trusting of a person.
 
If any one wants some extra parts message me. Also the OVERLOAD lights flash on when the power is turned on and off.
 
rito25 said:
I guess I'm too trusting of a person.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't consider that a bad thing. And it sure beats the alternative of trusting no one which can make one pretty grumpy.

Try to look at it this way. A decent fully working condition M520 usually sells for around 500-600 dollars and you got this one for $150. That's a hell of a deal and even if you had to invest a couple of hundred fixing up all the issues, you'd still be ahead of the game. Or, you could just forget about it and sell it someone else for the same money you paid for it as a fixer upper, which is how your seller should have pitched it to you. Who knows? Maybe he knew the value of the board and just expected any potential buyer out there to realize that for the price, you'd have to expect some trouble? And maybe when you got there all enthusiastic, he had a lapse of morals. Shit happens and life goes on.

Cheers! :)
 
Yeah. A friend of mine offered to teach me how to fix it. But I don't know if I have the time or patience to do that. There's a nice RAMSA board in the area I might buy instead. I made some local ads up to try and sell the board.
 
I can't help you with fixing the mixer but just to put it into perspective, you did buy an untested mixer and you don't appear to have the skill level required to rebuild or fix these things really quickly. You also appear to be sort of 'rushing' through things trying to fix it... if you really are in a rush to get a working mixer I think you should just buy another mixer that you can test to be 100% functioning.

I'm sure if you took your time, looked over schematics and really sat down, traced and tested the entire signal path you could diagnose and fix the problem but I doubt that it would be worth it. You did get the mixer for real cheap... I reckon you could get most of your money back just by selling it as not working.

It's up to you but I price any fooling around repairing and tinkering with equipment as the same as my day-job $/hour and I find nearly all the time that I'm spending a lot more money in 'time' diagnosing and fixing than paying a bit extra for the working, excellent condition equipment.
 
Yeah. I took the sellers word. Did my research on the mixer and thought it would be perfect for my needs. That would have been true except it didn't work at all. I just hope I can sell it.
 
Its normal for the OL lamps to flash when powering up.

So did you confirm that with the settings I posted up above that you still can't get anything from a channel out to the STEREO A or B jacks? I still want to make sure its not just a settings issue vs an actual problem with the mixer. Your audio rails are working, and it sounds like the channels are working...not wanting to give you false hope, but at the same time just wanting to make SURE you don't have more of a working mixer than is assumed at present.

And, hey...I've made some rush mistakes...several...and they cost a lot more than you spent. Oy.
 
I don't get anything in the headphones. I doubt using the line out would be any different.

Now here is the major question, is there anyone on these fourms that I may be able to send it to to get it fixed? Or is my best bet just to got and buy a different mixer? Time is semi important since I plan to record a band need to learn how to do some stuff.
 
"Sending" something as big as a 520 out for repair is not realistic. Shipping alone is going to easily be as much if not twice what you paid for it, one way. Where are you located?

Also, the busses have an acc send/receive as well that needs to be jumpered, ***just like the channels.*** I learned that when I first got my 520 about 15 years ago, I remember running out to Radio Shack and buying a 14 pairs of short rca cables...

Confirm they are jumpered, and also see if you have signal from the buss send.

I've also made a few too many impulse buys that have cost me, and one I was so frustrated with I didn't think to keep as a parts machine, and just gave it away.
 
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