Faint audio on playback on tascam 38

Joyo

New member
Hi, I recently set up my tascam 38 to work with my toft ATB 8 and it all sounds great. One thing I love about this mixer is the input reverse function which allows me to bring the monitor returns through as line inputs. To do this there’s really only 3 steps which is to press the I/R button, select line input on and increase the gain and fader volume. It works perfectly on 7 of the the 8 tracks of my Tascam but for some reason track 3 never plays any audio back. (Well it actually plays a very faint signal but most of this is bleed from the others tracks) It works fine in input and I can hear everything perfectly through the monitor section then. I’ve checked the cables and the desks input and they both work fine, theres also signal on the VU meter of track 3 on the Tascam so I wondered if it might be either to do with the tape itself or the playback head? I was wondering if anyone had any experience of a similar issue and could narrow down the possible culprits.

Thanks, Jo
 
A fun trick is to flip the tape over and see what happens. This will reverse the track order, so what you recorded on track 1 will play back on track 8 (backwards). Hence, if Track 3 is playing back OK but not recording, it should now play back what was Track 6 when the tape was the right way around. Conversely, if Track 3 is recording OK but not playing back, Track 3 will still be silent but Track 6 will now be playing whatever it laid down earlier.

The next steps kind of depend on what you get back. The obvious first thing is to make absolutely sure the heads are clean. After that, you may need to open up the bottom of the deck and start swapping the channel cards around. If the card for channel 3 is bad and you swap it with channel 4, the fault should move to Track 4. If so, a common problem is the output relay sticking.
If the fault doesn't move, it may be a bad connection. The 30-series has a reputation for the solder joints being a bit iffy and some technicians will reflow them as a matter of course.
 
Hi, thanks for your reply! I just tried flipping the tape and unfortunately still no sound from channel 3 though it was fun hearing the other tracks play in reverse bit like a rubbish version of tomorrow never knows.

Next to open it up and swap the cards over. Think I’ll take it to a technician for a general service soon anyway so I’ll mention it to them as well.

Thanks again for your help, Jo
 
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Hi, thanks for your reply! I just tried flipping the tape and unfortunately still no sound from channel 3 though it was fun hearing the other tracks play in reverse bit like a rubbish version of tomorrow never knows.
Next to open it up and swap the cards over. Think I’ll take it to a technician for a general service soon anyway so I’ll mention it to them as well.
Thanks again for your help, Jo

Sounds like a plan. The more details you can give the tech (e.g. whether the fault is on the card or not) the better. Good luck!
 
Swapping/removing channel cards on tascam 38

Hello, since seeing a technician doesn’t seem like it’s a possibility anytime soon with the lockdown here I’ve decided to try and swaps the channel cards myself . I’ve removed the front and bottom panels on the machine and removed the screw from the bar which seems to hold all the cards in place. I was wondering how to remove the cards (I’m a bit cautious as I’m far from an expert and I’ve only had the machine a few months). Do I need to remove all the panels from the whole machine or is there just a screw I’m missing?

Thanks,
Jo
 
Hello, since seeing a technician doesn’t seem like it’s a possibility anytime soon with the lockdown here I’ve decided to try and swaps the channel cards myself . I’ve removed the front and bottom panels on the machine and removed the screw from the bar which seems to hold all the cards in place. I was wondering how to remove the cards (I’m a bit cautious as I’m far from an expert and I’ve only had the machine a few months). Do I need to remove all the panels from the whole machine or is there just a screw I’m missing?
Thanks,
Jo

Yeah, that's a lot harder than I remembered. Just tried this on the TASCAM 32. The cards aren't screwed down once the retaining bar is removed, but they can be very stiff. A trick that just came back to me was to take two wire coathangers or something similar, and hook one into each of the two holes at each end of the card. Pull both ends at the same time, and it should pop out. It's a lot easier to put them back in.
Pulling one end at a time isn't recommended as it may cause the card to flex.
 
Thanks I’ll give that a go. As long as I know that giving a bit of a pull won’t break it.

Thanks again,
Jo
 
Yeah, I also looked into Tascam 38 but Right now I'm on the search for something newer which isn't this buggy. But maybe it is because of your Treiber?
 
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