Tascam 246 -- help?

J

jeezusgod

New member
Hi, I bought a used 246 from musicgoround and I'm having a pretty frustrating problem with it. I'm not getting any signal from the 1st channel on the mixer (PGM? not totally sure about terminology.. sorry)

When i plug an instrument into the 1st channel input, I cannot record anything to any cassette track 1-4 from that channel. it also does not make any sound through headphones or the PGM out or anything. I can plug anything into channels 2-6 and assign it to tracks 1-4 on the tape, all of which record just fine. Using headphones, all 4 tracks will play back in monitor mode but when I switch it to PGM, only tracks 2-4 will play back from the tape through the mixer. I've triple- and quadruple-checked all the knobs and sliders on each channel and i'm about 97% positive it's not user error.

any ideas as to what the problem may be specifically? I know it has to do with just the mixer component... everything works perfectly except for recording signal from and playing back signal on channel 1. I would love to get this unit fully working because it was a steal at $135 shipped.
 
Sorry you haven't gotten a response.

I don't own a 246 so my knowledge is pretty limited. If it were me and it was supposed to be 100% I'd be sending it back.

If it were me and it was AS-IS condition/functionality unknown I'd be tearing it open and start tracing. It sounds like an internal issue...cold solder joint, loose wire...something like that.

Like you said you know the recording section is working and if NOTHING can get to tape thru that channel it doesn't sound like its the recorder section.

Do you get any signal through? Can you monitor an input on that strip and hear it anywhere? How about if you plug in a mic and tap on the windscreen with the gain up high? Do you get any crackles or anything?
 
Thanks for the reply. I do get SOME signal through but it's not usable in any way -- if I plug in my guitar for example and turn the trim all the way up I do get an extremely faint distorted signal. I've also noticed that if I turn one of the EQ knobs all the way up, it makes a loud popping noise...
 
I would guess that you either have a bad capacitor (or more) or a blown opamp (short for operational amplifier...they are little chips with 8 legs, 4 on each side.) I could direct you to which ones to pull and test or just replace but if you haven't done that sort of thing before I wouldn't get started on a unit that you need...plus I have no schematics. Either take it to a local repair shop and expect to pay, send it to Tascam in California and expect to pay but know it got worked on by the manufacturer (which in this case on that vintage is a pretty good thing I think), or return it for a refund.
 
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