Tascam 388 newbie..tape loading hilarity

M

munceyboyjoe

New member
Hello everyone. I have finally finished cleaning up my 388 which I scored off ebay. I don't think it was cleaned too regularly by the previous owner. When I first fired it up, it didn't want to fast-forward or rewind, but after trawling through these forums, I realised a thorough clean would be a good place to start. So, I cleaned it up, and loaded a nice new reel of 457 onto the right side, intended to use the tails out method. Pressed rewind, and it started flying through the tape, lovely! The clean worked. As the tape neared it's ended, it started wondering whether it would stop itself, I soon found out, it didn't. The tape flew off it's hub on the right. So I've secured it back on, and am now feeling a little sheepish. Is this normal? Should I have done something to ensure the tape didn't fly off? Anyway, I'm now gonna go and do some test recording......
 
You pressed the LOAD button after you'd attached the beginning of the tape to the take up reel, right?
 
Its no big deal that what tape does. It flys off of the reel its comming from.
And Im not sure I understand why you back wond it.
The idea of tales out is you let it go to the end after you have recorded on it not before.
 
Just thought I'd mention, that thanks to previous posts on this forum, I've manged to work out how to record, so far 7 of the 8 channels record nicely, channel 1 doesn't. I wonder if it's anything major. :confused:
 
Re: Herm, I thought I was meant to wind the tape onto the reel on the left first? Then record, then just let it run to the end, back onto it's original reel on the right? So, it took the fresh reel out of its box > put it on the right side > wound it onto the left reel > record > let i roll on, is that the way it goes?
 
The tape always starts on the left unless the tape was stored tail out.
A fresh roll would go on the left. You can run to the end with a fresh reel to get a even pack on it.
I dont know I may have been doing it all wrong these years.
It just seems what you where doing before is a waist of time and wear and tear on your machine.
 
Herm said:
The tape always starts on the left unless the tape was stored tail out.
A fresh roll would go on the left. You can run to the end with a fresh reel to get a even pack on it.
I dont know I may have been doing it all wrong these years.
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No, that's correct. And storing tails out is preferred because of print-through. If you get print-through on your reel, it's better to have it sound like a delay rather than appearing before the source.

Herm said:
a waist of time
Click to expand...
To avoid this, I drink less beer and exercise. :D
 
Maybe your head is misaligned.

Otherwise it could be that the record/playback card for tracks 1 and 3 isn't properly seated. To find that out you need to take the top off of the section with the meters in and take a quick squizz at the pcbs on the lefthand side. The hindmost one furthest left is the rec/pb card for tracks 1 and 3.

If it isn't properly seated pull it out gently, but firmly and then put it back in again, ensuring this time that it connects properly to whatever it is it's supposed to connect to.

Yes, I have a manual :D
 
Re: Herm. I see, I was getting confused. Infact, I'm still confused!! Err. :( . Just to clarify, how should I have loaded the tape, to ultimately store it as tails out? Perhaps the only thing I have achieved, is being able to store the tape on the original reel it came shipped with?
 
To store tails out, you need to wind the tape onto the right, or take-up, reel. The best and slowest way is to do a tight wind, which means rewinding the tape to the beginning and then playing it all the way through. This gives a tight and even wind of the tape on the reel. And when you load the tape up again, you put the reel on the right hub and rewind to your desired location.
 
Ah! I think we are getting confused here.
First thing a new tape. put it on the left side, If you want to excersise the tape since it is new Just fast forward it to the end and then rewind back to the beginning. Second record your song with the full reel on the left. Third when you are done if you want to store tails out let the tape play till the right reel is full and then store it back in the box. Then when you want to work on that tape again put it on the right side and rewind it to the left to start your song again. Its not that big of a deal unless you are really hitting the tape hard.
Or just do what I do dont worry about print through and rewind back to the left always. I would forget about it unless you start to have print through problems.
 
You gotta clean the head repeatedly, to make sure it's absolutely clean,...

using a slight pressure and scrubbing action, before suspecting the electronics for signal loss.;)
 
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