Hi Folks,
I was using the Tascam 388 at my practice space today. It belongs to my space-mate so it's not mine but I've used these before so he let me have at it. I was doing some guitar overdubbing to the left side of track 5, and suddenly the audio got all scratchy.
I figured it was a dirty head so I cleaned it, but it was still scratchy. I attempted everything I could think of to narrow down the issue. It seemes to be coming from the track itself, not the tape, not the cables, mic, or anything else.
The left side of Track 5 is almost totally dead. When I pan back to the right, the right side is perfect. I should mention, when I record or play back the VU meters on track 5 are A-OK no matter how I pan the knob.
I started comparing between other knobs on the board and sure enough, the physical pan nob on Track 5 FEELS crunchy when you turn it anywhere left of 12 o'clock. Like there's something stuck in there or something.
So I am thinking this is perhaps a dirty pot (best case) or bad pot, or worst case something even more complicated. I don't know much about these machines' internals. Any help would be great. Can I open it up somehow and have a look at the pot?
Here's a link to a video with audio of the symptom I am describing. Shows a recorded guitar track panned right (crystal clear) and panned left (fucked up). It does the same thing regardless of source (coming from recorded tape, microphone, etc).
YouTube
Thank you!
I was using the Tascam 388 at my practice space today. It belongs to my space-mate so it's not mine but I've used these before so he let me have at it. I was doing some guitar overdubbing to the left side of track 5, and suddenly the audio got all scratchy.
I figured it was a dirty head so I cleaned it, but it was still scratchy. I attempted everything I could think of to narrow down the issue. It seemes to be coming from the track itself, not the tape, not the cables, mic, or anything else.
The left side of Track 5 is almost totally dead. When I pan back to the right, the right side is perfect. I should mention, when I record or play back the VU meters on track 5 are A-OK no matter how I pan the knob.
I started comparing between other knobs on the board and sure enough, the physical pan nob on Track 5 FEELS crunchy when you turn it anywhere left of 12 o'clock. Like there's something stuck in there or something.
So I am thinking this is perhaps a dirty pot (best case) or bad pot, or worst case something even more complicated. I don't know much about these machines' internals. Any help would be great. Can I open it up somehow and have a look at the pot?
Here's a link to a video with audio of the symptom I am describing. Shows a recorded guitar track panned right (crystal clear) and panned left (fucked up). It does the same thing regardless of source (coming from recorded tape, microphone, etc).
YouTube
Thank you!
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