Tascam 48 Machine Noise | From Roller or Baked Tape?

hithere123

New member
Hey all,

I am very excited to start my analog recording adventure this weekend when my board arrives to use with my Tascam 48.

I have not yet gotten a new reel of tape, but was sent an old Ampex reel to test the machine with.

I noticed on certain parts of the tape when playing, that there was more machine noise coming from the left side roller. There are sections of the tape that the machine is very quiet and smooth, and other parts where it gets noisy while playing. Initially this made me think that it was the old tape or sticky shed.

Today I examined the machine from a different angle and realized that one of the rollers is slightly crooked compared to the other.

It seems to have gotten bent in shipping.

I just got in contact with the seller, and they said that seemed to be the case, and that my best bet would be to try to straighten it with a vice grip tool. They also said this could affect alignment so I don't want to mess with it unless necessary.

Would you all advise to try to do this before I start recording and new reel of tape is delivered?

Take off outer roller, get to shaft, use vice tool to bend back straight with cloth over the shaft.

It seems less likely than I thought that it was the tape making the noise.

The first picture is the crooked one.

Thanks for any guidance!
 

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That is not slightly bent in my opinion. That is significantly bent. That is one of the things I don’t like about the 40 series machines (and this applies to the 30 series machines as well)...the tension arm assemblies are not very robust, and it is *critical* to the proper operation of the machine that the tension arms are straight. You can’t properly setup the tape unless the tension arms are straight. You can bend them with your bare hand. There is no need to use a tool. That could further damage the roller shaft. I think I have an old video of me straightening a tension arm on a 48. I’ll have to look for it. You need to purchase a precision square to do it. Harbor Freight may have them or you may need to order online. But they usually come in sets of three, small, medium and large...search for “precision square”.

Let me look for my video...

[EDIT] Here they are...there are two of them. These are old...hopefully they’re not garbage...

YouTube

YouTube
 
Thank you Sweetbeats!

Lucky to have a video guide for this.

I do have access to a square.

Happy to see it looks like a pretty minor fix.
 
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