TAP Electronics

This may be true or the cover for their not being able to fix it- these are not all that easy to fix as they are tightly constructed and not made to the nest standards. I resolder a lot of joints in decks I work on as most of them are poor and ready to break. What parts is he having trouble finding Op amps or transistors. Customers that bring unit to me from other shops give me all kinds of stories they were told and some of the stories were not related to the repair they needed.
I had one shop work on a deck and made it worse- then the customer took it back and the guy had to order a service manual. How did he fix it right the first time with no manual? That shop is closed down and I saw the nuclear blast that it looked like as I was there to help clean it out. 59 years of collected dual cassettes and old TV tubes is going to take a lot of cleaning.
 
skywaveTDR said:
This may be true or the cover for their not being able to fix it- these are not all that easy to fix as they are tightly constructed and not made to the nest standards. I resolder a lot of joints in decks I work on as most of them are poor and ready to break. What parts is he having trouble finding Op amps or transistors. Customers that bring unit to me from other shops give me all kinds of stories they were told and some of the stories were not related to the repair they needed.
I had one shop work on a deck and made it worse- then the customer took it back and the guy had to order a service manual. How did he fix it right the first time with no manual? That shop is closed down and I saw the nuclear blast that it looked like as I was there to help clean it out. 59 years of collected dual cassettes and old TV tubes is going to take a lot of cleaning.
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he won't tell me and just says he trust his technicians (they are really busy he says), he sent me a picture of the board under the mixer and says theres burn marks, I'm not really sure where he was referring too, all I know is I tested it out with a microphone and it was working and I told him that on the phone, just the tape deck wasn't working properly. A this point I don't care, i'mjust gonna tell him focus on the tape deck, fix it, I'll pay the ridiculous amount and sent it back to me.

They say they do a quality control check and i'm not against it but it's hard to get answers from them and the waiting for it to be repaired is testing my nerves, I got a stomach ulcer and it is flaring up sometimes when I think about it because I still have to pay to get it back..I want this crap over.

i'm calling tomorrow to see whats up.20201028_083717.jpg20201028_083720.jpg

this the problem I was having

this was my sound test tascam688 - YouTube
 
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skywaveTDR said:
This may be true or the cover for their not being able to fix it- these are not all that easy to fix as they are tightly constructed and not made to the nest standards. I resolder a lot of joints in decks I work on as most of them are poor and ready to break. What parts is he having trouble finding Op amps or transistors. Customers that bring unit to me from other shops give me all kinds of stories they were told and some of the stories were not related to the repair they needed.
I had one shop work on a deck and made it worse- then the customer took it back and the guy had to order a service manual. How did he fix it right the first time with no manual? That shop is closed down and I saw the nuclear blast that it looked like as I was there to help clean it out. 59 years of collected dual cassettes and old TV tubes is going to take a lot of cleaning.
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do you see burnmarks?
 
If this were UK I would by now do this.

Write the guy a letter, sent recorded delivery, stating that I want the goods repaired in one month from receipt of letter. Not interested that he is slammed, that is HIS fault for taking on the work, he must clear his desk and do YOUR job.
If he does not think he can do the repair in the stated time, he must return the goods, with a report of his investigations so far. You are prepared to pay REASONABLE fees for time and shipping.

After the month's grace you will start proceedings through (our) Small Claims Court, making it plain to him that if this case succeeds he will not only be forced to return the goods but most likely PAY the costs involved whereas if he had complied with either of the above conditions he would not be out of pocket.

I would be surprised if you do not have something similar in consumer protection law?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
If this were UK I would by now do this.

Write the guy a letter, sent recorded delivery, stating that I want the goods repaired in one month from receipt of letter. Not interested that he is slammed, that is HIS fault for taking on the work, he must clear his desk and do YOUR job.
If he does not think he can do the repair in the stated time, he must return the goods, with a report of his investigations so far. You are prepared to pay REASONABLE fees for time and shipping.

After the month's grace you will start proceedings through (our) Small Claims Court, making it plain to him that if this case succeeds he will not only be forced to return the goods but most likely PAY the costs involved whereas if he had complied with either of the above conditions he would not be out of pocket.

I would be surprised if you do not have something similar in consumer protection law?

Dave.
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POSSIBLY I COULD DO THIS but this guy seems like a prick if you rub him the wrong way and it won't get repaired
I just want the damn tapedeck working, he would send the thing back to me if I did that, he keeps saying he is backlogged and he is hard to communicate with, when I wised up and spoke to him on the phone all he did was sell me on how great they are witch may or may not be true anymore
Am I supposed to feel guilty about the tascam legacy? no longer a good company to do business with for repairs but they tell you good luck finding someone to repair it

i'm schizophrenic I keep hearing negative thoughts , "did loser buy a tascam" and stuff like that in my head, i'm trying my best to be kind, i'm real down about this crap,
 
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crimsonclover said:
I just want the damn tapedeck working, he would send the thing back to me if I did that

Am I supposed to feel guilty about the tascam legacy? no longer a good company to do business with for repairs
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I got the impression from the thread that the guy would not even return the unit so you could expelore other avenues for repair?

Your "guilt" or otherwise does not enter the equation.

Better I would think to have an end to the situation one way or another? As an electronics service tech of some 60 years in the trade I know much of the problems that can beset the repair industry especially wrt 'legacy' gear.

They SHOULD have a clean, upfront turnaround policy and not take on more work than they can handle but sometimes poor business sense (or greed!) makes them do so. One way to control repair influx is to charge a non-returnable deposit and in the case of legacy gear where the guy KNOWS spares are hard to source he should be honest at the start.

I just feel you would be better off putting all this behind you and using a different recording system.

BTW, and I am NOT being flippant here, ulcers are often caused by a bacterium and can be treated with antibiotics.

Dave.
 
he says he is waiting for parts, but he doesn't know witch part they are, just that he trusts his technicians

that is why he made the video because a week prior I asked to know what parts they are replacing because I wanted to check and he said he will get back to me, and when I asked for it back thursday or friday last week he made the 7 second video and on the phone he says he trusts the technicians and then sold me on his quality control thing, and when I asked for the price to drop, he said no I can't do that, i'm too busy i'll just send it back if you are gonna go back n forth with me.

maybe I should do the letter
 
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ecc83 said:
I got the impression from the thread that the guy would not even return the unit so you could expelore other avenues for repair?

Your "guilt" or otherwise does not enter the equation.

Better I would think to have an end to the situation one way or another? As an electronics service tech of some 60 years in the trade I know much of the problems that can beset the repair industry especially wrt 'legacy' gear.

They SHOULD have a clean, upfront turnaround policy and not take on more work than they can handle but sometimes poor business sense (or greed!) makes them do so. One way to control repair influx is to charge a non-returnable deposit and in the case of legacy gear where the guy KNOWS spares are hard to source he should be honest at the start.

I just feel you would be better off putting all this behind you and using a different recording system.

BTW, and I am NOT being flippant here, ulcers are often caused by a bacterium and can be treated with antibiotics.

Dave.
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how do I do it? do I get a lawyer involved?
 
crimsonclover said:
---------- Update ----------



how do I do it? do I get a lawyer involved?
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I don't know. I was just saying how consumer law works here in UK. Do you have our equivalent of a Citizens Advice Department?

I would avoid lawyers, $1000s involved.

Dave.
 
OK I studied Business law in IL and the deck is considered a bailment. That means that the repair shop is responsible for the unit and it's value.
If a customer gives the shop notice and a reasonable time to put it back together, then you should be able to pick it up at no more than a deposit fee or diagnostic fee. I do not see any burn marks and I would get the unit back from them. The complaints can be made to the BBB of which I bet they have many complaints already. If this does not work then contact the states attorneys office and file a complaint. Once the business gets a letter from them they will be very willing to give it back. They can not retain your property illegally and keep it for any reason.
No need to get a lawyer as of yet.
Why would there be burn marks in a deck like this? I have never seen burn marks and a blurry video that is moving around tells me nothing about if there is burn marks or not. It is impossible to see what he is talking about with such a video.

Get it back- I would be saying that I want it back and if they do not give it back your shop will be all over the internet as a crooked operation which I am sure it already is labeled this anyway.
Is this the place?
6920 Hermosa Circle

Buena Park, CA 90620-1151

Talk to Ralph Ortiz to get this straightened out.
 
Also the video you show indicates you have no take up at the right reel table. Why this is can only be determined by looking further at the reel drive system. The fact that the capstan belt is turning the capstan shaft does not mean it is OK. It might be turning it just barely- it needs to be taken off an measured. The mechanism may have hard grease in the feedback PCB and that may be stopping the controller from knowing the play position is reached.
Many times fast wind work as the motor has full drive voltage while play at a much slower rotation will stall the motor if it has a dead spot. Also the Tire on the idler may have cracks in it which also cause this.
 
I vaguely recall tape deck (not a 688) I had from years ago that would initiate the head assembly to engage and move, but would return to park like as shown in the video. I seem to remember that although the takeup spindle was moving, something in the mechanism wasn't getting up to a proper rotational speed or erratic. The lack of proper speed caused the system to disengage and I believe so as to not allow the tape to feed off the cassette. I don't recall if it was a rubber drive wheel or a belt slipping or something else (too many years ago).
 
Hi Mark,
With so many different kinds of mechanisms out there, it becomes hard to determine what his problem is as we need to know what we are dealing with. A unit like the 488 and 488 Mk II have different transports the Mk II has that Gear C that cracks and fails. Good thing some time ago I had a machinist make a mold and start producing them.
A deck can have a harden grease condition in these mechanism because they used a damping grease where they should have used Lubriplate 105 like I do. I have never had a Lubriplate 105 grease mechanism come back due to bad grease problems. I constantly have to deal with bad grease problems across the entire Japanese industry in Sony and Otari as well as the Tascam units. I clean it out and apply Lubriplate 105- I tell other to do the exact same thing and many DIY types do report back that it worked.

If he has a transport problem and no other complaints, why is this guy dealing with line amps and if the line amps were working why is he finding burn marks- sounds like he is trying to up the bill from a easy $100 job to $800 job. This is actually fraud and a legal charge can be made but most likely would get to small claims court. It is best to stay out of the legal system these days- anything goes these days.

I get the impression that this whole situation is ridiculous. The question to ask about TAP is before you bring it in not while it is already in their clutches.
The parts issue is also a lie as I have all these parts in stock and there is no reason an operating shop would not have everything in stock. They are making up excuses.
 
I spoke on the phone with SAL today, we were being polite to each other. He said he is shipping it back and said it would be less than a month. After we got off the phone I sent an email.one.pngone.png
 
Steenamaroo said:
Could this be the mark he's talking about?

View attachment 107285

View attachment 107286
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Thanks for bringing that to my attention. though I have not got any answers on the tape deck. He is shipping it back and I have to pay for shipping, and he said he would call me. I am taking the advice to move on because of my health issues. I want it repaired. This is stressing me out. I can't get any answers from him but I will give them credit, they found that.
 
I’m in the LA area. I worked at MCI/Sony for 25yrs in their service department. I used to fix tape decks all the time, however, due to demanding customers & hard to source parts, I gave up on fixing them. Remember this, tape machines are a bitch. They are filled with moving parts, motors, servo systems, sensors & oddball hardware. All of them are older than dirt & very beat up. Many times I repair a machine & it’s working 100%. A month later, I get a call to come look at the machines (most machines I work on are large & cannot be shipped) because something else broke on them. The customers want it fixed for free because I worked on it last time. Most customers don’t have the finances to pay me enough to “get married” to their machines. I’ll fix my own decks but getting involved with folks that want a $750 tape deck refurbished for $250 is simply not worth it to me. It’s easier to throw away the work & repair something else than deal with excessively demanding customers who want something for nothing.

Now I work on niche units like LA2A’s, 1176’s, DBX160’s, AMS delays & reverbs & I don’t interface with many customers, my boss does that. If something is going to take an excessive amount of time to fix, my boss covers for me while I get all the parts together. I’ll only work on products that people HAVE to get fixed because the products are rare or expensive. It’s the only way I can stay sane & make a living. My rant is over, but reading this thread got me agitated. I imagined myself working in this repair shop with the OP calling me daily about the status of his repair. Sorry if I come off as a hard ass but I always make sure my repairs are effective & will last a long time. I don’t do quick fixes & refuse to cut corners but many customers demand that I do, then when the unit fails, they start to bitch.
 
ladewd said:
I’m in the LA area. I worked at MCI/Sony for 25yrs in their service department. I used to fix tape decks all the time, however, due to demanding customers & hard to source parts, I gave up on fixing them. Remember this, tape machines are a bitch. They are filled with moving parts, motors, servo systems, sensors & oddball hardware. All of them are older than dirt & very beat up. Many times I repair a machine & it’s working 100%. A month later, I get a call to come look at the machines (most machines I work on are large & cannot be shipped) because something else broke on them. The customers want it fixed for free because I worked on it last time. Most customers don’t have the finances to pay me enough to “get married” to their machines. I’ll fix my own decks but getting involved with folks that want a $750 tape deck refurbished for $250 is simply not worth it to me. It’s easier to throw away the work & repair something else than deal with excessively demanding customers who want something for nothing.

Now I work on niche units like LA2A’s, 1176’s, DBX160’s, AMS delays & reverbs & I don’t interface with many customers, my boss does that. If something is going to take an excessive amount of time to fix, my boss covers for me while I get all the parts together. I’ll only work on products that people HAVE to get fixed because the products are rare or expensive. It’s the only way I can stay sane & make a living. My rant is over, but reading this thread got me agitated. I imagined myself working in this repair shop with the OP calling me daily about the status of his repair. Sorry if I come off as a hard ass but I always make sure my repairs are effective & will last a long time. I don’t do quick fixes & refuse to cut corners but many customers demand that I do, then when the unit fails, they start to bitch.
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I understand. I did not message him daily, messaged him 2 or three times in the past 2 months and 2 weeks. He told me he was still waiting for parts. Then recently Ive been pressing for more answers. I messed up and this is my first time with legacy tascam gear that I just recently purchased. ALL I ASKED IS IF THE PRICE COULD COME DOWN A LITTLE and he flipped a switch and said "NO" and basically told me i'm not worth the time if i'm gonna go back n forth, and I understand , this is something to learn from and perhaps I shouldn't mess with tape decks anymore if I want to record professionally at home.

What about reel to reels? are those as hard to work on? if you don't mind me asking
 
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Parts availability can be a big problem. If he’s a Tascam partner, he should have access to parts but he’s caught between a rock & a hard place if Tascam is back ordered on parts. The shop I work in used to do the smaller Tascam 8mm decks. Parts used to be easy to get, but things got really screwy with Tascam, so we stopped repairing them. That’s an example of a smaller deck that is easily shipped. Things get much more complicated when you’re called out to repair machines as big as washing machines.
 
I’m not intimately familiar with the machine. Is it a cassette style deck? If so, the problem can be worn hardware. Most of the machines I’ve worked on were reel to reel, analog & digital. If the problem was a reel motor not turning it was usually an electronic issue, and not motor related. Sometimes the reel brakes would get gummy, but it depended on the machine & the design of the braking system. The brakes were generally there to stop the tape in case of power failure & didn’t play a huge part in the performance of the machine. The brakes were used to save the tape from flying around the room when the power went out.
 
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