Son of a bitch ... new Tascam 246 issue

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famous beagle

famous beagle

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I don't know if any of you remember my Tascam 246 woes from a while back (six months maybe?). Basically the record/playback levels were all jacked. Well, eventually the repair shop got that sorted out (that was a ridiculous ordeal in which I had to send it back twice after it was originally supposed to be repaired).

Anyway, now I finally have some time available to get going on it, and I started tracking my first song, and mother f*cker ... I'm getting a pitch warbling issue. It sounds as though there's a little vibrato on it or something.

I've ruled out it being bad/cheap tape. I tried it with several different ones, including brand new TDK SA60.

It seems to get worse the further into the tape you get. Listen to the two tracks to hear this: one is about 30 seconds into the tape, and the other is about 2 minutes in or so. I wasn't applying any vibrato to the bass notes at all when I played.

Any clues on this?

Damn it pisses me off so much. This thing is so close to being completely bad ass! :mad:

Edit: Forgot to mention also that it has brand new belts on it. When I bought it (two years ago or so), they were totally deteriorated, so I replaced them with new ones. Since then, the machine hasn't seen any real usage at all because of the playback levels issue.
 

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Yep . . . I heard the warble. (I also heard the distortion on the bass).

It's the kind of sound I used to hear on old record players.

The belts to the reels provide the tension and drive, but the capstan and pinch roller are the key to wow-free running. I'm guessing you will have checked that out.
 
If the pinch roller has not been changed, change it out now.

When belts go, (rubber parts), there's a pretty good chance that other rubber parts also require changing too. That included the pinch roller and the cam drive wheels which are rubber edged plastic.

The warble I heard though points specifically to the pinch roller. Even if it looks clean, it may have dried up to a degree that it is no longer perfectly round and that's required for low wow and flutter, just like a car tire needs to be balanced and perfectly round for a smooth ride.



Cheers! :)
 
Great, thanks for the responses y'all. I'm fairly certain that the pinch roller and cam drive wheels are original, so I'll look to order some. Hopefully that does it!
 
I know the pinch roller for sure, but I'm not sure what the cam drive wheels are. Is there an easy way to point them out. I did a search but didn't really come up with anything.
 
They can be found by removing the top dress panel and found inbetween the reel tables. There are two of them, an upper and lower one. Change both.

Here's a pic of the them on a 244 which should similar if not identical on the 246



View attachment 93875



Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
They can be found by removing the top dress panel and found inbetween the reel tables. There are two of them, an upper and lower one. Change both.

Here's a pic of the them on a 244 which should similar if not identical on the 246



View attachment 93875



Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Oh ... are these also known as the idler tires (wheels)? I've heard of them and changed them on at AT-RMX64 a while back.
 
That looks EASY! My 112 was a bitch!

Good luck beagle, I think you got it licked!
 
RFR said:
That looks EASY! My 112 was a bitch!

Good luck beagle, I think you got it licked!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think the idler tires are fairly straightforward, but I've read that the pinch roller is kind of a PITA.
 
Well, the good news is that I found a place that sells a new pinch roller and idler tires, and both parts are cheap ($12 for the pinch roller and $5 for the pair of idler tires). The bad news is that he said he wouldn't have the pinch rollers in stock for another 60 days.

So I guess I'll put the 246 aside for now and concentrate on trying to get the Fostex 80 up to speed when it gets here, which should be by next Monday, at the latest. :)

I guess the other good news is that, since it wasn't a tape causing this, maybe the 30 generic 30-minute chrome tapes that I bought a few years ago will be useful after all (I first thought that perhaps they were the issue). I have about 6 nice TDK SA 60 tapes as well, but if these turn out to be useful, it would be awesome because they were very inexpensive compared to what NOS TDK and Maxell tapes are going for these days. And I don't have the coin to build up the ridiculous stock that Dave has! :)
 
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