414mkII problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Comet Mutation
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Comet Mutation

New member
Alrighty, so there is a lot of odd stuff going on with my 414 here I hope you guys can help me because so far Tascam, Guitar Center, and a few other shops have all been scratching their heads and not been able to tell me what may have happened. Not even a guess. They just go "We have no clue and it's probably impossible to fix, so buy a brand new one!" But I think it can be fixed, or hope rather!

When recording all channels read fine (the colored light indicators move up and down and what not when testing the mics) but when I play back a series of track problems happen and they are as so:

Track 1: reads fine, but when playing back a recording it makes the recording sound "wavery".

Track 2: reads fine and for the most part records and plays back good too. Maybe just a smidge of lower volume during playback.

Track 3: reads fine but plays back at a MUCH lower volume than the other tracks even when using the same amount of trim, level, and mic setting.

Track 4: reads fine also but doesnt record/playback at all.



I've tried cleaning the heads, using a can of air on the inputs, but nothing much further than that because I dont want to ruin it any more. It seriously just started doing all this "one day out of the blue" and I've always been pretty good to it. Never dropped it and kept the heads fairly clean too so what could possibly have caused it to do this, and how can I fix it?


Thanks!
-Comet Mutation
 
tascam

How old is it? You sound thorough...did you isolate each track and test right and left pan for playback or recording?
 
The unit I have is around 2 years old.

I have isolated each track on playback, and that's basically how I found out. The first instance I noticed all this stuff was when I tried to record something to track 4.

I had it setup with the selector set on "mic" the level slider at a fair point, and trim pretty low with the EQ pretty much level, so I started to record. While I was recording on track 4 the channel light indicator was moving up and down from red to yellow and whatnot and I could hear sound comming out of the monitor. Everything seemed fine. Then I rewound and played back and noticed there was NOTHING during playback. No color indicator movement and no sound.

During my time messing with track 4 I went back and tested the other ones to find out that they are "starting to go" themselves.
 
Comet Mutation

Where do you live?

There are authorized TASCAM service depots all over the states and Canada that can get to the bottom of your problems.

It doesn't sound like a user fixable type problem to me.

It sounds like something in the power supply or master bias oscillator. Something common to all the channels at least.

Also because you say it happened out of the blue, it leads to believe it is a simple failure of a singular component part like a bad transistor or diode that a competent technician should be able to find and fix.

Cheers! :)
 
degaussing?

Not sure if this is a fix, but did you look into degaussing (or demagnetizing)? You will need a degaussing wand (about $30 or $40 at any pro-audio store). Just look at your manual, under the cleaning section. It'll tell you how to use it.
 
I know this sounds crazy, but did you try a new tape? Sometimes you just get a bad cassette. Also make sure you clean your pinch roller. If the tape starts slipping you will get all kinds of goofy things happening. Good luck!!
 
any word?

Did you send it in? Or contact a service tech? What was it?
 
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