488mkii Mod???

[nate_dennis]

So I had some ideas while looking at the innards of my 488. It seems like it should be possible to mod some things to gain the ability to record all eight tracks at once. Does anyone know if this is possible? If yes, how? If no, why not? (Out of curiosity.) You guys all rock. My two piece is about to cut an EP on the 488 and I'll post it up when I get it done. You all have been so helpful to me in my quest. Thank you again.

 

[sweetbeats]

Without a schematic I couldn't tell ya, and I'm not sure what you are seeing, but the issue here is that there are only 4 busses, and no direct inputs to the tape tracks so there are only 4 paths to the tape section at any one time. I would expect that the logic switching to arm and disarm tracks follows suit and only has 4 gateways to open up at a time.

What are you seeing when you open it up?

 

[nate_dennis]

What are you seeing when you open it up?

Nothing that I really understand. It just tripped some curiosity in my head "hey, I wonder if this is doable." Just like I thought it may be possible to install some mic pres in the other channels. Just trying to find cool ways to make an already cool tool cooler.

 

[themaddog]

I used to own a 488 (MKI) and I also used to own a 238. I know the heads are different on the 238 and the 688 than on the 488's. I don't know if that will make any difference in attempting to record on all 8 simultaneously.

-MD

 

[Bobby Darko]

yes, get yourself a 688, a big step up from the 488 in my opinion. you can record to all 8 tracks at once, has decent preamps/eq (but I always use external preamps), tons of routing/effect options and last but not least the coolest meterbridge ever installed on a portastudio.

The thing I'm wondering about (not being a tech!!) if the 688 would be a good platform to mod. Especially the eq which isn't it's strongets point soundwise. I know nothing about opamps, caps and transistors but I guess Tascam cut some corners on the insides somewhere...