a few questions on an original tascam portastudio 424

[bcwilliamson]

hi there,

i just bought an original TASCAM portastudio 424 (mkI) off ebay, but as i received it in a box without a manual and power supply i need to ask a few questions before i start to use it. i would be so grateful if someone could help me.

first, i have no tascam power supply for the machine, so i cannot switch it on. it needs 12 volts of power so i tried it with a 12V adapter from another appliance. i know this is not advisable, and while it did turn on sometimes, i had issues. it would take a few presses of the power button, and at points i could see various lights flashing on before turning back off. once in a while the machine would stay on, the lights on the monitors staying alight.

after this i could make my way around the deck, testing features and playing a tape back and forth. another problem occurred then. sometimes when i played the tape it would would start, then stopped after a second or so. again, after a few tries the tape would run continuously. this problem has repeated.

i assume that this is all a power issue as the adapter i used was not made for the tascam. but it is an old machine (i had to clean it quite a lot) and there could feasibly be other details to know. could you confirm this? and if so, where can i get a good adapter for the 424? many thanks

 

[gje]

some info

Hi there are some other factors that need to be compatible for a power adaptor. One is the voltage, which you have, and the other two are the current (milliamps) and the polarity (positive or negative pin). All of these specs should be written on both the tape machine (underneath) and on the adaptor. I write this info down and look at thrift stores for close fits. That's the cheapest way to go. (if the polarity is reversed you can switch the wires around by splicing them somewhere). but be careful of too much current, it could damage components!

As far as your tape stopping problem goes i don't know, i am having a similar problem. but if it is in fact a power supply issue you should see all the lights go off when problems occur. A repair guy i took mine too said that there is a tape tension sensor somewhere which was probably malfunctioning but he could not find it without a schematic, and neither can I.

 

[moriluk]

I just got one too. I am not home and haven't properly tested it yet. But a quick test of some old cassettes I have resulted in the same problem with the tapes occasionally stopping. And the power supply I have is not the Tascam one.