basic problem, new member.. little help

[lostatoll]

so, i'm posting this for a friend who is recording with a nice tascam 8 track analog.. i forget the model.. but we were recording fine on tracks 4, 5, 6, and 7.. and getting levels, and everything was fine, but when we tried to play it back,.. there's nothing on track 4.. I realize you might suggest problems with how it's hooked up, but I'm only looking for common, 8 track issues.. does this mean the tape is bad?.. it's now happened again on track 5 and we're going to switch tapes, but i figured you guys might have some idea of what would be causing individual tracks to fail.. any help is greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

[lostatoll]

Just to clarify; I've tried a different tape and encountered the same problem, now on 3, 4, 5, and 6. There's a signal on the meter for each one while recording (so no problem with mics or routing), but no playback. Is it a head issue? I'm thinking?

 

[dementedchord]

could be lotsa things... play back electronics... bias oscillators... the fact that it's somewhat intermittent... ie was just 4 now 3 more... suggeste it might be connection issues... was this recently shipped???

 

[TeyshaBlue]

We really need the model of this 8 track to offer any kind of help at all.