Can a Tascam 388 be used as a mixer for another tape machine?

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analog aaron

Swami King of Poppers
So here's the deal, I have a Tascam 388 that is in excellent shape, except the reel portion is not working correctly (It's not fuses or servo, from what I can tell, anyways, it's issue is something I'm not knowledgeable enough to fix at this point in time). I also have a Tascam 38 in excellent working order. Was wondering if I could use the 388 as a mixer for the 38? (This would give me good reason to hold onto the 388 and use it for something until I get it fixed, other than that very oversized paperweight everyone's always wanted in their lives :rolleyes:) On the back of the 388, it has 8 prgm buss in's and 8 prgm outs (rca)...Is this what this can be used for. I've never used this feature, so I wasn't sure. Thanks guys,
A.A.
 
Offhand, I don't remember exactly how I had my 38 hooked up to the 388. I do remember that the one thing that you MUST NOT DO is to have your 38 set in REPRO mode when recording through the 388. You'll get a huge feedback loop that will most likely toast an opamp.

Here is my thread on the same topic:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ly/running-38-through-388s-mixer-help-310516/

Give it a look over and pay attention to Sweetbeat's advice in it and you should be good to go. I have since separated my decks and use the 38 with a stand-alone Tascam mixer.;)
 
Thanks, Jjones! I'll check sweetbeats thread! I do have an external mixer, but I'd rather use the 388 somehow, since it's just sitting there, patiently waiting for me to come up with the dough to ship her off somewhere and fix 'er. There's not a single place in town that even knows a single thing about these units. That's sad. Thx though!
 
Glad to help any way I can.

Just for giggles, what exactly is the reel side of the 388 doing or not doing? It obviously powers up, if you are going to use it for a mixer. When you have a tape in the deck, does anything happen when you press FFWD or REV or even PLAY??
 
As jjones answered it absolutely can be used as a standalone mixer but like he said DON'T MONITOR OFF THE REPRO HEAD WHILE RECORDING.

Teac was nice to make the 388 mixer fully featured enough to function as a nice standalone mixer, and a nice sounding one at that.
 
When I press play, the reels spin for about 3 seconds then stop. When I press RWD OR FFD, the reels barely move for like a split sec and stop. Sometimes nothing. I've replaced the fuses and adjusted the servo pots but it does no good. Capstan belt is less than a year old and turning the capstan fine. The pinch roller is in excellent shape, super plush and clean as whistle. I have no Idea what's up with it.
A
 
Yeah. It's definitely loaded correctly. I have the manual, and have always loaded it like the diagram shows. Cool thing is I have 2 Fostex R8's and 1 Tascam 38 so I can just use any of those for the recorder for now. Do miss the sound of the 388 though. Only really recorded 1 song on it, and Poof!.... That's all she wrote... Unless I resurrect her one day. I wonder how much shipping to and service from Tascam in Ca would cost. Probably be cheaper to just find another one...?
 
It appears to be clean, (Mirror Finish) with no scratches. Not sure about the sensors. Any way to check those?
 
Wait, it does have the pattern on the bottom of it, right? It's not THAT clean...?
Come to that, when you try to make it play, does the counter increase? (I think you said it would run for a couple of seconds before cutting out?)

Anyway, checking the sensors themselves would be a pain, but you can probably make sure the LEDs are working using a video camera, if you have one that can see into infra-red.
You can check this by pointing it at a TV remote control and pressing the buttons - you should see it light up in the camera's viewfinder. A mobile phone camera would probably do. If you have one that can do this, take off the tach roller and with the machine on (may need to pull the tension arm to start the capstan?), point it at the sensors. You should hopefully see the LEDs shining in the viewfinder.

Another thing which has occurred to me - is the capstan turning? If the tape tension is completely and utterly shot, it might perhaps be allowing the tension arm to relax into the 'OFF' position and shutting down the transport. Without seeing it happen that's just a wild guess, though.
 
Hey Jp, thanks for the advice. Yes, you are correct. The Tach wheel does have a "dartboard" like pattern on the bottom of it. The shiney spaces in between the black spaces are super clean. The counter does increase so I'm assuming the sensors are good. Also, the capstan does turn too. I do believe the tension arms "tension" have something to do with the servo. I don't believe the tension is mechanical (like most reel decks). ... But I don't really know anything about what a/the "servo" really is, anyways.. Maybe a servo issue of some sort? Just guessing, it has something to do with it...
 
AFAIK servo control is basically a feedback loop, i.e. continuously checking and adjusting.

e.g. for the capstan on a Revox B77, the capstan controller has a frequency generator. The back of the motor has a ring of teeth and a magnetic sensor, so the capstan will also generate a frequency as it spins. The control board compares the two of them and if the motor's frequency is out it will adjust the speed until they match, which it does continuously.

But I digress. The TSR-8 service manual says the tension servos on that deck are controlled by induction coils on the tension arms, and I'm pretty sure the 388 uses the same design. You probably have six pots to adjust - left and right tension for EDIT, PLAY and FF/RW modes. The manual says you're supposed to use some kind of tension analyser, but I think most people here just aim to have the tension arms about midway while the deck is running.
 
Teac was nice enough to build in a convention on the 388 for setting tensions without the need for a Tentelometer. It works. Page 1-9 of the Service Manual.
 
In years past I have used the 388 mixer with glorious results... in particular, using the mixer's parametric eq for an 8 channel drum mix, using the rca outs into a hard disc machine. Trouble with the disc recorder, is that I only have 4 inputs at a time... I also have a Carvin 16 track Studio Mate that could be used for the same purpose, but the eq abilities on the 388 blow it out of the water!

Happy recording!


Wes
 
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