Good sites for repairing TASCAM 4 tracks?

Reel and Analog:

Thanks for the thorough responses y'all. As I said, I didn't mean to come off as derogatory in any way. I was just wondering where the time came from to use all that stuff! Believe me, if I had both the time and the money, I would probably be doing the same thing. I love old analogue gear.

I have seen your myspace page Reel, and it's obvious that you've spent plenty of time putting your stuff to use (with some great results too!). I personally haven't heard too much of your stuff Analog, but that doesn't mean anything. I believe you 100% that you put your machines to use. I just don't have time to listen to everything I'd like to on this board. It's funny how the older you get, the more you realize how much your free time is worth! :)
 
A/A & I were cut from the same cloth!

Thanx Snoopy!..................:eek:;)

PS: Check out A/A's stuff posted off the 238,... it's awe inspiring!:eek:;)
 
A Reel Person said:
Thanx Snoopy!..................:eek:;)

PS: Check out A/A's stuff posted off the 238,... it's awe inspiring!:eek:;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Reel. Famous, you can hear the 3 tunes of one of my bands recorded off the Tascam 238 cassette here: www.myspace.com/therondos
This stuff was recorded about 2 1/2 months ago in a spare bedroom which is also currently our rehearsal space, but we are in the process of converting my garage to a full fledged studio. I am the singer and singer/drummer, accountant (ha) for both bands. We've saved up quite a bit of money from previous shows for both bands to fund this project. Once I get it top notch, I'll post some pics.
 
Service Manuals are copyrighted property.

People who buy the manuals have the right to study them and share the info, but not to publish it. It's not a secret society of technicians that only get to view the Tascam manuals. Tascam will sell you any of their manuals for legacy gear, operators or service manuals.

Sharing info as downloads to remote users thru 'puters is certainly one of our nearly miraculous capabilities that's taken for granted these days, but I think you're in dubious standing with Tascam on copyright for providing DL's of their lit. On the flipside of the coin, Tascam's never lifted a finger to deter any bootlegging of their stuff, whatsoever,... so maybe it's a non-issue. BBS's like his are better for the free exchange of information, and this is the information age. Tascam's a little backwards on not providing DL's of it's older gear, (like Fostex),... so to me it's a wash.

Alternately,... I could make a small fortune for selling DL's or reprinted versions of scanned manuals,... and I darned well know it, but I won't. I don't feel inclined to scan and assemble such works, and I don't believe in for-profit bootlegging. I think Tascam should provide viable downloads of it's legacy gear like Fostex does. Alternately, give Tascam a ringy-dingy and a CC# and they'll ship you any manual in printed form, for reasonable prices.

Oops, did I just take this thread on a tangent? The question of manuals hooked me.

This isn't a knock on some of the internet resources you may find these days. DrZEE's website is an outstanding example of what people can do. The analog maintenance game is about half having the manual and tools on hand, and about half just digging into stuff, taking it apart and putting it back together. AA says that basically, & ZEE's site shows you. A basic understanding of electronics helps, but none of it's rocket science. An aptitude for basic tinkering goes a long way. Some maintenance efforts come out of necessity, but the type of gear we discuss on this board was built to last. I've done fixit jobs on this gear originally by necessity, but then it turned into an adventurous habit to tinker and try to fix things.

The analog Portastudio or R/R recorder & mixer are, for the most part, remarkably well built and can stand the test of time. Maintenance is more of a "committment" of sorts, if you're really serious about it,... but the myth of analog being so much more expensive to use and maintain is just that, a myth. Last time I checked, people were spending thousands of dollars on 'puters and hundreds more on interfaces and sometimes software. Tho' nowadays people think all software should be free, but that's another post.

Aaaggghhh. 2-tangents in 1-post? I'll stop.
 
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Strange is it?

Strange isn't it? How Tascam can still provide you with almost any part for any unit they've made over the years yet they don't even post any Downloads of manuals and Such on their website. Fostex is the worst at customer service. Please let me repeat.......THE WORST!, parts especially !(if just about ANY part breaks, you're pretty much screwed, unless you pony up for a parts unit- THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I HAVE 3 R8'S! HA) but they DO provide free downloads for operators/service manuals for just about every unit they've made.
?????
 
So, are all these machines to use, or is it more in the spirit of that you just like repairing, maintaining, and/or collecting them?
Click to expand...

I've gotta chime in, and hopefully the OP doesn't mind. My apologies! :o

And BTW, beagle, no offense taken at all, not that you posted the above with me in mind.

I consider myself an artist, technician, and a collector. Its like this:

I have been around music all my life...extremely musical family, and my dad has always had electronics around and my brother big-time. I got interested in the process of capturing audio for reproduction when I was about 8 or 9. My brother and I used to produce our own "radio shows"...KGMP was the station, our Snoopys were the DJ's...we'd record using whatever cassette recorder with a built-in condenser mic was available...we'd do weather and news reports and spin records (we had a turntable hooked up so we could record the music too...) We still have some of those cassettes from 3 decades ago. As I grew I became more and more passionate about creating and capturing music which led me to my first multitrack recorder, a Teac 3340S. It wasn't very portable, and at that age I didn't have a place that could be setup. I was gigging a lot in those days so portability took precedence. My brother had a Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT, and I got drawn into the illusion of digital "perfection"/high signal-to-noise specs, etc. of digital. That was in the early 90's, so right about the time that analog was being beaten unjustly.

Stay with me...I have a point...:D

So I sold the 3340S because it wasn't practical and I thought digital was better. How little I understood at that time! I knew nothing of headroom and how digital recording works, I just knew digital was quieter noise-wise and more "accurate" (in a manner of speaking). I did recognize at that time that my 3340S sounded incredible to my ears, but the trade-offs of practicality and the whole foggy world of maintenance and upkeep of the open-reel deck sent it on its way.

From there it was a decade and a half or so of learning and growing in the process of recording and reproducing in the digital realm. I've had a lot of different pieces of digital gear. To some it might appear that I would just get bored and want something new, or that I just wanted the latest and greatest all the time. Some of that is true, but as I look back I can see that it was also a process of honing in on what really fit my needs and worked best for my process and budget, and I see it that way now because I've had the same basic digital setup for almost 4 years now and I'm very satisfied with it. It works great and I've produced two full-length projects on it.

So you see, that's kind of the way it works with me...I fish around a lot, acquire, use, dump, acquire, use, dump all the while honing in on what I'm seeking as I learn and use.

Well, it was in the process of those two full-length projects that I became really frustrated with the barrier I felt I was running up against with digital. I still thought digital was the only way; I still had the same apprehensions about analog as I had 15 years earlier: the maintenance, noise, portability, etc. But I always felt I was chasing the great sounds that came off the tape from the 3340S...always. So I picked up an abused 238 just to test the theory and I knew instantly that it was time to look for an open-reel deck again; no question about it. That was the beginning of the current age of acquiring, using, dumping, aquiring, using, dumping all the while honing in on what I'm seeking as I learn and use.

So if you take a snapshot right now I look like some sort of gear-junkie/fixitup-chappie, and there is some of that there too...I have to exercise self-control...but I'm in process of honing in on what really fits and works.

As a part of that process I'm learning all I can about the repair and maintenance of this gear because once I get to the point where I can get back to producing projects I want to be able to minimize downtime and take full advantage of the platform.

I settled on 1/2" 8-track in the beginning when I had my analog epiphany. I was looking for a 38 as that was all my budget would allow and I happened upon a 48 and a 58 as a pair for $250. Then there was a deal on a synchronizer and I thought "Cool! I could have 16 tracks!" Then I picked up an MX-80 on the cheap to round out the preamp lineup for my digital rig so I had 24 preamps...I'd never even seen any of the Tascam contractor stuff from that era until I saw that MX-80 on eBay...so that opened my eyes to this world of relatively inexpensive quality gear...the RS-20B came next, then the first and second PE-40's...see, I was trying to setup a mixer-less signal path to the 58 and (in my ignorance) felt that having a vast sea of eq control on front of the recorder whether it was digital or analog was necessary. 8-tracks, 8 channels of 4-band parametric eq right? Then came the realization that my digital mixer didn't really fit the bill...I wanted to keep the audio out of an unnecessary A/D/A path if tracking to analog...personal preference. So then I realized I was looking for an analog mixer and the M-520 opportunity dropped into my lap for $50 sans power supply, and then $30 to ship the power supply when that had been tracked down. All the while I have been immersed in tearing stuff apart, learning, fixing, frying stuff, fixing and asking lots of questions. My competency level with the fixing stuff is at least adolescent enough now that I'm somewhat self-sufficient with the routine stuff, so that part of the story is coming along well.

Then came the realization that I really wanted to be able to master to analog...enter BR-20T, and during that time the M-___ mixer opportunity came up...that's just an anomaly...couldn't pass that up, but it is looking more and more that that may be my main board, so maybe its time to dump the M-520, and since the M-___ has 12 channels of 4-band full and semi parametric eq, two PE-40's is overkill...I'm still hesitant to let stuff go since the picture of the final setup is still foggy, but the sky is starting to clear a bit.

That covers artist and technician pretty well, and the collector part goes probably goes back to when my DNA helix was done being formed and split...I have always liked having complete sets of things, things that are useful that were intended to be used together, so sometimes an opportunity may come up for a piece of gear that isn't totally necessary, but fits with something I have and may become useful. That explains why I have two PB-64 RCA patchbays...haven't used them yet but they go with the M-520 or the M-___. Might end up selling one of those. Don't know yet. It also explains why I have the RC-51 full-function and RC-50 basic function remotes for my 58...I'm not sure if I need either of them, but they go with the 58. Or my recent acquisitions of the 234 and the M-308B. I have a 424mkII on semi-permanent loan from my dad, but the idea of the dedicated 4-track cassette deck has always had an allure. I've been peeking at them for a long time and a deal came up for one at a good price. Doesn't need a mixer, but with the 234 coming I'll be returning the 424 to my dad and it would be nice to have a "small" mixer for sort of a analog "studio B". Like A Reel Person I have kids; 4 of them, and the busy full-time job. The kids are incredible. My oldest is something of a prodigy on the piano. He's not into the tech and engineering side of things, but music will always be a part of his life and therefore so will recording. Maybe I have some things to pass on. My youngest is a good drummer already at 3 1/2 years old, and he clearly has such a passion for music. He is always singing, air-guitaring, making his own version of beat-boxing...When he's half asleep with his head on my shoulder I can still hear him breathing out drum beats. Plus he loves the gear...the cables and different plugs and knobs and switches. He loves watching the reels spin; coming into the sound-booth at church when I'm running sound or repairing/upgrading stuff. So I think he is going to be like me somewhat with strong interests in the performance side as well as the engineering and maybe tech side too. The 424 is presently setup by his drumset with mics for the drums and a vocal mic. Plus I modded his 1/2 scale acoustic guitar with some radio shack parts to make a piezo pickup for a couple bucks so that's plugged in too. That's "studio B". "Daddy will you record me?" :)

So, if you've read this far, thanks. That's my answer to the "do I actually use the stuff or do I like to tinker?" It is yes to all the above but my current phase has me acquiring and tinkering more, and if history repeats itself I will eventually settle and be focused more on using.
 
sweetbeats said:
I've gotta chime in, and hopefully the OP doesn't mind. My apologies! :o

And BTW, beagle, no offense taken at all, not that you posted the above with me in mind.

I consider myself an artist, technician, and a collector. Its like this:

I have been around music all my life...extremely musical family, and my dad has always had electronics around and my brother big-time. I got interested in the process of capturing audio for reproduction when I was about 8 or 9. My brother and I used to produce our own "radio shows"...KGMP was the station, our Snoopys were the DJ's...we'd record using whatever cassette recorder with a built-in condenser mic was available...we'd do weather and news reports and spin records (we had a turntable hooked up so we could record the music too...) We still have some of those cassettes from 3 decades ago. As I grew I became more and more passionate about creating and capturing music which led me to my first multitrack recorder, a Teac 3340S. It wasn't very portable, and at that age I didn't have a place that could be setup. I was gigging a lot in those days so portability took precedence. My brother had a Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT, and I got drawn into the illusion of digital "perfection"/high signal-to-noise specs, etc. of digital. That was in the early 90's, so right about the time that analog was being beaten unjustly.

Stay with me...I have a point...:D

So I sold the 3340S because it wasn't practical and I thought digital was better. How little I understood at that time! I knew nothing of headroom and how digital recording works, I just knew digital was quieter noise-wise and more "accurate" (in a manner of speaking). I did recognize at that time that my 3340S sounded incredible to my ears, but the trade-offs of practicality and the whole foggy world of maintenance and upkeep of the open-reel deck sent it on its way.

From there it was a decade and a half or so of learning and growing in the process of recording and reproducing in the digital realm. I've had a lot of different pieces of digital gear. To some it might appear that I would just get bored and want something new, or that I just wanted the latest and greatest all the time. Some of that is true, but as I look back I can see that it was also a process of honing in on what really fit my needs and worked best for my process and budget, and I see it that way now because I've had the same basic digital setup for almost 4 years now and I'm very satisfied with it. It works great and I've produced two full-length projects on it.

So you see, that's kind of the way it works with me...I fish around a lot, acquire, use, dump, acquire, use, dump all the while honing in on what I'm seeking as I learn and use.

Well, it was in the process of those two full-length projects that I became really frustrated with the barrier I felt I was running up against with digital. I still thought digital was the only way; I still had the same apprehensions about analog as I had 15 years earlier: the maintenance, noise, portability, etc. But I always felt I was chasing the great sounds that came off the tape from the 3340S...always. So I picked up an abused 238 just to test the theory and I knew instantly that it was time to look for an open-reel deck again; no question about it. That was the beginning of the current age of acquiring, using, dumping, aquiring, using, dumping all the while honing in on what I'm seeking as I learn and use.

So if you take a snapshot right now I look like some sort of gear-junkie/fixitup-chappie, and there is some of that there too...I have to exercise self-control...but I'm in process of honing in on what really fits and works.

As a part of that process I'm learning all I can about the repair and maintenance of this gear because once I get to the point where I can get back to producing projects I want to be able to minimize downtime and take full advantage of the platform.

I settled on 1/2" 8-track in the beginning when I had my analog epiphany. I was looking for a 38 as that was all my budget would allow and I happened upon a 48 and a 58 as a pair for $250. Then there was a deal on a synchronizer and I thought "Cool! I could have 16 tracks!" Then I picked up an MX-80 on the cheap to round out the preamp lineup for my digital rig so I had 24 preamps...I'd never even seen any of the Tascam contractor stuff from that era until I saw that MX-80 on eBay...so that opened my eyes to this world of relatively inexpensive quality gear...the RS-20B came next, then the first and second PE-40's...see, I was trying to setup a mixer-less signal path to the 58 and (in my ignorance) felt that having a vast sea of eq control on front of the recorder whether it was digital or analog was necessary. 8-tracks, 8 channels of 4-band parametric eq right? Then came the realization that my digital mixer didn't really fit the bill...I wanted to keep the audio out of an unnecessary A/D/A path if tracking to analog...personal preference. So then I realized I was looking for an analog mixer and the M-520 opportunity dropped into my lap for $50 sans power supply, and then $30 to ship the power supply when that had been tracked down. All the while I have been immersed in tearing stuff apart, learning, fixing, frying stuff, fixing and asking lots of questions. My competency level with the fixing stuff is at least adolescent enough now that I'm somewhat self-sufficient with the routine stuff, so that part of the story is coming along well.

Then came the realization that I really wanted to be able to master to analog...enter BR-20T, and during that time the M-___ mixer opportunity came up...that's just an anomaly...couldn't pass that up, but it is looking more and more that that may be my main board, so maybe its time to dump the M-520, and since the M-___ has 12 channels of 4-band full and semi parametric eq, two PE-40's is overkill...I'm still hesitant to let stuff go since the picture of the final setup is still foggy, but the sky is starting to clear a bit.

That covers artist and technician pretty well, and the collector part goes probably goes back to when my DNA helix was done being formed and split...I have always liked having complete sets of things, things that are useful that were intended to be used together, so sometimes an opportunity may come up for a piece of gear that isn't totally necessary, but fits with something I have and may become useful. That explains why I have two PB-64 RCA patchbays...haven't used them yet but they go with the M-520 or the M-___. Might end up selling one of those. Don't know yet. It also explains why I have the RC-51 full-function and RC-50 basic function remotes for my 58...I'm not sure if I need either of them, but they go with the 58. Or my recent acquisitions of the 234 and the M-308B. I have a 424mkII on semi-permanent loan from my dad, but the idea of the dedicated 4-track cassette deck has always had an allure. I've been peeking at them for a long time and a deal came up for one at a good price. Doesn't need a mixer, but with the 234 coming I'll be returning the 424 to my dad and it would be nice to have a "small" mixer for sort of a analog "studio B". Like A Reel Person I have kids; 4 of them, and the busy full-time job. The kids are incredible. My oldest is something of a prodigy on the piano. He's not into the tech and engineering side of things, but music will always be a part of his life and therefore so will recording. Maybe I have some things to pass on. My youngest is a good drummer already at 3 1/2 years old, and he clearly has such a passion for music. He is always singing, air-guitaring, making his own version of beat-boxing...When he's half asleep with his head on my shoulder I can still hear him breathing out drum beats. Plus he loves the gear...the cables and different plugs and knobs and switches. He loves watching the reels spin; coming into the sound-booth at church when I'm running sound or repairing/upgrading stuff. So I think he is going to be like me somewhat with strong interests in the performance side as well as the engineering and maybe tech side too. The 424 is presently setup by his drumset with mics for the drums and a vocal mic. Plus I modded his 1/2 scale acoustic guitar with some radio shack parts to make a piezo pickup for a couple bucks so that's plugged in too. That's "studio B". "Daddy will you record me?" :)

So, if you've read this far, thanks. That's my answer to the "do I actually use the stuff or do I like to tinker?" It is yes to all the above but my current phase has me acquiring and tinkering more, and if history repeats itself I will eventually settle and be focused more on using.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks so much for the in-depth reply. I've admired how helpful you've been to everyone on this board (as have many others as well).

Regarding Studio B, I hear ya! What is the magical allure of Studio B? :) I've just about always had a studio B setup. It was usually a cassette 4-track of some sort. Like you, I've been through literally dozens of recorders over the years; I could just never afford to keep them. I'd sell one to get the other, etc. And also like you, I started off analogue (although it was on cassette 4-tracks---a Fostex X-26 was my first ... best Christmas present ever!) and eventually fell under the digital spell when ADATs hit.

I acquired some nice things during that "bachelor" period of my post-college life: a nice 24-channel Soundcraft board, my Yamaha NS10 monitors (which I still have), some outboard effects and EQs. (At that time, my Studio B consited of a rotating supply of different MD recorders.) Around the late-90s, I started to get the analogue bug once again and even purchased my first two R2Rs: a Tascam 38 and an Otari MX5050 2 track. I did actually run some tape through the Otari and test it out, but I never did get around to purchasing tape for the 38.

Money became tight, and I had to shed that gear and ended up scaling down to a Roland VS880 as an all-in-one solution. That kept me going for a while, but I still had the analogue bug. Again I tried to dive in. I got a great deal on a TSR-8---$350 for one in great condition with brand new heads (not "like new," brand new!). Again, money got tight, and I had to sell that before I had a chance to run tape through it. (I didn't yet have a mixer for it yet, though.) So it was back to the VS880. Eventually I downsized even more from that down to a series of 4-track digitals: A Zoom MSR4, a Zoom PS4 (I think ... the palm-sized one), and a few others I think. I managed to scrounge up enough for a Yamaha QY70 synth/sequencer, so I could fill out the 4-track digitals via added MIDI drum/bass/synth/etc. tracks.

I eventually upgraded the recorder to a Yamaha AW16G, which lasted me up until about a month ago. Over the past few years, my wife graduated college and got a full-time job, the wallet loosened up a little bit, and I finally decided that I'm taking the plunge back into analogue, regardless of what it takes to get there. You see, I never had enough money all at once to get everything you need for a R2R setup: the R2R, tape/reels (HUB adapters if necessary), the mixer, the outboard gear, etc.). I always ended up spending around $300 and getting all of that wrapped up in a stand-alone digital box.

But now I sold the Yamaha AW16G, and scored a very nice 38 in its place. And I've plugged away for the past year acquiring other things necessary for the switch. As it stands now, here's my recording rig:

Tascam 38
Tascam M-216 mixer
M-Audio DMP3 pre
Alesis Quadraverb Plus
Tascam 32 ch patchbay
Behringer 32 ch patchbay
Tascam 414 cassette 4-track (Studio B!)
Yamaha NS10m monitors
Alesis RA100 amp
EMU Vintage Keys sound module and 49-key keyboard controller
(I run the Vintage Keys through my old 60s Gibson GA-5 Skylark amp and it sounds great!)
MXL 89 LDC
Octava MC012 SDC
Some 57s and 58s

That's pretty much about it on the recording end, not including guitar stuff.

So now I'm just looking to get a few more processors, a few compressors, and I'll just about be good to go. (Of course there's plenty more I'd love to have --- more pres, mics, etc., but that's a never-ending list.) It's been a long road, but I'm glad to be coming back to analogue. Well, I say "coming back," but it's a new type of analogue for me. This will be my first real multi-track R2R experience. :)

And I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions along the way.
 
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