Help! Anyone have the tascam 246 service manual?

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Looter

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Well, I just replaced the belts on my beloved 246 Portastudio which has been laying dormant for a few years and now another issue has come to my attention: No power to the transport, digi display does not light up. [edit: This problem went away on it's own, only to be replaced by others. see below.]

This is so disappointing to me, I was ready to start recording on this machine again as soon I got the belts replaced. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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powered it up again

Well, I checked all of the solder joints on the transport pwr supply pcb again and powered it up again. This time, the counter display lit up after a couple of seconds and the deck is working normally again. :confused:

Sounds like there might be a cold solder joint somewhere? We'll see if it keeps working.
 
Glad its working.

If it happens again you may want to (if you are comfortable with this) power it up while you can access the power supply board and then gently probe joints and leads with a NON-CONDUCTIVE instrument until you find the finicky spot. Also, reseat the fuses. That is simple and sometimes those can get oxidized enough to cause a problem.

Good luck!
 
Hmm, well it seems that my main bus has quit working now. I'm not seeing anything on the meters or getting any signal from the line out when I play a tape. The cue and insert buttons don't seem to be working, their lights aren't lighting up when engaged.

Also I may have blown the headphone amp at some point. :mad: I'm getting lots of noise and hum, more than usual I think.

I don't even want to touch the thing any more tonight. I know it's been sitting (under a custom dust cover) for a few years but I thought a simple belt change would get me back up and running. Encountering all these other new problems is a real bumout. :(
 
Sounds like you've got more then a few oxidized contacts in there. That can happen when stuff just sits unused for extended periods, exposed to humidity, smoke and good old oxygen! A dust cover is not a hermetically sealed device!

That said, follow the advice that sweetbeats gave you and get a can of deox-it and start cleaning up all the connectors, switch and pots that you can get at because it may not be a cold solder joint this time.

Vintage gear comes with vintage problems...learn how to deal with them or find a good technician!

Cheers! :)
 
Ghost: Do you think oxidized contacts would be the cause of my problem with the phones signal? Is a loud hum indicative of a blown headphone amp?

Where is a good place to purchase deoxit?

Thanks
 
Looter said:
Ghost: Do you think oxidized contacts would be the cause of my problem with the phones signal? Is a loud hum indicative of a blown headphone amp?

Where is a good place to purchase deoxit?

Thanks
Click to expand...

True "blown" headphone amps normally output nothing at all. Hum is usually indicative of a bad grounding connection.

Caig.com hopefully, with have a dealer locater page on their website if you want to purchase from a local retailer. Otherwise, they'll sell you the stuff directly and send it out by courier.

And if you're not comfortable doing these repairs yourself, there's no shame in finding a qualified service shop to do it. They need the work and you need the equipment to record...it's a win-win scenario!

Cheers! :)
 
I bought mine from sweetwater. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DeoxIT/
Free ground shipping. Sweetbeats recommended it to me for a noisy DBX noise reduction units and I'll tell you that this stuff really is worth it's weight in gold. Make sure you buy the D5 and not faderlube ETC. Also, to get off the heavy dust I would recommend a clean paint brush or auto detail brush. Try it and while cleaning it you might find something that is broken or unhooked. Keep us updated.
 
A belt change or fixing a simple cold solder joint I can handle, but it looks like my machine has developed some serious gremlins due to sitting unused for three, or for years. I will probably buy the CAIG product first and try that but I'll also be looking for qualified service centers. Anyone know of one in or near eastern Iowa? Shipping is bound to be a pain, and I'm sure the bill for service won't be cheap but I love this deck.

First can anyone give me some tips on where exactly to clean with the deoxit?
 
I see that you all are talking about "Oxidized Contacts". What exactly does this mean? Is it the same as a cold solder joint? This seems like a simple task I could do to my non working R2R decks. Oxidized contacts were never suggested to me. One of them has a dusty mess al lover the bottoms of the PC boards and the other has fluid from leaking caps on the board.
 
Looter said:
A belt change or fixing a simple cold solder joint I can handle, but it looks like my machine has developed some serious gremlins due to sitting unused for three, or for years. I will probably buy the CAIG product first and try that but I'll also be looking for qualified service centers. Anyone know of one in or near eastern Iowa? Shipping is bound to be a pain, and I'm sure the bill for service won't be cheap but I love this deck.

First can anyone give me some tips on where exactly to clean with the deoxit?
Click to expand...

As I mentioned previously, you're looking at switches, scratchy pots and all the wiring harnesses that connect one circuit board to another...any place where metal meets metal and was exposed to the elements. The problem is though, this is not a sure-fire cure as there might also be dried up caps that need to be changed. If you've ever read one of sweetbeat's threads where he's detailing all the steps involved in restoring and cleaning up older gear, that would probably give you a better idea of what you "might" be facing, trying to get your 246 back into fighting shape.

As for finding a qualified service shop, try looking on TASCAM's website as I know they used to have a service locater page where you looked up the shops in your particular state and then call them, describe the issues your having and ask if they have actual experience working on your model of machine. Newer technicians may not have ever seen or touched 25 year old analog gear so make sure they have a seasoned tech on staff before you send it off to them.

Good luck!

Cheers! :)
 
There are no scratchy pots, and there are so many connectors and PCBs inside of the machine that I don't think I'll be able to do much to fix it myself. What I'd need is someone with a service manual that can tell me exactly where to look.

Just to re-iterate, the problem is no signal present at pgm out when playing back, nothing registering on the meters. Cue/pgm and insert switches not lighting when engaged. And also a loud hum in the headphone jacks.

I used the service locater on TASCAM's website, but if anyone can recommend a service center in the midwest that is known to have experience repairing decks of this vintage I'd appreciate it. Maybe sending it back to Montebello is my best bet?
 
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Did you still need a copy of the manual? Just let me know (or PM) if you do.
 
famous beagle said:
Did you still need a copy of the manual? Just let me know (or PM) if you do.
Click to expand...

Hey Mr Beagle, would you be willing to email me a copy PDF of the manual. I am starting to save these manuals on my computer for times like this. Thanks.
 
Hey y'all. Sorry, I misread the OP. I have the owner's manual --- not the service manual. If that is in fact what y'all need, PM me and I'll be happy to send it along.
 
I know this is an old thread, but would someone here be able to PM me the Owner's Manual? Thanks!
 
246 restoration

Hi all,

I have had a TASCAM 246 for about 12 years now, wasn't used very much when I bought it second hand, and I have only really used it occasionally over the last 12 years myself apart from some heavy usage for about 6 months when I made an album on it. It's a fantastic brick of a machine, and I've been able to get by with some minor faults it's had since I got it. The faults were intermittently low return on track 1 after recording (assuming maybe unevenly worn head but I haven't checked that yet), scratchy/intermittent sockets on input 1 and the outside headphones (under PGM fader R). Other than that, it's been great. I've not used it much in the last couple of years and one day I powered it up to find the belt had gone. That's a fairly easy fix, however, I was planning to do a complete restore to get it back to 100% spec, maybe even do some minor mods to make it super rad. When I record, I usually use outboard preamps with condenser mics, particularly for room sounds, and also because there's better impedance matching & less chance of noise (balanced rather than unbalanced internal inputs) with an external pre.

I was wondering if anyone had a service manual they'd be willing to share, or perhaps a small paypal fee if they're a bit hesitant. It's a beautiful machine and I'd love to be able to do a good job on it, and be able to bias it for my chosen type of tape I bought a box of 100 of. I'd be happy to share my service log details and some pictures.

Thanks,
Dave
Studio Sacrilege
Sydney Australia
 
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