Help. Tascam MS16 speed problem.

  • Thread starter Thread starter James K
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J

James K

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Hi,
I've got a big problem with my Tascam MS16. I've just run a reel of tape through it and the speed is fluctuating massively, like it's got sticky shed. I've tried it with both some new Quantegy I've got and a reel with existing recordings on (that I only used last week). It's suddenly doing it and I can't work out why. I have recording scheduled soon so it's really worrying me. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks
James
 
Are we talking playback speed here? If so, check the pinch roller. You might try pushing the roller in (by the cap on top, naturally) and see if that makes the speed steady. If so, check the rubber and possibly also the pressure.

If the speed problem relates to fast wind... I'm not sure what to suggest.
 
It's playback speed. The pinch roller and capstan seem to be running fine and not slipping at all.

Anyway, I seem to have sorted it now. It really seemed like sticky tape, it was slugging along and squealing but I was pretty sure the tape wasn't sticky. I had a look and saw that it was sticking on one particular guide so I cleaned it. A lot of gunk came off and now all the tapes are running fine.

The thing is, I'm not sure if this is okay or not. I received a batch of ancient Ampex the other day (I've got a refund now) which I ran through for a few seconds to test. It was really sticky so I'm now thinking that the gunk from that was causing the problem on the other tapes (I stupidly didn't clean the machine in between).

As I said, after cleaning the gunk off that stationary guide, it's running fine. I hope that that's the only thing that was wrong with it but I'm worried that it might be something else too. What do you reckon?

Thanks
 
Ahh, right. If it left some residue on the tape path that could certainly do some interesting things. Aside from making sure it's all gone, I can't really suggest much else, other than to keep testing it and seeing if it weirds out again.
 
Yeah, sticky shed will definitely cause nightmares like that. An extremely thorough cleaning of everything the tape touches and you should fine so long as you're running healthy tape.

When I had my MS16, it ran flawlessly speed wise and only failed me once when a voltage regulator transistor blew which brought the entire transport to a halt. Otherwise, that transport is near bulletproof. The channel cards, not so much. :D

Cheers! :)
 
Well chalk it up as a reminder. Tape path gets a good clean before every use. :cool:
 
mdainsd said:
Well chalk it up as a reminder. Tape path gets a good clean before every use. :cool:
Click to expand...

I always clean it before I use it. It was just because I only ran it through for a few seconds then took it off, I didn't count that as having used it. Pretty stupid of me really. I should start cleaning it after use too. Am I right in thinking that if I don't, the gunk will get harder to remove?
 
Naw, the stuff comes off readily with alcohol. Ive been noticing auctions on eBay, where the clueless seller has posted pictures with some of the most cruded up tape paths ive ever seen. That goes with the description: works great! And no returns...
 
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