Help with a 388

[rahnn]

So I just bought a Tascam 388, I was so excited to use it after messing around on my friends for a while. The man who sold it to me showed me that everything worked and it sounded fine, but when I got it home and hooked it up things were different. I can't get anything to record, and the playback of the tape sounds terrible and muddy. The reels are also pretty squeeky when they are in play mode. Also they dont seem to FF and REW as quickly as they should. Please Help! The mixing board half of it seems to be working fine.

 

[j.harv]

Do you have a manual? what steps are you doing to record?
Also,did you give the tape path,heads a good cleaning? If they're dirty I could cause muddiness.
As for the FF / REW problem,could just be the tension arms need adjusting.
If you have lots of questions about the 388,come over to the analog forum.Lots of questions and answers over there about it.
Do a search in the forums on the 388.There is a couple tutorials on adjusting tension arms.My 388 had the same problem,but once adjusted the rew/ff works fine.