help with tascam 388.

  • Thread starter Thread starter David1
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David1

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I'm new to the home recording thing and just bought a tascam 388. If by any chance someone out there is familier with this unit, The problems are these. After I record on Track 4
the signal will sometimes drop out and "sometimes" come back when I push the dolby (dbx) button up and down a few times, Also I can not record on track one at all. In the record mode the meters are moving but in playback mode nothing but a faint wisper of the signal. The record heads seem fine to the touch not rough at all. Any ideas?

The tascam 388 is a mixer/8 track 1/4 inch reel to reel in one rather hefty package.

Thanks.

PS. I prefer this unit over my tsr 8.
It seems to sound better and the built in mixer is a God send; No more cables to deal with. no repatching for mix down.
 
sounds like one of two problems. either its the heads are messed up for playback or recording. or the guts are a little screwed up/loose somewhere in it.
 
sounds like you could also have a couple of bad switches. they could just be dirty (hopefully).try spraying some cleaner on them if you can ! i have the same machine , it's a beauty.
 
The fact that you say that you just bought this unit (circa 1985) makes me think that the previous owner did not take care of it well. I would suggest finding a pro audio repair shop in your area and bring it in for an overall appraisal for a tune up. Also, do you have the manual? or are you kinda running blindly?

Brad
 
Brad,

I have the manuals, The unit was well taken care of everthing, heads wheels, rollers look like new ,Very clean. The previous owner has offered me my money back or $50 towards repair although I think he should offer to pay %100 of any repair charges )
I only paid $400 for it so I think Ill still make out if I keep it and have it fixed,
I'm in NE Pa and the closest autherised tascam repair man I can find(who works on 388s) is in NYC, about 2 hours away.Guess Ill have to take a little road trip.

thanks
 
It sounds to me like the heads are out of alignment.

If I'm not mistaken, the 388 is a two-head machine. When recording you don't really have any confidence monitoring; you just have to trust that what the meters read is really what's hitting the tape.

When you go to playback the track is either off or so close to the edge of the tape that it's not registering at all.

The other problem does indeed sound like a switch. I have heard of other Tascams having problems like this, too, either with the sync/repro switches or the NR switches.

The first multitrack I used was a 388 at the local University here. Unfortunately, it was in a student-maintained studio; the prof responsible for it didn't take care of it, and none of the students did either. In the space of 3 years it went from new condition to being unable to record/play on tracks 1 and 8. What a shame.

I was always fond of the way it sounded (before getting wrecked, of course).

Good luck,
D.
 
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