"I woke up this mornin' with the TASCAM 388 blues!" Help sought kind peope!

[gentlejohn]

Yep, a cry for help this end! Just to bring anyone up to speed here ... I've been desperately trying to bond with my recent acquisition (namely a Tascam 388) over the festive & new year period and all I really wanna do now is just finally get going & start making some flippin' music with it! Thing is, the more I use it, the more it's dawning on me that the unit appears to have some issues.

I've been hoping all along so far to date that it was just a batch of faulty tape which I got with the machine but, having just spent another full session today testing the unit with the brand new tape I'd ordered (RMGI LPR35) sadly I am beginning to think the problem(s) lie with the unit and not the tape! In light of this I'm really hoping the kind (& far more knowledgeable than I!) souls on here might be able to chip in and help a brother out as to what to do, what to try and where to go next from here as I have to admit - after today I've hit a bit of a brickwall this end!

There's a few problems in particular that I'm aware of from my tests to date - the first TWO on the short list that follows I can live with (just about!) but the third point is now beginning to concern me greatly! OK, here goes:

1. Even running the correct, compatible and brand new tape the REWIND function is sluggish (especially when recording within the first 1/3 of the tape).

2. Pressing the RTZ button usually always leaves me 30 seconds short of the Zero mark and the STC button for getting back to a Cue marker point has a complete mind of its own and can never seem to actually find the cue point. (Like I say, I can live with points 1 & 2. What I can't live with is point ...)

3. I think I might have an issue with my Play/Record head! I'm really hoping I'm wrong here. I have been in denial thinking it was down to using a batch of duffer tape but today, with two BRAND NEW tapes to test the unit these Play/Record problems persist. It seems the issues are with signals recorded on tracks 5 through to 8. Signals on Tracks 1 to 4 sound great with no audible problems whatsoever. Track 5 is okay but its clarity doesn't appear to be AS good as sound sources recorded on Tracks 1 through to 4. From Track 6 onwards it all seems to go seriously downhill sound-wise! In fact signals recorded to Track 7 AND Track 8 just sound plain awful on playback (both in Monitor and Remix modes). I've done numerous test recordings eg: arming all tracks and recording the same sound source onto Tracks 1 to 8; recording individual instruments to each track; sending an A=440Hz test tone to every track and comparing its playback quality; recording songs from commercial CDs to paired tracks in stereo but all with the same results ie: TRACKS 1 to 4 = FINE! / TRACKS 5 to 8 = NOT SO FINE! (Very POOR actually especially Track 7 AND Track 8!)

On playback I would describe the sound reproduction on the last four channels as 'warbling'. This was glaringly evident with the sustained sound of the single test tone note. Where the first four tracks played back perfectly, the last four were noticeably 'warbly' and 'wobbly' sounding. In all the tests I have performed so far, Track 7 and Track 8 have returned both extreme warbling playback plus fluctuating, intermittent volume output levels and occasional blips where the recorded signals don't even sound.

As you can probably tell, I just desperately want to get going with my music this end (my new year resolution!) but these technical niggles I'm experiencing sure are making things difficult of late - I was gutted when the problems I was experiencing with my original tape persisted with this new tape (especially after waiting patiently for it to arrive in the hope it would be the solution to my problems!)

From reading this sad tale of woe could anyone shed some light on what they reckon might be causing me problems here? (Especially with regard to these annoying playback warbling issues on the last four tracks!) I'm starting to worry that I might have bought a musical turkey over the festive period and that the Repro/Record head on this unit may well be goosed! I really hope I'm wrong on this count and that there's something that can be done to just get it functioning properly. The unit certainly looks to be in very good cosmetic shape overall and everything else I've checked all seems to be working A OK!

I look forward to hearing any opinions and welcome all possible solutions to this dilemma! Thanks in advance for your time ....

 

[famous beagle]

I'm really hoping you can get this thing up and running. Believe me; I feel your pain, as I've had my share of tape machines I bought "in excellent condition" that ended up needing more work than I was capable of. I went through a Tascam 38 and Fostex R8 in that regard and eventually sold both of them "for parts or repair" (which is what they should have been sold for when I bought them).

In the analog realm, I'm now down to a sole recorder: a Tascam 246 cassette 4-track. And guess where it is? In the shop. I fixed what I could (belts and pulley), but the playback levels were low by several dBs on each track. Since the seller agreed to pay for the repairs, I once again decided to keep the unit and took it into a shop. Hopefully I should have a fully-working unit in a few weeks.

Best of luck with your 388 troubles.

 

[gentlejohn]

Thanks FB! Good luck with getting your 246 sorted, at least you have some kind of warranty to fall back on with yours. I'm feelin' a bit jaded with this all right now to be honest. I've spent a fortune already attempting to switch recording set up to analogue and now I just wanna get on with the 'simple' & enjoyable task of making some muzak. If every channel on this particular unit sounded as good as Track 1 does I'd be smiling from ear to ear by now! Can you even still get these 388 models serviced here in the UK (ideally Scotland where I reside) in this day and age? I'm feelin' rather stuck right now!

 

[jpmorris]

Any chance you can give us an audio clip of the warbling? Assuming the record and erase heads are completely clean, it's possible the tape isn't making proper contact with the heads, especially if there's keystone wear on them.

With the rewind problem, it could be the motor, though I've heard it's more likely to be the drive transistors. Of course, it could be something as simple as the brakes, of course - for about 5 years I was trying to fix a similar problem with a Revox B77 and that turned out to be the brakes making contact during fast wind...


EDIT: Regarding TASCAM servicing in Scotland, have you tried these guys? http://www.glse.co.uk/

 

[famous beagle]

Thanks FB! Good luck with getting your 246 sorted, at least you have some kind of warranty to fall back on with yours. I'm feelin' a bit jaded with this all right now to be honest. I've spent a fortune already attempting to switch recording set up to analogue and now I just wanna get on with the 'simple' & enjoyable task of making some muzak. If every channel on this particular unit sounded as good as Track 1 does I'd be smiling from ear to ear by now! Can you even still get these 388 models serviced here in the UK (ideally Scotland where I reside) in this day and age? I'm feelin' rather stuck right now!

I have no idea to be honest with you.

Yeah I must say it's been a struggle getting back into analog. I started out on 4-track cassettes back in the late 80s. Eventually, before I'd really developed any allegiance or preference regarding analog vs. digital, I started using standalone digital recorders like ADATs and then hard-disk recorders like the Roland VS series throughout the 90s and early 2000s.

At that point, around age 30, my nostalgia started kicking in. I'd been listening to older music as well, like the Beatles, etc. and some old soul music, etc. So I started getting interested in using analog equipment as well. The problem was, all those machines that were either new or relatively new in the late 80s had been sitting around for decades all of the sudden, and age had taken its toll on many of them.

I've since learned that using analog is definitely not (often) a plug-and-play thing. The majority of tape machines sold now are likely to need more than just a little bit of work to get back in shape. Maybe if I'd never stopped using analog and therefore had machines that I cared for and kept up with (and there are certainly several people like that here), it wouldn't seem like such an issue. But re-entering the analog work after being away for 15 years or so is not exactly seamless.

I have a digital rig that I use for my work as well, and while I've certainly hit many frustrating snags on that end as well (mainly due to software/hardware compatibility and learning curves), the good thing about it is that support still exists for it, so you can easily replace defective units, etc., and there are lots of people around that can help when things go wrong. Analog is not exactly that way. Securing parts is not always easy, and knowledgeable people are certainly fewer and farther between now.

I don't use analog because it's easy---that's for sure. Like I said, had I never left the game, it would likely be a different story. But for someone coming back after a long time---or especially someone coming into the world now for the first time---there are likely going to be many many hurdles unfortunately. Unless you're super rich and just have tons of money to throw at the problems! (And I'm not.)

There are lots of people on this forum that are very knowledgeable and helpful on all aspects analog, and I hope they can get you up and running. Good luck.

 

[gentlejohn]

Thanks FB! Yeah, I'm a bit battered by it all right now to be honest! Being a teenager in the '80s I used to record demos using analogue portastudios such as Teacs & Tascams (the whole digital hadn't really taken off yet!) I just used them in a sketchpad style to get my musical ideas down then, when I had a song arrangement I was happy with, I'd book some 'downtime' in my mate's studio and let him record the definitive version on his 16 track analogue rig whilst I concentrated on the performance side of things. It was a good working relationship that lasted for a few years but, like they say, all good things come to an end! I moved to another country and have been struggling to make music ever since quite frankly! I'm definitely more musically inclined than technically inclined but, these days, I just can't afford to book a commercial studio every time I have a song ready to record so I've been on this quest to try and make half-decent recording myself.

I've had loads of recording consoles from 4 track analogue portastudios through to 16 track standalone digital workstations, to up until very recently a Mac running Logic Pro 9. Of all the machines I've owned my favourite by far (the one that 'became invisible' and I feel allowed me to concentrate on 'THE MUSIC'!) was a TASCAM 388. I just bonded with the thing from the word go and got a lot of music made with it (until I dropped it down a flight of stairs during a house move and, pre-eBay days, just couldn't find a replacement).

The thing is, a couple of months back now I was on the verge of buying a(nother!) plug-in for my DAW. This time one that emulated the sound of analogue tape saturation and I just stopped in my tracks and thought: "Hang on a minute, this is friggin' stupid!" If I really like the analogue sound so much why don't I just go back to recording in analogue? I sold all my digital gear to fund a 388 but, by the time I had the funds together, the 388 had been sold so I bought a 688 instead to tide me over whilst still keeping an ear to the track for a 388. One came up not long after so I entered the 'dog fight' (quite literally!) and eventually after paying way over budget managed to secure a 388. I've been trying to record with it ever since but it seems the years have not been kind! It just doesn't have the same mojo as my original one (and it doesn't sound as good either with a host of annoying niggles that I'm not technical enough to be able to sort myself!) "D'oh!"

 

[mdainsd]

Its a struggle with an analog studio at home. Im so happy i grew up when I did. In school in the 60's and early 70's there was still emphasis on the Industrial Arts in the school systems. I started in Junior high with electronics courses. Learned how to trouble shoot and repair just about anything. By high school the shop classes were coupled with each other. In metal shop we built the chassis for tube power amps and other projects. In electronics class we stuffed the chassis and wood-shop we did the cabinetry. I then set off being a electro mechanical technician, working my way up to Engineer and finally Director of Engineering at a multi-national.

Because of that education and the fact that this analog stuff was all around me all the time, I have no qualms biting off the biggest projects in the effort to equip my little studio. A broken down piece of equipment is a chance at a bargain to me. LOL.

None of this helps you at all. But at any age it's either: Learn how to do it, or pay someone else to do it. Tape machines can seem daunting at first, but they arent rocket science, at least not till you get to the final generation of pro level machines with massive integration of digital control systems.

Have you posted good close up pictures of the heads on this forum? Lets start there.

 

[gentlejohn]

Yes, enough whinging from me! I intend to get back to some serious music-making and I will - whatever it takes! That said last night, after another three hours more technical head scratching when I had actually intended on having a song writing session, I was on the verge of drinking 500ml of head cleaner straight (I usually mix it with a splash of coke!) OK, back out to transfer some tones and sounds to SoundCloud, re-clean then attempt to take some close-up photos of the heads and maybe try to reset the soundcards for the problem tracks (if I'm feeling confident that is!) Wish me luck ....

 

[mdainsd]

A trick for photographing the heads is to lay down a piece of white card stock (or white paper for that matter) on the deck surface in front of the heads, if possible. this helps reduce reflections that make it hard to interpret the pics. But in a 388 its all buried down in there, isnt it?

 

[A Reel Person]

...

I believe the rewind issue is a matter of adjusting the reel/servo card for Tension Arm Position, L/R. It's a fairly easy and straight forward.

The sound quality issue is a bit more difficult. I'd start again by making absolutely sure the head was scrubbed clean and shiny like a mirror. If there's excessive head wear, it could cause this problem directly, but also a worn head will collect oxide in the worn areas faster. You have to inspect the head, and although most recorders of this age will show head wear, an even wear patter is much better than a keystone shaped uneven wear.

Then, there's the issue of calibration. It's my experience that any recorder of this age, which probably hasn't been calibrated since new, would benefit greatly from a proper calibration. This is a moderately complicated adjustment routine that's time consuming and tedious, but is doable and not like simply hitting a wall of excessive head wear. Need for calibration pretty much comes with the territory. A lot of sonic deficiencies can be minimized with calibration, but the techs with tools and experience to do this are about as rare and hard to find as the devices themselves. That's in part why a lot of users on this board and elsewhere opt to go in deep and learn to do it themselves. It takes some capital expenditures and some commitment.

Likewise, calibration issues go similarly for cassette based recorders and larger format reel recorders, as well as the all-in-one-r 388. Most, if not all, will improve and benefit from proper calibration. In the pro world it's a "must". In the homerec world it catches a lot of users in a "WTF" position.

 

[gentlejohn]

In the homerec world it catches a lot of users in a "WTF" position.

He! he! In a nutshell that sums up my state of mind right now.

 

[j.harv]

Like a Reel person said.... the rewind issue could be due to the tension arms not being at their proper posistions.
An easy adjustment.
As for your rec/playback problem....Hmmmm...You could maybe try to (carefully) remove and re-seat the record play amp PCB
cards in the card bay.There are 4 of them. Not a hard task at all. Could be done in minutes. Just gotta be careful pulling them out because the conections are some times really tight. And putting them back in with extra care is a must too. You dont want to bend any of the pins on the connectors. I've done this a few times and I have heard some people have actually remedied problems by doing this. Just be careful !!! Unplug...steady hands...remove...re-seat...glass of whiskey...done.

 

[j.harv]

Oh and one more thing. If I remember correctly,the Rec/Play cards for trks 5-8 are to the right. So 1-4 are the 2 cards to the left.So if you do choose to do this,then you could probably just re-seat the 2 cards for trks 5-8. CAREFULLY!!!!!!

 

[gentlejohn]

Hi again folks!

Thanks again for all your help & advice so far but sadly I'm (we're??!) not out of the woods with this one yet! Below is a thrown together DIY video I made in an attempt to explain the problem and try to let you hear 'what's going on'. Unfortunately I only have a cheapo camcorder so I couldn't get the focus on the heads I would have liked (but I have included some better photographic images below). Although things 'look' alright from where I'm standing, in light of re-seating those Audio Card PCBs, I'm now beginning to think the PLAY/REPRO HEAD might possibly be the fly in the ointment here - I really hope I'm wrong 'cause, now I come to think about it, the previous owner casually mentioned at point of sale that the head had been 're-lapped' at some point (I didn't know what this meant at the time and didn't think to question it!)

Thanks for all the help to date - please keep those thoughts coming! Who knows? I might even be able to begin my new year's resolution and get back to making some music soon (that was my plan when I invested in this anyway!)

PS: Apologies for the 'glass is half empty' tone of my recent posts on here of late and for also sounding rather 'down in the dumps' & exasperated in the accompanying video - it's because, in all honesty, I AM (anti-LOL!) It hasn't been the greatest start to the year as I went without food and alcohol all over the festive period (big sacrifice!) to be able to afford the unit! I would say I'm suffering 'Cold Turkey' but I didn't have any! (Ed: "Hey! What's that sound?? Oh, it's only the sound of the world's smallest violin playing the saddest song! As you were ....")

Anyway, here's the vid:



And some pics:

 

[jpmorris]

Might be a reflection but that does look like brown gunk across the bottom 4 tracks of the erase head.

 

[gentlejohn]

Might be a reflection but that does look like brown gunk across the bottom 4 tracks of the erase head.

Sadly it's a brown reflection JP (if only it were that simple eh?!)

 

[A Reel Person]

Thoughts:...

I think the heads look fine. Very little wear, all even.

If the heads were relapped at one point, that should be a net improvement unless he continued to wear it down to shit with heavy use after relapping.

Having removed the head mounting plate and the heads entirely from the unit, your biggest and most immediate challenge will now be to remount and properly align the heads on their physical mounting.

With that you're already in deep, so it might be time to muster up yourself for technicalities, or to find and call the nearest qualified tech.

The physical mounting and alignment of the heads will be your most clear and present challenge to achieving proper recording/playback sound quality, at this point. Electronic alignment/calibration to follow.

The deck and the heads look in relatively good shape, so fret not! It's not a beater or a hopeless case, in my view.

Very nice pics!

 

[A Reel Person]

Ps:...

See that tach wheel, the underside with the black/white striped areas on it?

That should be stark black and stark white. The fact that the white area is substantially greyed is why I'd assume your tape counter is not counting properly. See if you can clean the white bits again until they're a little more brilliant shade of white. (Clean/aluminum colored). That should improve the tape counting issue.

Tech Bits: the tach/tape counter function is a 2-phase reflective optical sensor. It requires bouncing an infrared beam off the bottom of that roller and counting the frequency and direction of the black/white bands on the underside of that wheel. In fixed speed mode, it's just for tape counting. If you were to ever master or slave sync this unit to another device, the tach roller would regulate overall tape speed and pitch, or in your present case,.... not. It would probably be all over the place. (Clean the wheel's reflective bits for improvement on this issue).

 

[A Reel Person]

Additional thoughts: Video....

You adjusted the tension arm positions and improved the FF/RW performance. I think if you fine tune the tension arms, it would be optimal. The right one looks okay. The left one looks a little low. The tension arm position is proper when the centers of the tension arms intersect with an imaginary line that's drawn across the bottoms of the tach & idler rollers.

The sound quality issues at this point may be directly related to physical head alignment. Until you get that sorted, all bets are off. If the Zenith is off, F/I, the bottom tracks may make good contact with the tape while the top tracks could be tilted away from the tape, causing marginal and improper head/tape contact, which will eventually lead to a dreaded uneven (keystone) wear pattern. Seeing in the other photos that the heads look relatively good, that's my present opinion: Head Alignment. Keep in mind it's difficult to troubleshoot any such issues from a distance & in the 3rd person. Afterthought: if the the tension arms are not properly adjusted, it could possibly affect tape/head contact and be another factor in your issue. In a nutshell, the fidelity issues of the duff tracks sounds to me like a head/tape contact issue.

With a proper tech, manual, bench and tools, it should be relatively easy to set this up properly. Maybe not painless or cost free, though.

 

[gentlejohn]

Thanks Dave ARP! Again, REALLY helpful info Sir. I had a feelin' I might have messed up when I removed the heads from the head mounting plate but, by that point, I had gone past that point of no return! Incidentally, did you manage to catch any of the demonstration video I made? I know it's lo-fi and I will try to get hold of a better camera sometime in the future but, for now, hopefully the camera's built-in mic will give an enough of an idea for one to realise that there's something seriously not right with the sound on playback. (It actually sounds considerably worse in reality - far worse in fact than it did prior to my earlier servicing efforts which kinda defeats the purpose really!!)

So ... could this 'warbling' of the audio that, pre-DIY service was particularly noticeable on Tracks 7&8 but now seems to be present at playback on ALL tracks (bar 1&2) be caused purely by me inadvertently misaligning the heads then do you think?

If this be the case (gosh, so many variables eh?!) what is the best, most logical way, to go about trying to get the head(s?) back into the correct position? Forgive me if I'm missing summat here but, when I was dismantling the headblock I was of the opinion that the heads could only go back the one way ie: the way they came out! It seems from where I'm currently standing with this (to my untrained eyes at least!) that it is these tension screws which connect & hold the heads to the top plate that pretty much pre-determine head position surely? If it's all down to head positioning & alignment at this stage of 'the game' then how do I:

a) Go about changing the actual position of the head(s?)
b) How will I know when I've got them into the right position and, finally ...
c) How does one keep the heads in their correct position whilst simultaneously trying to fix them back securely to their mounting plate in order to prevent further movement exactly?

Thanks again! We're getting there (I think?!!!)