Just got a Tascam 388 for Free

C

Carbona

New member
So I was in NY this weekend, and sleeping on the floor at a friend's house...I woke up, groggy and noticed something big under his couch...something with knobs and meters...so I pulled it out and nearly shit myself when I saw what it was...a 388 (very dusty one) was stowed away...so I asked him about it, told him I'd buy it from him for a few hundred bucks, and to my surprise and delight, he just says "oh, you can have it...the guy that used to live here couldn't bring it with him to California because it was too heavy, it's just in the way all the time..." so I've pretty much been happier than a pig in slop for 3 days now...finally got it home today, it's extremely dusty, but everything lights up so far and the heads look ok, but I'm still a complete newb to recording...I've got a tascam 238 that I've been recording on for a few years, but never owned a reel-to-reel.

Now for a Few questions...

---If I take a vacuum cleaner (with a hose attachment) and suck all the dust away, is there any electronics that may be damaged from doing this? There are also some crumbs and paint chips inside the tape compartment that I'd like to vacuum up too, but I just don't wanna screw anything up.

--I've tried to test the VU meters, but can only get the odd numbered ones to work for some reason, and while talking into the mic, the levels are registering, but nothing is coming through the headphones (except an extremely low level hiss of course). Is there something I'm missing here?
I read a few threads about assigning the channels and panning them left and right, so I'll try that for now.

--Are the preamps that are built in to this thing tube preamps?

--Anyone have a spare manual lying around ;)

--Anybody live in the Atlanta, GA area know where a good tascam repair/service shop is? I checked on their site, but the search was screwy and wouldn't display any results.

--He also gave me 4 brand new reels of Quantegy 456...I've read that this tape is too thick for this machine (head wear???)..I dunno

Thanks everyone
 
Why you lucky bastage! :D

Nice score! :cool:

I'd nix the vacuum idea and instead go with a can or two of compressed air and a Swiffer or two to get all the dust bunnies out of there.

As to the one sided meter situation; you must leave the pans in the center position if you want to see both sides of the meters work and assign all the buss buttons or at least keep odd numbered busses panned left and even numbered busses panned right.

The manual can be bought from TASCAM's parts department for about 30 bucks...hey! You saved enough on the 388 right? Cough it up, pal! :p

Have fun. :)

Cheers! :)
 
Use the 456 & you'll be okay.

Call Tascam to purchase the manual, @ (323) 727-8480.

There are no tubes,... all solid state.

You scored, bigtime!!! :eek: :confused:
 
and to my surprise and delight, he just says "oh, you can have it...the guy that used to live here couldn't bring it with him to California because it was too heavy, it's just in the way all the time..." so I've pretty much been happier than a pig in slop for 3 days now...
Click to expand...

Consider yourself VERY lucky! Congratulations!

--Anyone have a spare manual lying around ;)
Click to expand...

Ok, now you're getting greedy .. ;) Call TASCAM for the manual already! :mad:






















Well, what r u waiting for ? Did you call TASCAM yet ? :confused:

~Daniel ;)
 
Yup, I think I'll definetely order the manual tommorrow...there's one on ebay right now, but I'd rather have a fresh one and not gamble on any missing pages.

This thing is killer, can't wait to record some stuff...wish I could get the sound to play back through the headphones, I've been tinkering for 4 hours now....it recorded my voice fine, I just can't hear it on playback.

BTW, how difficult is it to replace a burnt out VU bulb?
 
Let me join the throngs of those that simultaneously hate you and congradulate you on the score!
The 388 is a sweet little machine...and the mixer section is top notch.
I'm kinda looking for one as well.... :cool:
 
lets see if we can get the monitor to work, After you have recorded a track put that track in to RMX at the top of the board. On the the lower right hand side select the stereo button turn the head phone knob up, And push your stereo master fader up to unity. Also push the red L R button in. See if that gets it going.
There are several way to monitor but right now thats about the best I can come up with.

Good luck Nice score!
 
Thanks Herm! :)

Hitting the stereo button in the bottom right corner was the key...everything comes through the headphones now loud and full...boy this thing sounds beautiful...just did a bass and 2 guitar tracks direct.

Now to figure out why tracks 2,4,6 and 8 don't work.
 
That thing is a piece of crap! Save yourself now and send that deck to me immediately before you harm yourself. You don't know what you're getting into. Analog is very addictive and should come with warnings on the packaging like cigarettes. I repeat, send me that deck and get yourself a DAW now before it's too late! :D :D :D
 
Ok, I've roughly got every track to record, but the even numbered ones are recording at an extremly low level (and not registering on the vu's). I just opened it up and pushed all the boards down to make sure they weren't loose.

So there are 6 boards for 8 tracks (???)
 
There are 4 audio cards and 2 dbx cards.

---1----2--- | ---5----6---
---3----4--- | ---7----8---
--dbx 1-4--- | --dbx-5-8--

... is how they're arranged.

So,... if it's all the even tracks not recording, then it's not any single card causing it. You'll have to look for the common points of signal flow. Track & BUSS Assign -signal flow.

If you're using one test signal input on channel 1, then ASSIGN to (ALL) 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8,... and set PAN in the CENTER. Also, REC-ENABLE all the tracks by pressing REC-FUNCTION DOWN for 1-8. You should then see your test signal on all the VU meters equally.

The only thing besides posting back & forth on this thread, might be to set up a video/voice conference chat on Netmeeting, Paltalk or one of those live video boards. You, me & Herm could have a 388-tele-SUMMIT.

... If I made a 388 user's and troubleshooting video, d'ya think I could charge $25/ea, like the "official" Tascam videos?


If I think of something else, I'll let you know.
 
Timely 388 hint:...

If you select any (WHITE) ASSIGN button (1-8) simultaneosly as the (RED) ASSIGN L/R button, the Monitor section will MUTE.

This is an inherent design in the 388's assign/monitor matrix that prevents an interal feedback loop from developing,... which is undesirable. :eek:
 
Cool, thanks Reel, I just tried it and still no luck...however, when I plug the signal (guitar line in) into any of the even numbered channels and assign all tracks to that channel, all the VU's still work on the odd channels, so it's definetely getting a signal.

Sounds to me like maybe the preamps are bad in the even channels(?)...that might explain why the signal is so low in the broken channels, but technically still there (very very quiet, but there). If that's the case, I've got two other mixers that I could use to bypass the one on the 388, if that's possible.

Thanks again for all your help, man.
I've got a digital camera so I can post pictures.
A video conference Summit would be cool!

The Ramones are my all time favorite BTW, RIP :(
 
I don't think you're on the right track with that one.

I do think it bears out more experimentation.

You say, all the VU's get signal on the input when recording, and all the even numbered tracks show nothing on playback?

Or, are you saying the even numbered channels don't work?

You'll have to make the distinction between channels and tracks.

If you Assign any input channel to all 8-PGM Busses, and REC-FUNT enable all 8 tracks, with PAN in the center you should get the same signal on all 8 VU meters. As you Pan from left to right, you should see it sweep between the odd and even Pgm Busses, which in this case correspond to tape tracks.
 
Ok, I think I've got it narrowed down...the PGM master "even" fader is very loose and almost feels like it goes up and over a "hump" when I raise and lower it...I took the knob off to see if the metal part would push down and pull up from the mixer...and indeed it did...as I did this, I noticed that the even numbered VU meters started coming to life, registering some kind of signal.

So now it's a matter of getting to the mixer section and possibly re-attaching the fader...I see alot of screws on the top around the mixer part, but I'd hate to take them all off and then not be able to get inside...do you have to go in the bottom side?
 
I just removed the 6 main screws from the mixer and pulled it off slowly about 2 inches, and that is definetely the problem. The knob gets to about 2 before it's touching nothing but thin air...kind of hard to explain, but the mini circuit board (the one that each fader is attached to) is slanted down at about a 30 degree angle. The screw is fastened in securely from the top, but it's not connecting with the little fader circuit board.
 
Success!

Well, sort of...the fader mini circuit board had come out of the metal housing somehow, and the fader knob was pretty mangled (some of the wires on the knob were twisted and almost burnt looking). I rehoused it, screwed it back in, and bam 2 more tracks work (2 and 4)...I suspect tracks 6 and 8 have something to do with the parts of the fader that were mangled beyond recognition...Of course I screwed the thing back in there upside down, so now the volume's backwards :D

Anyone know where I could pick up another one of these fader knobs?

My band's going on tour for a week, I'll post some pictures of the mangled knob once I get home.
 
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post some pics of what is broke when you get a chance and I might be able to help you out with it.
 
Aaaagh!

I don't know why I always misquote Tascam's number, since I call it often enough!

Tascam Parts' CORRECT NUMBER is (323)727-4840.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:
 
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