Just picked up this Tascam Corporation Model 10 – anyone here familiar with it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter temploprods
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Hey folks! Update on the Tascam Corporation Model 10
I’ve spent the past few days doing a deep cleaning of all 12 channels, plus the subgroup and master sections. The unit was extremely dusty and had been sitting untouched for over 20 years. I’ve attached photos from the day I found it and from after the cleanup. It’s definitely looking and feeling much better now :)
Unfortunately, I’ve run into a few signal flow issues:
  • Both the CONTROL ROOM OUT and STUDIO OUT aren’t working.
  • I do get audio through the MONITOR OUT of subgroup 1, 2, 3 and 4, so some of the signal path is intact.
  • All 12 channels tested, but signal routed to subgroups 1 and 2 is very weak — not usable at the moment. This low output repeats identically across all channels.
  • Channel 3 is non-functional — will need more inspection.
  • Channel 10 has an issue with the line attenuation pot — seems stuck at full volume regardless of knob position.
Has anyone experienced something similar on these early boards? Especially the uniform low level on subgroups 1 and 2? Would you start troubleshooting at the channel level or go straight to the master section?

Any input is appreciated — and thanks again to everyone who’s chimed in so far!!
 

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I’ll repeat an unaddressed point/question I’ve raised more than once so far: do you have the service manual?

You’re having multiple signal flow issues with a console that has very poor user community support, because A. there aren’t a lot in use these days and B. they are not popular. I hope you get some responses from people who have actual past or present experience with them, but I think that’s probably unlikely, and outside of that the issues you are experiencing are all in a general category of issues that occur with old consoles. So you do the normal things which include, in your case, cleaning and inspecting the module edge connectors, cleaning/exercising pots and switches, and exercising any jacks with normalling contacts or making sure SEND/RCV jack jumpers are in place and exercise those…check for compromised solder joints on any jacks PCBs…you do all that stuff across the whole console and then take inventory of anything that’s not working, get out the service manual and start running test tone and probing/tracing out where you lose the tone and that’s usually where the fault is. Do you have a signal generator? If you don’t you can find a mobile app and use that since a low distortion oscillator is not needed for what you are doing. And then you need an audio frequency rated level meter…a true RMS measuring meter rated for relative accuracy across the audio spectrum. That or an oscilloscope. Do you have any of those things?

The Model 10 is not a complex device, relatively speaking. I know you are hoping your issues are specific and common the Model 10, but, like I said, I don’t think you’ll get that kind of feedback because your issues are just not uncommon things with any half-century old analog audio device, and more common the more budget-level it was. But definitely exercise switches and clean and inspect edge connectors…in my experience 90% of problems like you are having come down to problems with those two areas. And on any Teac/Tascam console that uses those jumpers at the SEND/RCV patch points, those must be present for signal to flow, they need exercised and, depending on the quality of the PCB base material, sometimes I find cracked solder joints where the jacks are soldered to the jack PCB…I don’t know for sure with the Model 10, but if the base material used for the boards in that console are the same as the 70 series tape machines contemporaneous to the console, then they are really thin phenolic resin type…the least desirable and reliable IMO and I’d definitely be checking for bad solder joints at jacks and edge connectors.

So start with those things and as I said earlier I’m happy to engage and offer some more specific support, but not without tech docs; schematics, parts lists, PCB layouts, and an overall block diagram.
 
Same one I linked in post #10 I believe…also with strong encouragement to the OP to grab it if they didn’t already have the manual.
 
sweetbeats said:
I’ll repeat an unaddressed point/question I’ve raised more than once so far: do you have the service manual?

You’re having multiple signal flow issues with a console that has very poor user community support, because A. there aren’t a lot in use these days and B. they are not popular. I hope you get some responses from people who have actual past or present experience with them, but I think that’s probably unlikely, and outside of that the issues you are experiencing are all in a general category of issues that occur with old consoles. So you do the normal things which include, in your case, cleaning and inspecting the module edge connectors, cleaning/exercising pots and switches, and exercising any jacks with normalling contacts or making sure SEND/RCV jack jumpers are in place and exercise those…check for compromised solder joints on any jacks PCBs…you do all that stuff across the whole console and then take inventory of anything that’s not working, get out the service manual and start running test tone and probing/tracing out where you lose the tone and that’s usually where the fault is. Do you have a signal generator? If you don’t you can find a mobile app and use that since a low distortion oscillator is not needed for what you are doing. And then you need an audio frequency rated level meter…a true RMS measuring meter rated for relative accuracy across the audio spectrum. That or an oscilloscope. Do you have any of those things?

The Model 10 is not a complex device, relatively speaking. I know you are hoping your issues are specific and common the Model 10, but, like I said, I don’t think you’ll get that kind of feedback because your issues are just not uncommon things with any half-century old analog audio device, and more common the more budget-level it was. But definitely exercise switches and clean and inspect edge connectors…in my experience 90% of problems like you are having come down to problems with those two areas. And on any Teac/Tascam console that uses those jumpers at the SEND/RCV patch points, those must be present for signal to flow, they need exercised and, depending on the quality of the PCB base material, sometimes I find cracked solder joints where the jacks are soldered to the jack PCB…I don’t know for sure with the Model 10, but if the base material used for the boards in that console are the same as the 70 series tape machines contemporaneous to the console, then they are really thin phenolic resin type…the least desirable and reliable IMO and I’d definitely be checking for bad solder joints at jacks and edge connectors.

So start with those things and as I said earlier I’m happy to engage and offer some more specific support, but not without tech docs; schematics, parts lists, PCB layouts, and an overall block diagram.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the detailed response — really appreciate you taking the time.
I’ve already done a full cleaning of all pots throughout the board, and I can confirm that noise is no longer an issue. That made a big difference right away.
As for the SEND/RCV section, this console uses standard ¼" inputs and outputs, so luckily there’s no dependency on insert jumpers or normalling contacts there.
The next step is definitely inspecting solder joints on the jack and master PCBs. I’ll start with the master section and see if I can restore output from the CONTROL ROOM and STUDIO outs. Once that’s sorted, I’ll move on to investigating the low signal issue on subgroups 1 and 2 — it’s consistent across all channels, so hopefully it’s something centralized.
Really grateful for your insight and glad to know you’re open to helping further. I’ll report back with any findings as I go!
As for the service manual, I’m looking into options — unfortunately the shipping cost to Brazil is currently higher than the manual itself, so I’m trying to figure out the most viable way to get a copy down here.
 
I recommend you pay the price to get the manual. I know of no Model 10 documentation available online, and I’m pretty resourceful in this area. And I e not seen an OEM manual come up for sale before. This is a rare chance. If you are committed to the console I would not pass up the opportunity to grab that one on eBay. OEM service manuals of this type can cost $100-150 when they come along plus shipping. The seller’s price is right. Shipping is shipping.

As to the SEND/RCV jumpers, they must be in place for signal to flow. Wherever you see a pair of SEND/RCV jacks there either must be a jumper coupling them, or an RCA - RCA cable coupling them. Signal will not flow through that point in the chain without one or the other.
 
sweetbeats said:
I recommend you pay the price to get the manual. I know of no Model 10 documentation available online, and I’m pretty resourceful in this area. And I e not seen an OEM manual come up for sale before. This is a rare chance. If you are committed to the console I would not pass up the opportunity to grab that one on eBay. OEM service manuals of this type can cost $100-150 when they come along plus shipping. The seller’s price is right. Shipping is shipping.

As to the SEND/RCV jumpers, they must be in place for signal to flow. Wherever you see a pair of SEND/RCV jacks there either must be a jumper coupling them, or an RCA - RCA cable coupling them. Signal will not flow through that point in the chain without one or the other.
Click to expand...
You’ve convinced me — I just went ahead and bought the manual from eBay. You’re right: it’s a rare opportunity and I’ll need proper documentation. Thanks for the push — totally agree that the seller’s price is fair. Regarding the SEND/RCV section, I’ve attached a photo of the channel strip so you can see the layout. I think there is no need for jumpers.
Appreciate the guidance!
 

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You’ll have to test it out. Looks like somebody possible replaced the RCA jacks with 1/4” jacks. If the jacks do not have normalling contacts that connect the signal conductor at the SEND jack to the signal conductor at the RCV jack when nothing is plugged in, then I suspect you need a jumper cable, but inspect the jacks and see if they are normalling type.
 
temploprods said:
You’ve convinced me — I just went ahead and bought the manual from eBay. You’re right: it’s a rare opportunity and I’ll need proper documentation. Thanks for the push — totally agree that the seller’s price is fair. Regarding the SEND/RCV section, I’ve attached a photo of the channel strip so you can see the layout. I think there is no need for jumpers.
Appreciate the guidance!
Click to expand...
Those plastic bodied jacks look suspect to me. Never seen those on any early tascam product. I wonder if they are even properly grounded to the chassis.

Edit. Ps. As @sweetbeats said, unless they are normaled, you need jumpers.
 
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It's highly likely that the jacks were changed. Looking at an old Model 10 listed on Reverb from a year back, you can clearly see the RCA jacks and the jumpers that Tascam often used. You only needed to connect the signal lines since the grounds would already be connected.

M10Jumpers.webp
 
If I'm not mistaken, don't the send/receives need to be jumped for the signal path to be complete? Otherwise there's no reason for Tascam to supply the jumpers. If that's the case, then either you need to make jumpers or the jacks need to be normalling to complete the signal path, as Sweetbeats suggested. A simple meter reading of the two tip connections will answer the question as to if they are connected when empty, or if you see a wire going between the send and receive jacks.

It should be obvious.
 
A short 1/4 inch patch cable will tell the tale. Patch it in, and if it passes signal you need jumpers.
 
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