Life expectancy of heads?

[herringscales]

Hello...
In my pursuit of a used Tascam 8 track analog recorder (Tascam 688), I've come across notes in item descriptions about the heads. "Heads were replaced"..."Sent back to Tascam for head cleaning"..."Heads have 300 hours on them"...etc...etc...etc...Can anyone decipher all this for me? I know heads should be cleaned after every use...but that's about all I know...the Tascam 688 uses standard cassettes not reel to reel or 1/4" tape if that makes a difference...

How many hours of life do heads have?
Can they be replaced if they die?
Does this cost tons of money to replace?
What's a reasonable amount of hours for a used unit?
Anything else I should be on the lookout for?

Thanks
Scott

 

[John Sayers]

How many hours of life do heads have?

Heaps, 1,000's - you should be OK

Can they be replaced if they die?
Does this cost tons of money to replace?

Yes they can be replaced and it shouldn't cost heaps, but these days the machines in toto don't cost heaps do they??

What's a reasonable amount of hours for a used unit?

300 hrs seems ok, that's 30 days at 10 hour per day.

Anything else I should be on the lookout for?

check how clean the faders are, put some audio through them and fade them up and down and check for fader noise. Same for the other pots like pan etc.

Play something on the cassette deck and check for wow (slight variations in speed) and that it spools cleanly forward and back and at the beginning and the end of the reel.

Check the noise from mic in to monitor out and check that all tracks record and playback correctly.


When you get it, clean and demag the heads. Clean the whole tape path especially the capstan and roller.

happy recording
John

 

[herringscales]

John...thanks for the help!! A couple things...

Is it a regular thing to replace the heads on a recorder???
Is that just something everyone does eventually?
The other things you mentioned like checking the faders and pan, etc...this is great info but unfortunately I'm shopping over the internet and can only go by description instead of the careful once over that you'd recommend. If the faders were yielding noise, or the pan, or, etc.. etc.. Are all these things fixable...or at least livable? I guess what I'm trying to figure out is: is there anything that is irrepairable or very costly to repair that I should be on the lookout for? Sorry for the dumb questions...can you tell I'm new to all this?? Thanks!
Scott

 

[El Barto]

Hey John

While you're at it...is there an easy way to clean dirty pots (hold the dish washer jokes please, people! ) and faders? Or is this something that should be left for trained professionals (kids, don't try this at home)?

 

[John Sayers]

Depends on the pots they've used - if they are sealed there's nothin other than replacing them. (Not hard for an average techo) but if not use some alcohol that you cn squirt into the pot and then turn it round over and over. For slide faders pour a bit into the slot and wiggle the fader up and down etc.

Most people don't bother to replace heads these days because by the time they've worn out there's been two new models.

Cheers
John

 

[Hot Rocks]

Great thread and questions, John,I asked this in the tascam forum,You know way more than I.Will I harm my Tascam cassette multitracks by useing basf "metal" tape? I don't mean "typeII chrome.I got a deal on them and they sound great. Rob