Moding preamps in a Tascam FW-1884

[Michael8it]

Ok, so I have a Tascam FW-1884 that was given (yes a gift) to me from my church after many years of being the sound engineer.

I am getting ready to mod the preamps which are noisy and lifeless. I have all the schematics, ordered all the parts, etc. I have some tips on what op amps to upgrade to and all the 'stuff' is 'in the mail. Total cost is about $200 in components. I knew to buy good Allen Bradley resistors, some are Dales, and polystyrene capacitors.... I have all that down pat. I was an ET in the Navy so I know my way around a PCB.

BUT- the thought just occurred to me - if I am going to gut the preamps, should I look at changing component values (bigger caps for instance) or just put in better components?

QUESTION: Is there an art to changing the value of components that will open up the sound more or is that taken care of in the quality of the components you use ?

I am starting with just TWO of the EIGHT preamps at a complete overhaul (since one is dead I figured I might as well fix that one first), the rest I am just replacing the opamps the first time around.

 

[mshilarious]

Bigger caps don't do a lot unless the OEM parts were too small to begin with. That would be a surprise, since Tascam's engineering is usually pretty good.

If you want lower noise, you need to be selecting active parts that have lower input noise. Without knowing the topology of the preamp, there's not a lot more I can say.

Leave a couple of channels unmodded so you have a valid comparison.

 

[dintymoore]

... since Tascam's engineering is usually pretty good...

To me Tascam is about the worst crap on the planet.

Really, don't waste any time or money on it.

 

[mshilarious]

Really, don't waste any time or money on it.

It's a bit late if he has already ordered $200 of parts . . .