record & erase problem on tascam 424 mkII

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jjuull

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hello all,
here is my first post, i just subscribe to be able to post my question.
Seems to have a lot of tascam user here...
i bought an 424 mkII a few month ago, using it to make improvisation and noise music.
it's really a beautiful machine and i love its sound.
all is fine on two first tracks but i got problem to erase and record on tracks 3 and 4.
if i try to record silence on track 4, almost nothing of last recording desappears...
making the test of recording a same signal on a blank tape from track 5 to tracks 1,2,3,4 via bus L-R,
recordings on track 1&2 are ok, 3 and 4 are like "disjointed", crappy, noisy...
i clean the head with alcool, i feel like some ameliorations but there is something wrong, something hardware i guess
i saw a post on homerecording.com talking about misconnections on the circuit board...
( but it seems i cannot give the link)
Had one of you already got this issue ?
any suggestion to resolve it ?
thx for reading !
julien
 
any suggestion ?
some people got already some probleme to erase tracks on 4tracks gear ?
 
yes yes i do
i follow the same operations that works to erase track 1 & 2...
 
humm...i'm thinking of maybe change erase head.
is it something some of you have already done ?
thx
 
Do you have an oscilloscope? I'd start by checking the signal to the erase head, make sure all channels were the same. That would tell you if the problem was with the head or electronics. You could probably use a multimeter, but a 'scope would give you more info.
 
no i don't...never use one but maybe i can ask a friend.
is it difficult to do ?
 
Not at all. You definitely need a high-Z probe though, or you can load the signal down and get false readings. Just scope both sides of all the channels on the erase head with the machine set to record. If they're all (roughly) the same, then the head's the culprit. If not, just trace back until you find where the signal gets lost. The fact that you lost two channels points to a component common to those two channels.

It's been too many years since I've worked on tape decks, at one time I had the schematics and could have given you specific stuff to look at. But honestly, it'd be a pretty simple repair for someone with the tools and the experience.
 
thx a lot for the details in your answers !
i gonna ask help from a friend that got a scope
hope it will be ok
julien
 
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