setting up a 388 after shipped

  • Thread starter Thread starter shedshrine
  • Start date Start date
Oh, believe me, I've seen those pics. That is a disgustingly mint looking machine, top to bottom, front to back :D

That said, wouldn't you rather a smoke-patinaed machine the original owner pined over, unable to use for 17 years? :rolleyes: :cool: :eek: :D ;)
 
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shedshrine said:
Oh, believe me, I've seen those pics. That is a disgustingly mint looking machine, top to bottom, front to back :D
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Thanks .... and I do realize I was very lucky to have picked one up in that condition. Local too. ;)

shedshrine said:
That said, wouldn't you rather a smoke-patinaed machine the original owner pined over, unable to use for 17 years? :rolleyes: :cool: :eek: :D ;)
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Hehe :) ....but seriously, it'd be nice to document your work on the 388, in picts .. I'm always a fan of that. :)
 
mikey@thecave said:
easy tiger
i had my 388 for almost 20 years :eek:
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Wow, that's a long time. Did you sell to get a different deck, or go digital, or just move on to shakuhachi sojourns through the woods? ;)
 
In the time it took me at home to remove the top and poke around inside, this tech had the top off, the reel compartment apart, oscilloscopes fired up and clips attached to servo cards, and just generally going to town.

Very cool to hang out and talk with him about why he was making each move, different decks, his niche market, the items he was working on behind him (neve channels, la2as, old marshall amps, etc...) Just plain amazing to watch someone who really knows all this stuff so readily. He could probably even give Dave a run for his money ;) Extremely envious of his skills!

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Need a common microprocessor chip and should be good to go Tuesday.
 
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OMG! :eek: Thanks for the update and pict!

What was exactly wrong with the 388 ? Microprocessor chip ??

I'm also immensely interested what else the tech said or commented on as he worked on the 388 and Analog in general.

Btw, more picts please! Gimmie!!! :D
 
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Hey, I thought I'd repost shedshrine's pict here properly for all of eternity. ;) The 388 on the Surgeon's table. :(
 

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When I first called him about the symptoms I was experiencing, he said it could just need adjustment or it could be a motor. I ordered a motor just in case he needed it, as I can return it within 30 days.

Well, He said this was definitely a low use machine. The smoke was not an issue with the mechanical problem, (and after a week of baking soda the smell had dissapated to minimally noticeable) He set about adjusting the servos for the transport and found that the current was not stably getting from point a to point b and started swapping chips from the feed reel circuit to the take up circuit to check for bad ones (with this really trick de-soldering gun with high quick heat burst), which allowed him to determine "the microprocessor chip" (though he hadn't entirely ruled out the motor yet).

Other things he mentioned or that I witnessed: He has his own 2" otari, and Ampex decks at home, he said drums recorded hot with no dbx on the 388 would be good :D , he reccommended a guitar tech who is "the bomb" with setups, he had deoxit, he had tentelo meters, he explained why Neve is so covetted and hard to imitate, he explained why it is difficult to mod or upgrade the 388 circuits as they are designed to specific specs...

I realize the 388 is not the be all, end all tape deck, I just really wanted a second chance with one. For productivity and simplicity the all in one design paired with one rack of outboard will fit my needs to a t. To me is is imperative to get this deck up to spec as I intend to keep it*. I have sold gear to cover most of this, and when I recover I intend to look into a 2 track master deck. The tech said Otari...

A digital master of some kind is of course desireable too ("a lie repeated" thread notwithstanding :rolleyes: ), and I'm really leaning towards a standalone solution like a masterlink or that new Tascam dvd RA1000. I don't enjoy doing music on a computer, and don't care about plugins :eek: . I have dutifully attained some key outboard (including building my own Hamptone JFET pre kit) and enjoy using it, thank you very much. :D

Another picture for your patience...
IMG_6941_1_1.jpg


*fur along thyme..
 
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shedshrine said:
When I first called him about the symptoms I was experiencing, he said it could just need adjustment or it could be a motor. I ordered a motor just in case he needed it, as I can return it within 30 days.
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Might be a good idea to hang on to the motor anyway, in case you need it in future. Now I'm curious as to what the CPU is..
 
shedshrine said:
Wow, that's a long time. Did you sell to get a different deck, or go digital, or just move on to shakuhachi sojourns through the woods? ;)
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well the 388 served its purpose very well.I had my sequecer and all the midi stuff synced to it.But now i'm midi free and i have a roland 2480 24 track
 
shedshrine said:
A digital master of some kind is of course desireable too ("a lie repeated" thread notwithstanding), and I'm really leaning towards a standalone solution like a masterlink or that new Tascam dvd RA1000.
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A lot of us prefer stand-alone for bringing things into the digital realm... that's what I recommend anyway... myself having a Fostex CR300, which I can't say enough about considering it's a CD recorder. Still IMO, the "A Lie Repeated" piece is as true today as it was when it was written.

Nonetheless, the less digital conversion stages your final mix has to navigate, the better it will sound. Direct to CD from analog is as good as it gets, if CD is your destination. CD can only be so good, but it can be much worse depending on how you got there.

We listen to music in different ways for different purposes. CD, FM, AM, iPod, cassette, LP, etc, all have their place.

I remember once several years ago I was driving through Southern Indiana and all I could get on FM radio was country music, and not any kind of country I liked. So, I found a crapy AM station that faded in and out with every hill. But they were playing KIZZ, Detroit Rock City. That song and the few that followed it got me through Southern Indiana with my sanity. :D

Once you’ve heard a song in ideal conditions, your imagination can fill in the gaps during less than ideal conditions… but that will only carry you so long until you hunger for the real deal again. Well, I could go on with that theme and how I think it ties into how we could put up with CD in the early days because it wasn’t the only source… you get the idea. ;)
 
Picked it up yesterday. The smoke/humidity had more effect than previously thought, specifically the transport adjustment servo pots directly under the grate opening on the top deck of the unit. They are little carbon trace dealies, so any corrosion will mess up their travel, making fine adjustment impossible. He's swapped them all out for new ones, and got the desired adjustment response. Fast forward and play work fine now. Rewind still has minor occasional jumpiness, but works fine,and does not affect function. Record and playback on all channels is okay. The motors don't seem to be an issue at this point.

So, now, finally, good to go.

Lessons learned, End of Saga,

let recording begin.

let finances recover,





let research for mastering deck (analog and digital) ensue in earnest... :D
 
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