Static on tracks 1 and 2

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wildflower soul

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On my 388, Ive been doing drums at the same levels for a while and no problem including today then all of a sudden on the snare and kick tracks theres a tiny bit of static. I Thought it could be the level but I dont think so. Could it be the heads?

Because it only does it on track 1 and 2
 
Have you thoroughly looked for dirt? Do you have a sound head demagnetizing tool?
 
Uli_the_Grasso said:
Have you thoroughly looked for dirt? Do you have a sound head demagnetizing tool?
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i cleaned and demagnitized the heads. yes. if the heads are infact shot, i luckily have a set of brand new heads not even opened yet
 
Might also be something as simple as a staticky pot or cable on an insert point?

Try rotating all the pots that are on the first two tracks and see if there isn't just a cobweb or two in there itching to get out!

Cheers! :)
 
wildflower soul said:
On my 388, Ive been doing drums at the same levels for a while and no problem including today then all of a sudden on the snare and kick tracks theres a tiny bit of static. I Thought it could be the level but I dont think so. Could it be the heads?

Because it only does it on track 1 and 2
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This is a bad cable or a dirty pot. The real test is to record something like a soft synth, then drums. If the static goes away on the synth but appears on the drums, the cables or pots are bad/dirty.
 
what about loosing tracks? i seem to have lost tracks 6 and 8 on a reel i recorded a while ago. they are sortof there but you have to turn the level to 10 and then it squeels and sounds awful and only comes in every 2 seconds. On old and new reels. When i demaged at first I could hear track 6 a tiny bit, but then it went away. So i demaged again and its still not working i recorded a few test tries on track 6 and they all come in all distored and horrible sounding and fade in and out

So my 388 is offically now really messed up
 
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on the heads it appears as though a black mark is missing on the 6th line. which may explain why im getting only distored signal on track 6 playback?
 
It's hard to tell, with that description, whether the head's actually damaged, or not

Have you tried opening up the top of the unit, and reseating the audio cards?

Sometimes that helps, as sometimes the connectors can go marginal from oxidation. If this is the case, usually removing and reinserting the cards helps.

I don't know if you can show a macro photo close-up of the head. I'd be interested to see what you're looking at, in the possible defect on the head.
 
wildflower soul said:
on the heads it appears as though a black mark is missing on the 6th line. which may explain why im getting only distored signal on track 6 playback?
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A last ditch effort:

Use trash tape. Color the playback and record heads with an indelible ink marker. Let dry. Now, play the trash tape for a minute. Take the tape off and look at the heads. The tape should have taken off the marker ink. Now, look at the heads. The ink should be gone exactly in the center of each head. The shape of the clean area on each head should have dead parallel lines (up-down,with each other) and be really narrow about the center. If the placement is off-center, the width is large, and the shape "hourglass" then it is probably time for a re-lap, or new heads.
 
acorec said:
A last ditch effort:

Use trash tape. Color the playback and record heads with an indelible ink marker. Let dry. Now, play the trash tape for a minute. Take the tape off and look at the heads. The tape should have taken off the marker ink. Now, look at the heads. The ink should be gone exactly in the center of each head. The shape of the clean area on each head should have dead parallel lines (up-down,with each other) and be really narrow about the center. If the placement is off-center, the width is large, and the shape "hourglass" then it is probably time for a re-lap, or new heads.
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it took away excactly in the center.. perfectly

the guy who sold it to me included a set of brand new heads saying it needed them badly and that was a year ago and he said he bought the machine in 1985.

im gonna take it to a tech whos worked on my gear before, ill report back what the problem was. rewind and FF are going way slower than normal now too heh just to add to the problems :) its worth it to me to have it fixed though
 
my ex girlfriend bought me 2 cans of air duster earlier today, so i dusted the unit thoroughly(even though it has a cover on it when im not using it). i dusted the fader and everything and track 6 plays all of a sudden and rewind works at normal speed again. how great! and embarassing :(
 
The Ghost of FM said:
see if there isn't just a cobweb or two in there itching to get out!

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! :eek:

Glad to hear its working again!

Cheers! :)
 
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