Take or leave this deal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nate_dennis
  • Start date Start date
nate_dennis

nate_dennis

Well-known member
I am back needing your input. This would be a gamble and I"m not even sure I'll room on my return trip for this beast, but . . . I found on CL this add for a 388

"Tascam 388- 1/4 inch 8 track reel to reel. The mixer works, but the reel to reel recorder isn't working. It was one day and then not the next day. I'm sure it's an easy fix but I don't have time or money to get into it and this thing takes up a lot of room. Since it doesn't work I'm only asking $50 dollars for it you haul it away"

is this gamble worth it? if it's an easy fix, it would be a sick deal. if it's complicated I could have a very bulky and maybe somewhat useful mixer. Thanks guys.
 
true. does anyone know how the mixer on the 388 would work with other gear? Does it play well with others?
 
Yes. Plays well with others. Tascam did a nice job of making the inputs and outputs available to interface the mixer with outboard machines. Its a great "little" mixer.

If the tape section ends up being a complicated/expensive fix, is the decent $50 mixer still usable to you even though its bulky and heavy beyond the size of the mixer itself (i.e. are you wanting to haul it around or keep it onsite)? That's one question to ponder.

If it was me, I'd be trying to find out the condition of the heads as well as a little more info on the problem with the tape section unless I knew I'd be getting into a 388 anyway and then the $50 machine at worst would be the parts machine. That make sense?

You can likely get your money back out if it goes sour.

That's the antagonist view.

The protagonist? It wouldn't be a shocker if it was nothing more than a broken or worn capstan belt that has fallen off inside. $13 fix. And if the rec/play head is worn? Well, that's an achilles heel with the 388 siply because they are rare and NLA, BUT when evm1024 relapped a couple for me his comment was that it had a relatively good amount of material from a design standpoint and would sustain at least a couple relaps before being dead, and it has recently been impressed on me that, especially for us recreational operators, heads don't wear as fast as we worry they do. You drop your $50, let's say it just needs a capstan belt, now you're cooking. Head is worn? Maybe never been relapped or just once? Still got many miles left. You save up and in the meantime use it, when you get the dosh you take 10 minutes to pull the headblock, send it to JFR and it comes back like new and you are good to go for...years?

Tough call at $50 with questions lingering you know, but maybe not so tough because $50 even for a NF 388 is a good price. That is a small investment for a multipurpose machine if you've got room for it even if there is something drastically wrong with the transport like a bad logic card or bad motors from a faulty power rail or something. That would be worst-case scenario.

If you stop and look at it, sniff around the vent holes in the top panel above/behind the meters as well as over all the transport panel buttons. Smell for that burnt electrical smell. If something really bad happened you'd likely smell something and if not that is at least one vote toward it not being a major problem with the transport.
 
Where I live, $50 bucks barely buys 4 packs of smokes.

Buy it!

Cheers! :)
 
The 388 is sort of my dream machine. I've wanted one ever since I knew what they were. So, yeah, a $50 part deck . . . easy. But, yeah, I was thinking maybe a broken belt, or even a blown fuse. So, I think if I can make the room and mama says ok, then I will get it. I'm pretty stoked. Maybe.
 
all valid points here ... would you take it if it were free? $50 is not much but you're also taking on the burden of a broken machine ... a gamble. there are many instances where getting a broken machine up and running would actually be more expensive and/or time consuming than getting a decent working unit. of course, it's always a gamble with old gear! BUT you're taking on one you KNOW is not working properly.

i would personally pass even if free because i have too many big old things that do not work fully and i am not handy with fixing! case in point -- about a year back, i bought a revox a77 half-track (15 ips) that i know didn't work properly for something like $75. i took it to the local shop to get repaired and ending up spending close to $400 to fix it. i ended up not even caring for the sound of the machine and selling it for something like $300 after several months of dealing with it.

but that is indeed the gamble ... you win some, you lose some! at this point, i am trying to pick my battles and make sure i buy only the things i REALLY want. i just buy assuming that i may have to pour lots of dollars and time into it and then decide if it's worth it or not.
 
I saw that listinga nd I saw another for two of them.

So it's a good deal and Cory is always available to impart his knowledge.

He's taken his apart so many times he does it in the dark!!!
 
You might be able to get it for a few $$$ less if you point out the flaws of the machine.
 
hey Cory,

I was wondering my self how much time it takes to truly wear heads out. I'm not sure what is meant by recreational use. I probably use my 388 30 hrs/week. Is that a lot?
 
I'd call that more than recreational. In my mind "recreational" means "for fun". 30 hours/week sounds more like professional use.

Here's the thing that caused me to relax a little on head wear...I know somebody who is very respected/experienced/knowledeable, not knowledeable like me but knowledgeable from decades of professional full-time hands-on experience with all manner of machines. I asked him, knowing his machines run a lot, how often he has to send the heads on, say, his Ampex MM-1200 down to JFR for a relap. He said that after 100's of reels passing over the heads over a period of 8 years he thought the heads were starting to show signs of wear so he sent them down to John French. They came back relapped with a head report of 85% remaining.

Does all this mean your 388 will have the same life? Nope...different transport different tape diferent wear thickness yadayadayada...BUT it helped me see from a different perspective.

How long have you used your 388 that way and what kind of changes in the wear path on the heads have you seen? Any challenges in keeping it cal'ed to spec? Has it been relapped before?

Hey, head wear is part and parcel to the analog tape recorder game. Some people might just be like "yep they wear out and then I'll figure it out..." But for me I tend to (unfortunately) perseverate on these things and my friend's experience with his MM-1200 heads just helped me to move the concern aside in my mind as something not that pressing.

It also depends on how you use the machine. Lots of editing? Scrubbing? Using tape not spec'ed for the machine? Tensions within spec? All these things contribute to head wear.

Don't know if that answers your question.

Here's the big caveat okay? I am relaying somebody else's experience. I have not used tape machines enough to have any first-hand experience to convey as far as a guage to how long heads last. Take my advice with a grain of salt because in all reality you are getting second-hand info from one person who has no direct experience of any weight on the matter.

That was a disclaimer.
 
alas, the guy has not gotten back to me. And even if he did, we haven't the room for the 388 on the trip home. so all of this was for naught. Thanks any way.
 
I am not sure how much it was used before I got it. I don't think too much. The guy before used ampex 457 and I am using RMG LP which is the same. I don't scrub and I have never calibrated the machine. Pretty much it is either in record or play when it comes in contact with the heads. Not knowing anything about what head wear should look like, they appear fine and sound great. I am the same in that I worry about head wear and have a second 388 and 38 as parts for when the other machines go. I was trying to calculate how much recording I could get in before I "go" on these four machines. As I'm almost 50 I figure the machines might outlast me. Any one want to be in my will, my girlfriend doesn't want to deal with my studio when I'm gone!!
 
Instroverb said:
Any one want to be in my will, my girlfriend doesn't want to deal with my studio when I'm gone!!
Click to expand...

Full Name: Nathaniel Dennis
Social: 111-22-3333
Location: South Dakota

any other info needed? LOL
 
Instroverb said:
I am not sure how much it was used before I got it. I don't think too much. The guy before used ampex 457 and I am using RMG LP which is the same. I don't scrub and I have never calibrated the machine. Pretty much it is either in record or play when it comes in contact with the heads. Not knowing anything about what head wear should look like, they appear fine and sound great. I am the same in that I worry about head wear and have a second 388 and 38 as parts for when the other machines go. I was trying to calculate how much recording I could get in before I "go" on these four machines. As I'm almost 50 I figure the machines might outlast me. Any one want to be in my will, my girlfriend doesn't want to deal with my studio when I'm gone!!
Click to expand...

If you look at the top or bottom of the head you can see the amount of material between the face of the head and the gap...that tells you how much is left. Hey...if it sounds good, and the heads look fine then what's to worry? Have you noticed a change in the appearance of the head with all that use? That there would be the most conclusive bit of evidence to answer your question.

Nate, sorry it didn't work out. :(
 
If that was the one on Dallas C-List, I took it.
Yeah, it was fuses. That and looks like someone spilled a bong on the mixer section. Replaced all the fuses and a week of nights disassembling and cleaning the whole thing and it was good to go....

I did not need it, so I passed it on cheap to a young man who wanted to cut his teeth on analog. Just keeping the machine alive was good enuff for me...
 
Yer a machine.

What's that saying? "Don't drink the bong water OR spill it on your mixer"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top