Tascam 22-2 Troubleshooting

[easyeric]

just picked up my first tape deck, a little Tascam 22-2! I gotta first say thanks for all the great information posted on this board over the yrs about tape decks...I've been living in the archives...

anyways, I hope my question isn't redundant, but I thought it'd be easier to fully explain my situation and what I've have/haven't done so far.

First, the problem: on playback of a recording I made (a test tone), the Left Channel is not coming through properly. The sound continually fluctuates, and has a very muddy quality to it overall (In both the headphone jack and Line-Out). The Left VU on PBack visually comfirms that fluctuating sound. The Right Channel is perfectly fine, and the Right VU maintains a solid level at 0.

What I've done so far: my first dumb guess was maybe there was a bad connection going into the 22-2 from my Tascam M-312. I switched around cables and tried different outputs. But, when you monitor the 22-2's source sound from the mixer, it comes through perfectly in both channels, and the VU meters confirm that.

I cleaned the heads throughly with Head Cleaning solution, they were actually a bit dirty, and the PB & REC heads don't seem to have too much wear from what I understand about head wear (uh, not much)...

I tried recording on 2 different brand-new tapes (Quantegy 480), both had the same output.

I'm not sure where the problem lies, maybe the heads are in worse shape than I think?!

Hopefully, someone can lead me in the right direction. Thanks fellas!

 

[Herm]

It sounds like your are checking all the right things so far. Dont be afraid to clean the heads again though and do a demag on everything.
I had one of my 22,s do about the same thing and what it ended up being was the tape lifters (the two metel rods that lift the tape off the heads when in rewind) where not going up all the way when I hit play or record. That part of the 22 head assembly can hang up and may need to be lubed. I would pull the head cover and watch it when it goes into play and see if they are going up all the way. Also when the head cover gets put on sometimes it can put pressure on the wiring of the head stack and cause some problems there.
Check those things and see what happens.
Also you should be using a 1 mil tape with that machine instead of 1.5 mil. THe 22 was not designed to be used with heavy tape.
Also another thing does it playback at the same level in sync as it does in play? The 22 only has one good head for plalyback, The sync head is only good for sync playback and will not sound as good as the playback head.
Good luck with your 22 its a nice machine

 

[easyeric]

I had one of my 22,s do about the same thing and what it ended up being was the tape lifters (the two metel rods that lift the tape off the heads when in rewind) where not going up all the way when I hit play or record.

hmmmm. OK, i'm checking the rods now, they do go all the way up & down, but it appears the tape is not lying completely even on the PB head while in play, but they are over lying even over the erase and rec heads. i'd say it's about 2 mm offset on the pb head...

Also you should be using a 1 mil tape with that machine instead of 1.5 mil. THe 22 was not designed to be used with heavy tape.

didn't even realize. so 407 is good then? any other tapes best for the 22?

Also another thing does it playback at the same level in sync as it does in play? The 22 only has one good head for plalyback, The sync head is only good for sync playback and will not sound as good as the playback head.

when you say sync, i assume you mean monitoring the signal off the tape while recording, yeah? the left-channel is funky in both modes. where is the sync head? i thought the 22 only had playback, rec and erase heads?


anyways, thanks!

 

[Herm]

Sorry I should have said Record head which would be the center head.
It is used for the sync head when overdubbing.
Your problem could be the tension needs to be adjusted or the tape is to heavy or the head needs to be adjusted

 

[easyeric]

Sorry I should have said Record head which would be the center head.
It is used for the sync head when overdubbing.
Your problem could be the tension needs to be adjusted or the tape is to heavy or the head needs to be adjusted

i adjusted the heads so that the tape is now aligned correctly, and that seems to have done the trick! now i just need to get that 1mil tape...thanks Herm!