I calibrated my 38 three times from scratch, including mechanical and azimuth. Initially using the 3-5db drop, and the other times using the LF cal by ear method and I still had the same result and issue. I wouldn't rule out that it could be my calibration procedure for each channel but I suspect other things going on.
Tascam 38 Bass Artifacts
- Thread starter fstrat76
- Start date
OK, got some fresh tape, re-calibrated the machine, re-biased for the tape, and the same issue still occurs on all channels. I can try replacing components (caps) on a channel card, but since this is a consistent issue for all channels, I am thinking its a common component. I've demagged with a Hand-D-Mag so I don't *think* that's it, and I just replaced the U301 on the Master Oscillator PC board.
Doing some more research on these "rocks", I encountered a post below:
"If there are low frequency “rocks” in the noise that won’t go away then the record or play head may be magnitized, the bias or erase signal may be distorted (bad transistor or resonators out of tune), the record amp bias trap may be out of tune (which can load and distort the bias waveform), or there may be actual DC getting to the head (leaky cap, conductive contamination on printed circuit board). "
Any comments on the above post and ideas for other components I can look at?
Doing some more research on these "rocks", I encountered a post below:
"If there are low frequency “rocks” in the noise that won’t go away then the record or play head may be magnitized, the bias or erase signal may be distorted (bad transistor or resonators out of tune), the record amp bias trap may be out of tune (which can load and distort the bias waveform), or there may be actual DC getting to the head (leaky cap, conductive contamination on printed circuit board). "
Any comments on the above post and ideas for other components I can look at?
Lower your record level.
Well......thanks Rick!
That seems to work. After all these years, something as simple as lowering the volume a few dB seems to pretty much do the trick. Something as easy as "plug it in" never occurred to me as I was focused on hitting the tape hard (too hard) on most tracks. I guess I was so focused on getting the calibration perfect and thought that was the problem.
Of course, lowering the record level also brings the tape noise higher, but getting some noise reduction could be an option.
Anyway, this thread exercise at least has given me the experience of calibrating my machine several times.
That seems to work. After all these years, something as simple as lowering the volume a few dB seems to pretty much do the trick. Something as easy as "plug it in" never occurred to me as I was focused on hitting the tape hard (too hard) on most tracks. I guess I was so focused on getting the calibration perfect and thought that was the problem.
Of course, lowering the record level also brings the tape noise higher, but getting some noise reduction could be an option.
Anyway, this thread exercise at least has given me the experience of calibrating my machine several times.
I use a Leader LVM-181 vtvm for calibration.
I used the 38's VU's for setting record level. The 38 meters have no peak indicator.
I should have used my mixers (Tascam M-2600) LED meter's, but I just can't get used to those thin LED meters.
Ideally, I would like to find a meter bridge with larger VU's and peak led.
I used the 38's VU's for setting record level. The 38 meters have no peak indicator.
I should have used my mixers (Tascam M-2600) LED meter's, but I just can't get used to those thin LED meters.
Ideally, I would like to find a meter bridge with larger VU's and peak led.