Tascam 38 - Low Muffled Rec & Play Levels - Noise & Hum - Bad Sound Board?

[Historian]

Hi Gang

Still trying to figure why after 7 years of storage, this machine won't record or play properly with low levels, noise and hum?

Could it possibly be a bad AMPL PCB-120?
Teac Tascam 38 Reel Recorder Parts Two Boards Rec and Play Ampl PCB 120 | eBay

Is it worth it, easy to swap them out?

BTW, if you've read my other posts, you'll see: this machine is clean as a whistle with a custom made road case, DBX, remote, snakes, rolling cart, NEW Pinch Roller, NEW Belt, New BASF Tape.

Thanx
Mike

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Before changing any parts arbitrarily, a standard calibration procedure should be performed. The manual will step you through the procedure and equipment required to so.

Cheers!

 

[Historian]

Thanx for the reply - are we talking sophisticated oscilloscopes pssibly?

 

[The Ghost of FM]

All oscilloscopes are "sophisticated" to some degree and yes, they are required to perform accurate azimuth adjustments which is part of the mechanical/electrical calibration process.

That said, you don't need to most expensive or up to date scopes to do that step of the procedure. There are also some software scopes that you can download for free that make use of the audio inputs from your sound card to act as the XY axis inputs. The one real irreplaceable tool you'll need is a calibration test tape, as that's the only way to get the proper flux levels off the play head set so that your recording levels there after can be matched to that flux level properly.

Again, read the manual for the deck or seek out a local repair shop who are equipped to do that work. Your choice.

Cheers!

 

[Blue Jinn]

Ghost,

Quick question for OP's (and my...) benefit: Can you use a soundcard (I would assume duplex would be needed?) for a signal tone and a software 'scope at the same time? Also for OP's benefit: beware of test tapes on Ebay, that may be on sticky Ampex tape. A new one I think is about $225 or so.