Tascam 38 question for y'all

[hominoid]

So I'm in the market for a new reel to reel after it looks like my Otari is going to cost a lot of money to repair... and I found someone selling a Tascam 38 locally for a pretty decent price. I stopped by to check it out, and it all seems in good working order except for one thing -- the 'Sync' head output is *very* muddy on all tracks. It basically sounds like none of the high-end spectrum is being reproduced at all. I've seen cases where the build-up of dirt etc can cut the high frequencies, but this sounded a bit extreme to me. The 'Repro' output, on the other hand, sounds great -- exactly what you'd expect from a good reel to reel.

My question is, is this something I should be concerned about? Could this potentially signal that the 'Sync' heads need to be replaced? I'm worried about picking up another machine that would end up needing costly repair, but I'm wondering if this is just something that could be fixed with simple cleaning and degaussing...

Thanks for your help!
Nick

 

[eddiemunster666]

Why not ask the seller to clean the head and demagnitize? I have worked with both a 34 and 38 machine which had similar problems and have cured them with demagnitizing and head cleaning. I wouldnt buy unless the seller can demonstrate the machine is working properly. Otherwise it is pure gambling if you buy something with a known problem.

I actually gambled on a 38 machine with a problem, which luckily i was able to fix for cheap, but I do not recommend anyone else doing this.