Tascam 388 no playback signal

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mripple

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Hi, I've spent much of the past 3 days digging through these threads while troubleshooting my 388. Last I used it (about 2 months ago), I wasn't having any trouble. I've since came back to it, and I've run into complications...

Basically, I'm uncertain that it's printing to the tape. I've tried each channel. I'm getting plenty of source signal on each channel, while recording the test, but upon playback, there's nothing. I'm monitoring through the headphone out. I tried a pre-used tape, and was sporadically able to get a voice test printed (though it was slight & muffled)... I then switched to new tape, and can't hear anything during playback.

I just put new fuses in today, cleaned the heads & re-seated the cards. I can't help but think its something simple I'm missing, as the machine is in good shape, and was working fine.

Any additional help/ideas would be great! The info in this forum has come in handy during my troubleshooting thus far. I think I hit a wall today though.
 
This may sound stupid, but it has happened - are you sure the tape is correctly mounted?
Shiny side against the heads, matt side away from them? The symptoms you're reporting sound like a dirty head or the tape being mounted backwards. AFAIK it's pretty rare for all the channels to go faint at once like that, the fact that playing back a prerecorded tape is doing the same thing makes me think something is getting between the tape and the head somehow.
 
Thanks for the reply! The tape is mounted properly. If I go back to the pre-recorded reel of tape, I can hear what was previously recorded on the tape. I tried recording over 1 of the pre-recorded channels for 30 secs, and upon playback (during those 30 secs), its 30 sec of silence, then the pre-recorded track hops back in. So, it's recording over what's there, but just playing back dead space rather than the source that I recorded.

And, like I said, when I use the fresh tape, it plays back no signal either. In both cases, the VU is showing plenty of signal (and I can hear plenty of source) as I'm recording.

The heads look fine to me, but I don't know how to tell if a head is bad, aside from making sure it isn't dirty.

It does seem weird that each channel is giving me the same problem.
 
Just to check, is the pre-recorded tape coming in clearly? If it's playing things back perfectly that means the heads are okay and the problem is more to do with the recording mechanism itself.

If it's not some kind of operator error - and I don't have a 388 myself so I don't really know how it's used - it might be an issue with the bias oscillator (since that's a single component that's common to all eight channels and is only used when recording).

It might possibly be a relay issue, if all the relays are stuck in repro mode, and that would certainly explain how you were able to get it to briefly work at one point. It's also a very common problem with decks of that age and relatively easy to fix. That would mean that all the relays are stuck, however.
 
Are you sure you're not just forgetting to monitor the signal correctly? I just had a similar problem with mine after not using it for about a year, and wasn't getting playback of any new recording yet I could hear everything pre-recorded... turned out I just had to re-learn what I forgot, such as turning off the L/R monitoring button, arming the tracks correctly, using the monitor section... I basically just re-followed the instructions in the manual and then when I got it to record and playback signal I was like, "duh, oh yeah...".
 
Yeah, what he said. Can you detail the settings of the monitoring controls when you are recording? It sounds like repro is working and there's only the single record/repro head so its not a physical issue with the head. It is either something with the settings or there may be a logic issue in the monitoring section. If we can start narrowing down where the audio is getting lost that will help to pinpoint the component that is failing if it is a component failure.
 
I'm having a similar issue on my 388. On a pre-recorded tape, I see the meters swinging but no playback. What's weird is when I engage Effects or Aux (instead of Stereo engaged) and crank it up I get a low distorted signal. Same thing happens when I plug in a mic. Any suggestions? Thanks
 
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