Tascam 388 no playback

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boomhauer77

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Hey guys,
I picked up this 388 a few years ago and am trying to get it working.
I have scoured your forums and everything has been extremely helpful and has gotten me thus far.

Long story short, I do not get any playback from my 388.

All 8 channels work and monitoring works great.
When I hit record and the LEDs goes from flashing to solid.
Every thing seems great!

But when I hit play I get nothing.
No meters, no sound, nothing.

I've pulled the cards out, sprayed with connectors with electronics cleaner, changed the fuses.
Mechanically everything is working perfect.

I'm running out of ideas and would like to pick your brains.
Thank you in advance.:)
 
Simple things first, are the tracks still armed for recording? If so, you'll hear the inputs instead of the recording from tape.
Also, make sure the tape is shiny-side against the heads. Some people have put it in backwards and wondered why it's not working.
Finally, are the heads clean and shiny? Can you see the individual recording elements? My TSR-8 came with the head solid matt black, which was a a thick coating of gunk from some crappy tape the previous owner had used. I didn't try it until the heads were cleaned but it would probably not have recorded or played back anything in that condition.

When all the channels are failing to record or play back it's usually something very simple and silly.
 
I cleaned the heads with a Qtip and rubbing alcohol. They look clean and shiny.
Got a brand new sealed 1/4" tape off of eBay. Spooled it up and it looks good.

I've gone over the manual and routed the recording signal every way possible.
Either I'm not actually recording onto the tape or it's not playing back.

With the Record Function switches engaged I can hear the signal from the mic.
Switching them off I don't get anything.
Same goes with the Mic/Line inputs, when switching to RMX I get nothing.

I've gone over everything I could think of.
I'm starting to wonder if it is something with the wiring or circuits.

Thanks for your input!!!
 
...

Make sure the L/R (Red) buttons in the Assign section are not selected simultaneously with any of the 1-8 (White) buttons. Since the L/R mixdown and 1-8 assign section share the same stereo buss, it creates an auto-mute to prevent an internal feedback loop.
:spank::eek:;)
 
I've seen you mention this on another post.
I will double check tonight and let you know if I find anything.
Thanks again
 
I checked all of the switches and the routing of the signal.
It acts as tho the heads are completely dead.
No signal in, no signal out.
Is there a board or circuit that controls the tape heads?

Does anyone have a wiring schematic for a 388?

Thank you guys so much!!!!!
 
The only common component I'm aware of is the bias oscillator. That's shared between all 8 tracks and it failing will prevent recording from taking place, AFAIK (someone else did have this happen here at one point).
Aside from that, I think it's got 8 separate amplifier cards for recording/playback and it's unlikely they'd all fail completely all at once.
That said, the switching relays can fail and that might leave the deck stuck in playback mode or something.

I take it you don't have any kind of pre-recorded tape that you could play back on the machine to test playback? If that works it's definitely not the heads.
 
I've been searching this forum for weeks now and had a realization on one of 'sweetbeats' posts.
I think that my cards have been installed incorrectly.
This 388 has been passed around for years so it's a good possibly that something may have been swapped.

Can anyone tell me what order the cards are supposed to be installed?
Maybe a picture of the rear card bay so I can compare with mine?

Recently one of my cards have been getting warm and smelling of hot electrical.
This is a clue as to what might be causing me troubles.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yes!...

On the left side/middle it's:

Rec/PB--Rec/PB
Rec/PB--Rec/PB
DBX-----DBX

On the right side it's

Bias---Bias---Reel/Servo---PwrReg---(then some spaghetti)---FUSE PCB

:spank::eek:;)
 
Holy shit, that might just be it!
This would explain my my DBX lights have been acting funny.
I have a DBX card swapped with a Rec/PB card.
I will swap these tonight and cross my fingers.

Thank you so much!!!!!:guitar:
 
Yeah,...

And hope nothing got fried in the process of being mislocated in the motherboard!
A burning smell is never good!
:spank::eek:;)
 
Funny thing about electronics.

Once you let the smoke out you can't get it back in.
 
boomhauer77 said:
Holy shit, that might just be it!
This would explain my my DBX lights have been acting funny.
I have a DBX card swapped with a Rec/PB card.
I will swap these tonight and cross my fingers.

Thank you so much!!!!!:guitar:
Click to expand...

Was just wondering if that was the problem. It seems like I'm experiencing the exact same thing.
 
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