Tascam 388 - Please help me fix it!!

2 things I'm curious about:

1) By chance, if you put your finger on the right tension roller when tape is loaded, while pressing play and physically preventing the right tension arm from dropping down to the bottom,... would the Play function at least work in some fashion?... (it may be sloppy and it may spill tape)... If this is the case, then I believe the takeup tension is too weak to prevent the right tension arm from bouncing down to the "break" LED at the bottom of it's travel when tape motion is activated. Adjusting the reel servo positions and/or tension might help. NOTE: in the manual there is a typo regarding the FF and RW tension/beware.

2) By chance, have you entirely removed the reel servo PCB and reseated it onto it's motherboard connectors?

Note that I wrote this reply before viewing the 2nd video, and I hate to shoot from the hip after sweetbeats has analyzed something.
.:spank::eek:;)
 
Oh shoot away, man...if there is a chance I'm wrong and it is a simple tension adjustment I'd be jazzed for the guy and appreciative of the correction.
 
Well blech I just watched the second video again and it doesn't look like that right tension arm is dropping down low enough to trigger the stop sensor...and because the transport functionality is random and because your counter is all random and whacky there is definitely something not well/right with your logic/servo circuitry I'm afraid. Reel is right to ask if you've re-seated the reel servo PCB already though, and while you're at it re-seat the power supply card, and also re-seat the connections on the cap servo PCB under the fuse PCB. Can't recall if it was you or somebody else I made that suggestion but if I didn't there you go and if I did there you go again.

Tip it up and pull the bottom cover and look carefully for any pinched wiring that goes to the control panel. Take your time and look carefully.
 
Ok, I viewed the 2nd video.

The unit seems to be working properly when tape is not loaded and you're holding the tension arms up. Note that the right and left reel tables will spin or not spin reactively based on where they sense the position of the tension arms. From what I see at that level, it's working and doing everything I'd expect it to do under test.

I also,... tho it's a little hard to see,... believe the tension is whacked enough for the right tension arm to bounce quickly into the "break" sensor. There's nothing in that video I could see that would change that, but I think the best test is to put your finger on it and physically prevent it from dropping to it's bottom-most position. That should tell the story.

I think it's a reel/servo problem, which if it were the case could be adjusted out.

I'm here to help and float some educated guesses and opinions, not to be "right".:spank::eek:;)
 
You guys are going to KILL ME! I wanted to kill myself too when I found out.

Well, I haven't answered the last replies because I've been out for work, but yesterday I came back home and decided to take my "little" toy to a tech. I live in a 4th floor without elevator and we all know the weight of this thing! A friend of mine helped. The tech had stairs too so we exercised a lot. He fixed it at first look. I've been using a power transformer to convert the 220v of my wall plug to the 120v of the machine, the thing is that my transformer wasn't powerful enough and that's why it worked without the reels on. Now I have a 500W transformer and the thing is rolling perfectly!! Well, I had to take the machine back home. My back hurts. But I'm happy.

I only had time to check it for a few minutes and noticed that the first channel doesn't sound very good when recorded, like it's too dirty and with lower volume. Channels two and three are fine. I'll check it better today.

But well, it's working!! The tech said it was looking like new and was really impressed to see such a beauty!

Thank you so much for your help!!
 
Heh, I'm glad it was just that.

But yeah, you probably want to check all the channels and see if it's just channel 1 that's rough. Oh, and double-check that the heads are clean.
 
Well there you go.

Hey, yeah, make sure the heads are clean but also when you play back something that you know has good material on track 1 but is sounding not-so-hot on playback see what happens when you gently apply some downward pressure on the tape in between the erase and record/repro stacks (i.e. gently encourage the tape toward the face of the transport). Does that improve things? And what tape are you using?
 
I came home from work wanted to spend some time with my tascam and checking all channels and that stuff. I switched it on and SURPRISE! Capstan won't turn!! Why do I have this bad luck!? I opened the back of the machine to check the belt, it was perfect. Fuses are all OK too. Any ideas?
 
So you turn it on and raise the right tension arm and no activity from the capstan shaft? Not even a twitch?
 
Did you pull each fuse and check continuity with an ohm meter or continuity tester? Sometimes you can't tell by lookin'.

Re-seat the power supply card?

Make sure connections to the capstan servo PCB are good?

Has it worked at all since you brought it back from the tech shop?
 
Well, safe again! I re seated power supply and reel servo pcbs and it worked again! The thing is that it stopped working without doing anything to them, but as long as it's working now, i don't care!

I checked all channels and the first one is the only one sounding weak and dirty, i just cleaned it and am waiting for it to dry to try again.. Everything else seems to work perfectly!
 
I should stop talking here, everytime time something goes right and i share it, it dies.

I was playing back some recordings i did amd the machine started playing real slow, then slower and slower until it stopped. So i'm back to the "capstan won't turn" situation. Any ideas?
 
Been playing with it for a while... I found out that when I switch it on and the capstan rolls, the machine works perfectly. Sometimes I can switch it off/on and it will still work, but there's some times that when I switch it on, the capstan won't turn at all. Then I have to switch on/off many times until it decides to work and that's it, all OK again. Weird, huh?
 
Hi you all!!

I finally got my 388 working! I got a Cap Servo Reel PCB on ebay for 24 $ and it did the job. Not only made the capstan turn, but also my recorded tracks sound way better!

I recorded a first song and mixed it down to computer, what a pleasure! It's so easy to work with the 388!

Thank you all for your help!
 
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