Tascam 488 mk ii tape transport problem?

[dogwomble]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure whether this is something i'm doing wrong or whether this is an issue with the unit that I have.

I have recently picked up a Tascam 488 mk II analogue 8-track, which I have been after for ages. After a bit of fiddling, I've finally worked out how to use it as a mixer unit and have thus far been using it to play around with a couple of FX units through the FX sends.

However, today I decided to check out the quality of the tape. Stuck a chrome tape in, set channel 1 on tape to record, and fed it the signal from one of my mics. The VU's showed that level wise it was doing roughly what I wanted, but when I hit play + record the tape unit did a grand total of ... nothing.

Now, is there something I need to do to actually get the wheels in motion, so to speak, of the tape unit, or could there be a problem there? And if there's a problem, where would I start looking to work out what that might be?

/DW

 

[A Reel Person]

You might want to pull the bottom off and check the belts.

There's one belt that drives the tape forward, and there's one belt that drives the heads & pinchwheel up to contact the tape & capstan. Both of these belts must be intact to work properly. You might want to check 'em.

 

[dogwomble]

OK, cool. I was thinking along the same lines myself.

Just out of curiosity, I've got the users' manual. I've been trying to find a PDF file of the service manual previously, just as a reference, and I think having that here would be useful (I'm unfamiliar with the internals of a multi-track and would like to use it as a reference, even though I'll probably get someone more familiar to assist me). If anybody has a link to one, I think a post here would assist a great number of people

 

[the cool one]

There's a two strand electrical wire coming from the back of the machine. There will be a two pronged plug at the end of this wire. Search around your house, usually on the walls, for a two holed 110 volt receptical. Push the plug into the receptical.

 

[dogwomble]

Well, the problem isn't excessive air gap ... the rest works fine. I'm thinking this could be a belts problem, hence my hoping I can get hold of some sort of service manual so I can work out what the insides are supposed to look like.