Tascam 688 problems....easily repairable?

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beatifictatter

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Hi,
never posted before but often looked on here for info, great forum.

I've had a tascam 688 that i was given super cheap (£20) for a few months but I've never had time to dig in to it. Last week I began to fiddle around and found the following problems.

The 'stop' button doesnt work. All transport buttons feel a little flakey/unreliable, but they all work except for 'stop', though often the others require a couple of taps before they function.

The channel sliders are a bit of a mess. Channel one has a mind of its own...It will randomly go to full volume whilst I'm making adjustments with that slider. And also if i move channel 2's slider this will also disrupt channel one and put channel one to (what i assume is) full volume.

Besides these issues the machine seems ok. It records well and sounds pretty great from what I've heard so far. The motor etc seem fine.
I can (reluctantly) work around the 'stop' button issue by using 'pause'. But it's not ideal. The mixer problem is more serious and basically makes the machine impossible to mix on if using all tracks.

I have literally NO experience with DIY repairs to gear. I've never opened any hardware up. The 688 doesnt seem like a good place to start....
Any advice on what the problems are/how serious/how expensive to repair/anyone in south UK that could help etc would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks.
 
There could be some crud under the buttons that are affecting them.
 
beatifictatter,

Seeing as you got the unit so cheap and are lacking in DIY experience, just seek out a local repair shop that has experience with your gear and get an estimate. Odds are, the fader pots just need a thorough cleaning and the surrounding circuit boards also need to be checked for looseness, cracks, bad solder points to fix that up. Perhaps the unit was dropped once upon a time? Any outward signs of an impact? The stop button might also be a similar issue of a cracked off piece of plastic inside that's preventing the exterior plastic button from making actual contact with the stop switch...or a build up of crud in there. Though the crud would not settle on just one spot usually and all the transport switches would be flaky if it were just crud alone.

Cheers! :)
 
thanks guys.
glad to hear it's probably nothing serious and worth persevering with. I've no idea where to find a tech in south UK but i'll start to look around if no one can recommend one on here? I've heard that it can cost a lot for a tech guy to even just take a look at a tape machine though, i'm broke so i was hoping to hear it was an easy fix that i could attempt myself. but i'm guessing there's a lot going on under the hood and it's best to seek professional help...
there are no signs of it ever being dropped. i think it's probably just a gradual build-up or degradation thing....
 
Service shops rates vary as do their estimate rates and policies but many of them will offer to put the estimate charge toward the eventual repair if you give them the go ahead to do the work.

You could start by checking with whoever distributes TASCAM in England and inquire if they have a list of authorized service providers and then contact them directly to see if they have experience with your particular model. Also a rudimentary search of all electronic repair shops in local phone business directory can also lead you to finding a qualified shop and getting a better feel for what the real rates are as apposed to the imagined ones. But if you're short on funds to pay for even an estimate, I'm not sure of what good we can do for you.

Cheers! :)
 
The RTZ button on mine broke long ago and when I sent it out for repairs (years ago now) I was told that all of those function buttons came as one set...like a plate or something...and that the part was no longer available from Tascam, so I lived without the RTZ button. The stop button is a little more important though!

You might be able to clean the faders yourself and possibly clear up that issue and in a worst case scenario, if the stop button can't be fixed, you could try to locate one of the remotes (RC-88) and use the stop button on that instead.

I opened mine up with absolutely no clue what I was doing and it worked out ok (just replaced a belt and cleaned it a little). I think anyone could manage it. It's just a question of what to do in there once you've got it open. If you went that route and got stuck, I'm sure if you posted some pics people here would try to help you along.
 
Thanks everyone for the links and the advice. I think I'll probably brave opening it up and at least try cleaning out the faders and any other crud I find, hopefully that'll help. If the 'stop' buttons a no go I'll look out for the remote mentioned. I didn't know there was one for the 688, that could be a pretty good solution.
I'll no doubt be back on here once I get the case open...

Thanks again for everyone's help.
 
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