Tascam M600 console VU meter bulb

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ron-e-g

ron-e-g

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Hello, I just acquired a M600 and MS16 Tascam console and recorder. I plan to try and restore them (as best as possible)

After my initial assessment, so far the only thing I see visually is the M600 has Channel 4 meter bulb out. But I can't find the part. Also, The m600 seems to be a pretty elusive unit. I can't find a manual or even much information on it.

The guy I bought these from didn't have the manuals in any of the box's, but claims to have them. And without them I'm pretty much dead in the water. Especially with the M600 and the D sub connectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ron
 
Congrats on the new toys! :)

TASCAM's parts department should definitely have the owners manuals available for purchase as its their policy to keep back at least one original copy of it and make photocopies available for sale. The bulb should be a common part that they too can sell you or alternatively, parts suppliers like Mouser should also stock an equivalent to it. There's been numerous threads here on getting to the inside of the meter to desolder the old one and replace it, so do a search for those. And when you call them, also inquire about the D-sub cables. If they don't stock them, you might find companies like Hosa, who make ready built cables with D-sub on one end and TR or TRS on the other in varying lengths.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--HOSDTP80

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--HOSDTF80

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks Ghost for that.

I actually got these from a guy in San Jose (There is even a topic on this forum about them). My intension is to do some hands-on training with them. Also I have time now to restore them. I completed a on-line course in Audio Engineering a few months back, but I really lack the experience with a analog mixer and MTR. I had a Fostex G16S in the past with a Fostex 820 mixer (20x8) but I never really got the full concept of their capabilities. I've been recording one way or another since 1977. The Tascam units became avail to me at a real good price (I think the guy was tired of storing them) so we worked a deal over the phone. After all, they were in my back-yard so to speak.

San Jose is a Three hour drive from my home. After recruiting half the neighborhood to help me unload them!:laughings: I hooked up what I could figure out was necessary and fired them up. Wha-la everything seemed to work even the remote auto locater!

I have not actually recorded anything or monitored anything yet! I fed some of the G9 tape through the transport hit the play and watched it go..at 30 ips! It was set at the factory to run at that speed. I am thinking about looking into setting it back to 15 if possible.
I have read that the G9 is more abrasive and tape disappears real quick at that speed!

They came with 4 reels of G9 a calabration tape for 30 ips and a reel of leader tape.
 
Last edited:
Mine are these SANY0118.webpSANY0116.webp
 
You'd have to take a look at the VU meter PCB for the meter and see what the incoming and exiting voltage pin labels are. Those should be printed on the board. If they state 8 volts, then that bulb should work. But if its a 6 volt supply feeding the bulbs, it will be dimmer then your other bulbs. But for 79 cents a piece, I suppose you could just buy a few of each of the 6 and 8 volt variety bulbs to cover all possibilities.

Cheers! :)
 
Ghost,

I think the M-600 takes the 8v variety. For that price I would change all 16. They'll probably be going out soon any-hoo.

I am considering going the the led mod. But can't find a good article that shows the steps in detail. The one I do find is fairly vague with blurry pictures. :(
 
All things considered, I'd recommend you staying with the incandescent bulbs for a few reasons.

1- They're not expensive.

2 - They have a very long life, 20 years or more in many cases.

3 - they give off a more even and pleasing illumination of the meter without any weird colors or harsh shadows.

4 - In you mixer's case in particular, the meter PCB's are easily accessible. You don't have to tear half your mixer apart to get to them.

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
All things considered, I'd recommend you staying with the incandescent bulbs for a few reasons.

1- They're not expensive.

2 - They have a very long life, 20 years or more in many cases.

3 - they give off a more even and pleasing illumination of the meter without any weird colors or harsh shadows.

4 - In you mixer's case in particular, the meter PCB's are easily accessible. You don't have to tear half your mixer apart to get to them.

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

All excellent points Ghost! Thanks for that.
 
I believe I mentioned earlier that if the 8 volt bulb appeared dimmer then your other bulbs, that a 6 volt bulb would be the correct one and to buy a few of each to cover your bases.

Did you do that?

Cheers! :)
 
Ghost,

Dynamic Technology Group

As you can see, this supplier offers no, 6V, lamps. These axial bulbs are pretty hard to find. I'm pretty sure, and have read that they probably aren't the 12 v variety. But don't know. I did send the Meter PCB picture to the supplier to determine the actual voltage being sent from the power supply. But as I have no experience in viewing or deciphering such things, I can't tell. If they should turn out to be 6V and you know of a supplier for them please let me know.

Meter PCB.webp
 
I was referring to the original site you gave a link to. On that page which had the 8 volt lamps, there were links to the other voltage varieties of it. And if you follow those links, you will see this:

AL-6 - MAT Electronics

Are you saying you never found that page before or that you did and that they were out of stock?

Also, the image you just posted of the card doesn't document any voltages. So I have no idea how they determined that it was an 8 volt lamp that you required.

About other sources, I'm not sure. The last time I ordered bulbs for my TASCAM gear, TEAC parts had the bulbs in stock. Did you ask them about the bulbs when you ordered your manual? Or did you get that from somewhere else?

Regarding the manual: Look up the schematic for the power supply and take note of the various voltage rails. They'll be the 48 volt leg, the bi-polar 15 volt and one or two others for the bulbs and for the fan in the power supply. There, you should be able to see what the voltage is, as it comes out of the supply.

Also, if you have a VOM, (you said you did earlier), measure the DC voltage across one of the normally bright bulbs. That will tell us instantly what the correct voltage is that your replacement bulbs need to match.

One last thought. If it does turn out that the voltage is in fact 8 volts, then it might just be the case of a wattage issue. Just like you can have a household 60 or 100 watt bulb, so too might there be different wattage bulbs for these meters. So, if we go back and look at the link you originally posted, those say 8 volts, 100 milliamp which is 8/10ths of a watt. So you might just need an 8 volt 200 or 250 milliamp bulb. In short, a brighter bulb due to it being a higher wattage bulb.

Sorry to make this all very technical but you need to have a grasp on basic electrical principles to deal with this sorta stuff.

Cheers! :)
 
And if someone starts making jokes about how many people does it take to change a TASCAM VU meter light bulb, I want to get ahead of the curve and say 400. As there's probably at least that many people involved when you include the designers, engineers, manufacturers, shippers, re-sellers, end users and goofs like me. :laughings:

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
And if someone starts making jokes about how many people does it take to change a TASCAM VU meter light bulb, I want to get ahead of the curve and say 400. As there's probably at least that many people involved when you include the designers, engineers, manufacturers, shippers, re-sellers, end users and goofs like me. :laughings:

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...
:eek:

Mat electronics has a min. order of $25.00..I'm a cheap skate! As to the previous owner, He only said everything was in good shape. And all in all, I agree. Considering the age of these guys. I paid $1600 for everything. I didn't really want the console, but...it was a package deal. I last night, found a connection between the 2TRK assign button, and the solo light. When I have the 2TRK button selected in the assign rack section. It is causing a problem with the solo light/section. Coincidentally, I have a D-sub connected at the PB, I am using it to connect the CD player. So, I am suspecting user (me) error.

The Meter bulb another matter. I attached a diagram of the power supply. Confirming the 8 V power to the bulbs. I'm currently working with the supplier on what is going on with that. I suspect amperage issues. Could I have selected one of twenty that is defective?...doubt it.

Power supply Tascam M-600.webp
 
Thanks for all that info Ron.

Glad to hear you got the solo lamp issue cleared up. Though that still sounds weird about what fixed that.

Anyway, back to the bulb mystery. So we've got 8 volts coming out of the power supply, but there's still the test with a voltage meter across one of the bright bulbs to see what the voltage is at the spot where its needed. I didn't see you saying if you did that or not but please humour me and let me know what it is. If it turns out to be 8 volts there too, then yeah, there's a wattage rating issue with the bulbs you purchased...or you did solder in a defective bulb, as unlikely as that might be. Or, if it does turn out that you get a 6 volt reading across one of the bright bulbs, then we'll know you need a 6 volt bulb still.

Cheers! :)
 
The supplier of the bulbs DTG says this;

"I did more investigation.

Teac had only two (2) bulb styles- 8V 55 MA and the 8 V 200 MA.
The 8V 55 MA was then superceded to the 8V 200 MA.

The meters in your M600 are trhe same as the 122MKII, 122MKIII, 112 MKII cassette decks
as well as a few other pieces of equipment

So these are the correct bulbs"

Ron
 
ron-e-g said:
The supplier of the bulbs DTG says this;

"I did more investigation.

Teac had only two (2) bulb styles- 8V 55 MA and the 8 V 200 MA.
The 8V 55 MA was then superceded to the 8V 200 MA.

The meters in your M600 are trhe same as the 122MKII, 122MKIII, 112 MKII cassette decks
as well as a few other pieces of equipment

So these are the correct bulbs"

Ron
Click to expand...
Forgive my basic powers of logical deduction here but, if those were the correct bulbs, they'd be as bright as others, and they're not. So the supplier's research doesn't actually help.

About TEAC only offering two different bulbs for their meters, I find that hard to swallow as I used to have the M-312B mixer and those VU meters were fed by a 6 volt power supply and look the same as your meters.

I asked previously for you to measure the voltage across one of the bright bulbs and never heard back from you on that. When you get a chance to measure that, please report back what reading you got. Just turn the mixer on like you did before when you took the pic of the bright and dim VU's and put the leads of the meter across the two terminals of the bulb and switch the VOM to read DC voltage in the 0-10 volt range. Voltage measurements are done in parallel to the circuit and amperage and resistance are measured in series, so nothing needs to be desoldered to do that. If you get a negitive reading on the VOM, reverse the test leads on the connection.

Cheers! :)
 
I asked previously for you to measure the voltage across one of the bright bulbs and never heard back from you on that. When you get a chance to measure that, please report back what reading you got. Just turn the mixer on like you did before when you took the pic of the bright and dim VU's and put the leads of the meter across the two terminals of the bulb and switch the VOM to read DC voltage in the 0-10 volt range. Voltage measurements are done in parallel to the circuit and amperage and resistance are measured in series, so nothing needs to be desoldered to do that. If you get a negitive reading on the VOM, reverse the test leads on the connection.
Click to expand...

Well Seems my VOM is too cheap or old to be of any use. When I set it to it's lowest setting for DC voltage 2.5 I get nothing on the meter. If I set it to the next range 50, I get 8 volt. When I test the neighboring meter the needle pegs off the screen. I've got a local guy that repairs tv's and such, coming by tomorrow to test some things. I'll keep you informed.

Ron
 
Ron,Ghost

Each meter bulb has 47 ohm resistor in series with it.
Does that determine bulb voltage?

Gary
 
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