TEAC a 3340s

  • Thread starter Thread starter AllenM
  • Start date Start date
AllenM

AllenM

Member
TEAC a 3340s Problem with L2. Please help

I noticed when I playback my tape on track 3 (L2) the volume is really low and there is alot of noise on that track. What could be the problem?
 
Last edited:
Yep there is defiantly something wrong with L2 on my Teac 3340.
I connected a mic directly to it. Put it on source and I could hear myself
crystal clear. Hit the record and play and I could hear myself fine. So I rewind the tape and hit play. All I hear is alot of tape hiss (which isnt normal compared to the other tracks) and I hear my voice at a very low volume. Also
when I power up the recorder the L2 meter shoots up and makes a crackling sound through the headphones. Is this an easy fix? Someone please reply.
 
hm

Are you 100 percent sure there is ZERO dried tape crust on the head of any kind?
 
Ok well I cleaned off all the gunk that was on the 1st head. The others are clean. Now I still get L2 with Low volume and really noisy. What could it be?
Its only L2 not any other track. I already used 2 different tapes.
 
Are you out of "sync" mode? Try cleaning the "normal/sync" slider switch on front of the headstack faceplate by spraying in some deoxit and working the slider back and forth. My brother's 3340 had similar problem when these sliders got gunked up a bit. Hope that does the trick for you. Good luck!
 
Well I recorded track one 1st which is L1. plays back really good.
Then I record L2 which at first when I hear from SOURCE it sounds really good.
So I record L2 with L1 in SYNC mode. Then when im done I switch L1 back to normal, put everything on tape, take L2 off record mode, and I play.
The L2 track plays back in a low volume with alot of noise or hiss. its like
"shhhhhhh" its overpowering what I recorded. So I dont think it has anything to do with the SYNC.
 
cjacek said:
So what exactly happened (what did you do) that it worked for a while, I assume and then it didn't?
Click to expand...

Well I had recorded something on the L2 track. I cleaned the 1st head because it had alot of tape junk on it. So i played the tape again, and it worked.
But soon after I tried it again and the L2 track was doing it again.:eek:
 
Ok, I just messed with the SYNC on L2 and sure enough thats the problem.
So I wiggled it around a bit and got a clean signal. So how would I go about fixing this? Should I take off the cover and clean around?
 
Sync mode on the 3340, when selected, will always give a lower quality output than play mode. Great improvements were made in the Tascam series for sync reproduction quality...It's just the nature of the machine and electronics. Spray a bit of electronics contact cleaner (I recommend Caig's De-Oxit) into the normal/sync slider switch and the work it back and forth some. Don't get carried away with spraying a lot of the cleaner, just a couple of short spurts on each end of the slider switch. See if that works before you disassemble anything. Give that a try...I hope that works for you and report back with the results to see if we need to go to the next step of removing the head cover assembly to further clean the slider switch contacts.
 
AllenM said:
Well I had recorded something on the L2 track. I cleaned the 1st head because it had alot of tape junk on it. So i played the tape again, and it worked.
But soon after I tried it again and the L2 track was doing it again.:eek:
Click to expand...
if you're using old sheddy tapes, they can clog up the heads, guides, etc in a matter of a few minutes. you gotta clean them all with 91% isopropyl alcohol on q-tips and keep them clean always! ya gotta check for the gunk every few minutes and clean it off.
very important, that.

failure to do so could result in low or no quality sound and could also stress out the motors as they try to move the tape past the gunk and could even cause motor burn out. you don't want that.

best bet-dump the old sheddy tape and get new stock or old maxells. they do not shed.
 
Could also be a dodgy syn-normal selector switch.

Cheers

Alan
 
Hi, I had my teac 3340's rebiased so that the repro head was equal to the record head in sync mode. Don't ask me how to do this? I wouldn't venture a guess. I had a a teac repair guy,(Japanese fellow) do it here in Atlanta. All i can say is it made things better!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top