tascam 388 help!

R Z

New member
Hello all. Just found this site after pounding the internet for a few hours. Hope someone can help.

I am the original owner of a Tascam 388. Recently, we sold our home and moved to another. I personally moved the 388 with help to the new place. For about 3 months it sat in a closet while an attic was being finished out for my music room. I just placed it in the room, fired it up and noticed the left stereo vu meter rose and stuck straight up. The right one was fine. When powering down, they both fall properly.

So, I decided to playback an old song and noticed when panning tracks to the left, the sound goes away. Pan them back towards the right, and there's sound. I've tapped the meter, pushed buttons, and still no luck.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? I'm hoping there's a simple solution to this. I'm not very mechanical, but I'll sure try some things if it will help.

Thanks!
 
Just to further the situation, this afternoon, I cranked it up again. This time I noticed the left vu meter has only risen and stayed about 1/4 of the way. So, I played back a song and now I have panning back. But the left needle doesn't really move around much during playback.

I'm hoping in time, it just settles down. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
 
It doesn't sound like a problem with the VU meter itself if there is also no sound on the left side. VU meters are normally paralleled off of sound paths and not wired in series so, even if the VU was defective, it shouldn't affect the sound.

The meter is just showing that there is a problem with the left half of the stereo buss circuitry.

You might try moving all the pots and sliders back and forth, several times, in hopes of loosening up an oxidized contact and noting any scratchiness sounds as being candidates for cleaning. Same thing applies to any switches that are in line with the stereo buss.

Products from Caig Laboratories like Deox-it and CaliLibe RCL are miracle workers at bringing dirty pots and switches back to life.

www.caig.com

If after ensuring that no bad/dirty switches and pots are at play here, a diagnosis by a competent and experienced technician might be in order.

Something else about long term storage;

If the unit was stored in a cold environment or in one subjected to humidity because of unsealed storage bags, the unit might just need a further warming up and drying out period to evaporate any dew that may have built up on the circuitry. Under extreme conditions, actual rust may set onto many interior and exterior parts.

Let us know how you are progressing.

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks Ghost for your response. I now have the panning control once again. The left meter is still acting up, but not as much as before.

I don't recall the unit ever being in a damp place, but I guess the closet (even though it has a vent) could have become cold if the heat wasn't running for long stretches of time. That may happen overnights especially. But I notice, the more I turn the unit on and run it through it's pace, it seems to be settling down. It still sounds great.

Thanks again!
 
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