Tascam 388 right channel not recording

danandband

New member
I recently inherited a tascam 388. It was kept in a climate controlled environment inside a road case for the past 10+ years. I replaced the capstan belt and a fuse but the even channels (right) will not record.

I'm able to see on the VU meters and hear through the headphone jack when I have any of the eight tracks armed, but only the odd (left) channels record. I tried flipping the tape after recording to see if it was a playback issue but anything recorded prior to flipping the tape gets lost. I assume something affecting the record/play head on the right channel is the source of my problem.

I've seen similar threads on this forum but no solutions. Any help greatly appreciated.
 
The 388 is a pain to work on and was not very well liked at Teac when I worked there- we did not get more than a few of them in but back in the 80's they were new then. You would seem to have a right buss failure-in looking at the OM the deck is a rather simple device and so it is possible due to movement that some of the cross bottom buss lines were caused to come unconnected- the flexing of the unit as it is moved or that can cause this to happen.
 
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