The Tascam 388

[helmuth]

Yup, sure sounds like you've got a dose of unhealthy romantics there, I don't blame you though.
The 388 fenomena is a bit weird, I sure wouldn't buy a 10 channel tascam board and a Fostex R8, but there's something charming about the "porta" format. It's really convenient with the routing possibilities and so on. And it actually sounds a lot better than I thought it would. It sounds really really good actually. And I love the whole "these 8 channels is what I got, no more, no less, now record something".

[the velour fog]

By the way, my VUs all light up.

we'll see how long that lasts. mine were all lit up when i got mine. a year later 3 lights are out.

And shipping is not adviced anyway, ask gunshyboy.

yeah, mine got messed up, but it's a great testament as to how tough these things are. the wood sides cracked, a few cards got loose...but it's back up and running now. beautifully. now i wanna fix the lights. and make some sweet new sides for it.

[shedshrine]

Well, local pickup would obviously be preferable with these, but if it's not local springing for pro packing
and as few conveyor drops as possible is not a bad idea..
and not buying from a damn chain smoker in the tropics

but I'm not bitter....dammit!
ALL THE LIGHTS WORK!!!

"Tascam VU bulbs are a tough issue. I've seen them at www.electronix.com under "bulb, Panasonic -or-like audio equipment", for about $1,25/ea, but I can no longer find them. Unfortuately, the smaller of the Tascam VU meters take solder-in bulbs. The larger Tascam VU meters often have a clip-in fuse-type bulb, (8V)."

-"A Reel Person" Tascam Analog forum

I've done it on mine.

Its not too bad depending on what is not "too bad" for you.

You have to pull all the audio cards and dbx cards out as well as the balance amp and meter amp card...bias cards too IIRC...shoot maybe EVERY card has to come out...and then there are screws at the top inside of the card bay that hold retainer strips for each set of 4 meters. Depending on which meter has the dead lamp you may need to remove both sets of meters since they are hardwired together...but once you have whatever removed to get access to the meter the lense is held on by clear adhesive tape...peel that away and you can remove the lense and then heat up the soldering iron and swap out the lamp.

-"sweetbeats" Tascam Analog forum

Rainbow Joaw's guide to replacing Tascam bulbs with LED lamps

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curtiswyant said

I dare anyone to post pictures of a 388 with all 8 VU meters lit up!

Curtis, I got the deluxe 388 with the two bonus meters. (clickable pics..)



Some serving suggestions:

not the best for monitoring position,
so switched to..



This configuration allows for easy access to the 388's rear connections. The racks over it are mounted on steel poles that allow them to swivel all the way around for easy access to rear connections also.
(*Disclaimer: I have been informed that having the 388 tilted is, um, tilting it and may somehow affect performance maybe, so do so at your own risk. )




Beefy guitar amp stands work well too..
In 2011


shot of Kelley Stoltz' studio...

..looks like he has a spare 388.

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Link for Jon Sonnenberg's Tascam 388 synth lab. (Click pics for full size)





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The Bakery Studio, Manchester

http://soundcloud.com/thebakerystudio





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The End studio, Brooklyn

That's a 388 on top there.


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somebodies 388 setup...
he/she knows who they are.








JHarv's 388 housed in his hand built desk


Tascam 388 recessed in desk:


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I love the whole "these 8 channels is what I got, no more, no less, now record something".

Google fails to verify but supposedly quoth Brian Eno: "If you need more than 8 tracks, it means you can't make up your mind."

"I think I'll limit myself to 8 tracks."


_________________________________________________________________
Tascam 388 Track sheets
in various formats, care of tapeop member klangtone:

http://www.thehabitat.info/Tascam388_TrackSheet.pdf

"It's 11x17. Hopefully people can deal with that. And hopefully your printers won't cut off the edges. It works fine on the printers at my work, but the copy machines at work cut it off a little.

I also uploaded a jpg and a Visio version:

http://www.thehabitat.info/Tascam388_TrackSheet.jpg
http://www.thehabitat.info/Tascam388_TrackSheet.vsd

If you have Visio, you can modify it yourself.

Let me know if you have any comments, good or bad.

One thing that would be cool is to have a section on the back where you could notate what you have hooked up to the EFF send/return and so forth.
But I figure for now, you can just write that kind of stuff in the Notes section.

share the love,

Roy (klangtone)

ps. RIP Kurt Vonnegut..."[/img]

[klangtone]

Hey 388er's...

My friend's 388 suddenly acquired a problem.
Basically, when you hit play or FF or REW, it goes into the mode for a second and then all the mechanics disengage, but the LED indicator showing what mode the machine is in still stays put until you hit stop.

Anyone ever seen this before?

Roy

[shedshrine]

If nothing comes up here (though checking the capstan belt comes to mind) you could run your query over at homerecording.com in their "analog only" or "Tascam users" forums.
There are some extremely knowledgeable Tascam and analog in general aficionados over there!!

[klangtone]

Got it! It was a fuse... how dumb.


Roy

[nestle]

I prefer the 38-
Mine is chugging along, I just get very nice pres, monitor digitally through a 002 and it's getting great results.
The -10 bums me out sometimes but it's dead quite and there aren't any hums.

[fluuid]

Hmm, I guess I won't leave mine out by the street after all. When I bought it, I had never paid that much for a car even. First thing, I did a project that I sold from the stage on cassette. It (388) paid for itself. My producer friend was impressed by its sound. It recorded some memorable stuff. I always wanted a road case for it, but, never got one.

f

[shedshrine]

I hope everybody got in on the fire sale Quantegy 457 at $8.25 a reel.


Because you can never have enough tape...

Erockrazor's (aka Eric Grieg of Atlas at Least) collection of stickyshed tape..




and for some, never enough 388's..




(A couple pics of Davemania aka "A Reel Person"s analog collection)

[Goldenvoice]

I tried recording " in the box "...

I'm back home now!


And fully PE-40 parametric!

[shedshrine]

Definitely need more speakers for mix comparison

I like the cable holder rack too, nice work.

Another shot of Goldenvoice's setup..

[Goldenvoice]

Definitely need more speakers for mix comparison

I tried for years to get a decent mix with stereo speakers - never happened. The ASP8s I've had a few months - life changing experience, for sure!
The vintage stereo speakers now live there, as much because I can't seem to part with them, and they're more out of the way there, than anywhere else in my crowded house I can find...

They are (the Advents & Sansuis) still hooked up, however... I could comp mono mixes, but I think I'd just be pulled in the wrong direction again.

Maybe this summer I'll get some finish on the 388 table and PE-40 rack...
The cable racks work great - my patch bay is mounted vertically on the side of the tall rack - directly across from the short cable rack...

I really chuckled when I found if I wrap my longer cables with Velcro bands - hooks out - I could hang coiled cables anywhere on my acoustic panels I wanted

[OneZero]

Tascam for sale in SF Bay area.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/279170551.html

[tascaman]

Anyone know of a place to buy just the grey/smokish dust cover? I am thinkning about buying a unit w/o the dust cover, and I would like to have it to obviously protect the heads etc.



As pictured earlier here by, shedshrine,

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c48/s ... op_1_1.jpg


Thanks,
Conrad

[tascaman]

Two more questions:

Maxwell UD 35 - 90. It was described here that it was the tape that was built for the machine, vice versa... Is it still ok to use, or is 407 and 457 better?


Also, what is/is there a difference between Ampex 407 to Quantegy 407? I have heard that Ampex tape has the sticky residue these days, and it is best that you bake it before use.

Any info would be of great help!

Thanks,
Conrad