The Tascam 238 rocks.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:06 pm

Big thanks Konrad "purerad" of homerecording.com for getting these scanned.
Here is the Tascam 238 product brochure for posterity.

Click for Huge hi-rez PDF images of the brochure
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Click here for Tascam 238 FAQ

Click here to hear from techs who worked on Dolby S repairs tell all!

Tascam 238 schematics!

Tascan 238 service manual
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TapeOp member cjogo's soundcloud page of 238 recordings

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6 pics of the infamous Tascam 238 capstan motor.. (click to enlarge)

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:47 pm

inasilentway · Post by **inasilentway** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:32 am

If anyone needs spare parts PM me. My 238 has fatal problems in the power supply and motor that will cost me more to fix than the deck cost me and I would love to help someone keep theirs running. My life just hasn't been the same since my 238 died, and I sold my 488mkII when I got it because I figured I didn't need 2 8-tracks

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:02 pm

shedshrine wrote:

Damn, I thought that was a tee shirt.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:29 pm

"TASCAM 238" T-Shirts
Only $19.99. Hurry, supplies limited!

dino · Post by **dino** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:52 pm

Still have a 234 in pretty darn good condition. Although I've transferred everything of consequence to HD. I keep it clean and actually run it now and then to keep the thing loosened up.
It does have a pleasing sound to my baby boomer ears.
dino

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:56 pm

Available in Digital Sterility White and Analog Warmth Yellow
*also available in long sleeve. 100% cotton

richierichie · Post by **richierichie** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:30 am

Seriously, i'd wear one of those. Until i'd rotted the armpits right through. I picked up a 234 last year and love it. You can push the tape soooo much harder than a standard 4-track.

AstroDan · Post by **AstroDan** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:08 am

When this thread started, you could buy cassettes at 7-11 apparently.

floid · Post by **floid** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:40 am

so, speaking of the infamous capstan motor, does anyone have a schematic? digging into the deck, it becomes pretty quickly apparent that the circuitry, not the "motor" itself, is what fails. i keep on putting off shelling out $100 to get a new motor for mine because i remain convinced there must be one of those little dinky resistors or diodes or whatever else is on that board that i could replace for pennies... but without values, nowhere to start

germaniac · Post by **germaniac** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:16 am

floid wrote:so, speaking of the infamous capstan motor, does anyone have a schematic? digging into the deck, it becomes pretty quickly apparent that the circuitry, not the "motor" itself, is what fails. i keep on putting off shelling out $100 to get a new motor for mine because i remain convinced there must be one of those little dinky resistors or diodes or whatever else is on that board that i could replace for pennies... but without values, nowhere to start

Hi!

Actually, I think it's the little SMT caps on the controller board that fail. Here's a guy who done some groundwork and come up with a fix:

http://thesquarewaveparade.com/tascam122.html

I have a dead 122MKII and a 238 in the garage waiting to try this on, but I have yet to work up the courage.

BTW, big +1 on the 238! I've got mine racked-up like an oversized portastudio--a 238, a patchbay normalled to a Rane SM82 mixer, and an ART TubePAC mic-pre/compressor, all in a six-space rack. Perfect for demos or simple tunes, then bounce-able to DAW for mixing.

Regards,
Joe

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:43 pm

germaniac wrote: Actually, I think it's the little SMT caps on the controller board that fail. Here's a guy who done some groundwork and come up with a fix:

http://thesquarewaveparade.com/tascam122.html

Nice find Joe!

..And about the second shirt design. Enough interest for maybe a short run via someplace like this?

http://www.uberprints.com/studio/

(hmm.. that image definitely wouldn't blow up cleanly which means a picture of the unit taken but without the cool metal reel to reel cassette.
Any chance someone is able to provide a high res picture of the original brochure? )

Edit: like this one. (thanks Jeff Peletz, homerecording.com)

Different version by Jeff, a 1920x1080 wallpaper here;
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...5wallpaper.jpg

floid · Post by **floid** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:28 pm

germaniac wrote: Hi!

Actually, I think it's the little SMT caps on the controller board that fail. Here's a guy who done some groundwork and come up with a fix:

http://thesquarewaveparade.com/tascam122.html

Yes yes, thank you, why didn't i think to search for other units using the motor. ... SMT, man i was looking and looking for that term when i posted earlier. The main reservation i have about the fix, is that he's fixing the all-too-common runaway speed thing, whilst mine's moving sloooooooooowwwwwwwly. that'll at least be something to start on though, perhaps one of these days i'll finally be able to fire up the 238, 246, and 388 simultaneously, switch on all the dbx and interconnect everything with yet more dbx, so i can drift and bounce on the resulting waves of tas-fi

germaniac · Post by **germaniac** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:56 pm

floid wrote: The main reservation i have about the fix, is that he's fixing the all-too-common runaway speed thing, whilst mine's moving sloooooooooowwwwwwwly.

Well, the fix-it guy (Steven) says the caps fail "closed" decreasing capacitance and speeding up the motor. But caps can also fail "open," which could increase the capacitance, and could slow down the motor. So it's most likely the same problem, bad caps.

Regards,
Joe

dino · Post by **dino** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:59 pm

[quote="richierichie"]I picked up a 234 last year and love it. You can push the tape soooo much harder than a standard 4-track.[/quote]

That was my observation also.
I used to hump the damn thing all over hell and back, just having a ball recording friends. Once you figure out how much to push it to get the desired amount of trash-itude it?s a fun machine to have. Have you tried mixing down to it? Left =1 & 2, Right = 3 & 4
dino

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