Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

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Magnetic Services
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Apr 02, 2021 11:51 am

kslight wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 11:27 am
Magnetic Services wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:01 am
kslight wrote:
Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:32 am
Has anyone ever gone through with getting their heads relapped?

One of my machines has heads that need it. I understand JRF provides this service still I was more just curious if anyone has done it.

Thanks
I had JRF relap and align the heads on my 38 (not 388) several years ago, and it cost $190 plus $18 for shipping and insurance. Customer service (by his wife Cookie) was good. I wasn't really listening critically for improvements when I got it back, but I don't remember having any crosstalk or dropout problems since having it done.

(just looked at my receipt and apparently I also ordered an MRL calibration tape from them too. That was $145 + $12 for shipping).

I had mine done sometime in the 4 years since this post was made :wink: Thanks
HA! My bad. Hopefully this info is useful to someone else.

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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by Mark » Sun Aug 29, 2021 4:47 pm

I'm having the following issue.

I've recently had my monitor buss pcb and m. board (the green one that joins all the other pcbs together) repaired. The first required two new pots to be soldered on and the latter required a repair to the Earth/Ground trace. When I put the monitor board and the m.buss back in place and then reconnected all the connections to the monitor pcb I noticed that a signal from any mic jack, routed to any one tape track is weak and makes all the channel pgm meters move at the same time. By contrast, a signal sent straight to the stereo buss is perfectly fine. I cannot for the life of me figure out why my machine's mixer is behaving in such an odd way. All the connections are connected to the right place so if I want to send a signal from channel 1 to track 1 only track 1's VU meter needle and the left buss meter needle should move. The other seven meter needles should stay perfectly still. Especially since I have no tape on the machine right now.
WWRHS?

ah345
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by ah345 » Sun Sep 12, 2021 1:09 pm

The take reel side of my 388 stopped holding tension. Any ideas how serious of a problem this is?

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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:33 pm

Hmm. There's a tension arm adjuster screw in the top section (where the meters are). Do you have the manual?
WWRHS?

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shedshrine
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by shedshrine » Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:50 pm

Mark wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:33 pm
Hmm. There's a tension arm adjuster screw in the top section (where the meters are). Do you have the manual?
https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording. ... Manual.pdf

I see the link on the first post of this thread is dead, but this link above has a nice scan of the Tascam 388 manual that is working as of 12/08/2021.
(I would have replaced the dead link on page one as well, but the new site won't allow the length of that post any longer, and so I can't make any edits that will save without losing most of that post)

_____________________________________________________________________

And, if any of you find you just don't want to futz with your 388 any longer....Behold, the Tascam 388 plugin. :lol:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trtascam/

Image



Tascam 388 Plugin vs Real Tascam // IK MULTIMEDIA

Tascam 388 Plugin MUST BE STOPPED!
Last edited by shedshrine on Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

kslight
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by kslight » Wed Dec 08, 2021 7:02 pm

shedshrine wrote:
Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:50 pm
Mark wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:33 pm
Hmm. There's a tension arm adjuster screw in the top section (where the meters are). Do you have the manual?
https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording. ... Manual.pdf

I see the link on the first post of this thread is dead, but this link above has a nice scan of the Tascam 388 manual that is working as of 12/08/2021.
(I would have replaced the dead link on page one as well, but the new site won't allow the length of that post any longer, and so I can't make any edits that will save without losing most of that post)

_____________________________________________________________________

And, if any of you find you just don't want to futz with your 388 any longer....Behold, the Tascam 388 plugin. :lol:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trtascam/

Image



Tascam 388 Plugin vs Real Tascam // IK MULTIMEDIA

Lol.

I know my ideas are pretty “out there”, but even though I accept no one will make a reel 388 again (see what I did there?), I always thought it would be nifty if someone just made a digital 388 (much smaller)…same functionality just not to tape…coupled with all the 388 limitations, track ping pong, varispeed, dbx, and baked in software magic.

ah345
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by ah345 » Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:04 am

I am working on a project that was mixed using Logic Pro X. I was hoping to mix down 4 stereo stems to 8 tracks on the 388. However, the outputs of my focusrite interface are balanced and the line ins of the 388 are unbalanced. Will just using 8 1/4 inch TS cables be an issue? Usually I track to tape and then bounce those to logic to finish mixing, but that was not possible for this music. Any guidance would be massively appreciated

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digitaldrummer
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:11 am

I would bet that your Focusrite interface will adjust automatically to use the TS cables. the only thing you will have to worry about is cable-length, and any interference from the computer (unbalanced TS or RCA cables are more susceptible to high-frequency interference). So keep the cables as short as possible and away from the computer as best as you can and it should work.
Mike
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ah345
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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by ah345 » Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:43 am

digitaldrummer wrote:
Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:11 am
I would bet that your Focusrite interface will adjust automatically to use the TS cables. the only thing you will have to worry about is cable-length, and any interference from the computer (unbalanced TS or RCA cables are more susceptible to high-frequency interference). So keep the cables as short as possible and away from the computer as best as you can and it should work.

thanks. that's good to know! Interface and 388 are about 4 or 5 feet from computer and cable is 4 feet, so should be good!

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Re: Tascam 388 Maintenance, Repair and FAQ thread

Post by Mark » Sat Oct 21, 2023 9:35 am

I'm suddenly having a problem with the tape transport in Play. FF and Rew/RTZ are both working fine.

Any ideas?
WWRHS?

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