Tascam 238 Syncaset | First Impressions, Tear Down & Repair.

[@DaveZula]

I will never stop being amazed to see you completely tear apart a machine like this and put it back together again.

[@Tetrakan]

I played with Lego a lot as a child

[@drfonta]

I have two of these. The better (less use) one is for sale on Reverb. I've replaced most of the Electrolytics caps and replaced all the caps on the capstan board as well. Calibrated and sounds fantastic for a cassette 8 track.

[@VultureCulture]

Whenever I see there's a new Tetrekan video I know it's going to be a good day!

[@Tetrakan]

You flatter me. I won’t lie, I like it.

[@wehappyfewmusic]

Great to see the process of this getting repaired and you’ve also explained what some of mysterious buttons on the control panel do! I feel a similar way about all the midi sync stuff but must give it a try it out at some point. Thanks again for fixing this unit and I’m delighted to have a working 238 again! 🙌🙏

[@Tetrakan]

Someone commented about seeing two of these synced by computer as a 16 track - I wondered if that'd be possible with this unit and your 688, I forget whether the 688 has SMPTE control as well?

[@wehappyfewmusic]

@@Tetrakan I saw that comment too and have been wandering if it’d be possible all afternoon. I’d love to have a go if so and was planning on asking you for some advice! 🙏😊

[@bonno666]

@@wehappyfewmusic I think you need the rare MTS1000 controller for that. And 2 very rare cables. It's very complex, and I thought because ot that the dbx on track 8 is disabled when you use external sync. Because you need to record a sync track on both tascams when using the MTS1000. I'm not sure you can do this with another sync unit.

[@wehappyfewmusic]

@@bonno666 Yes I don’t think it’s very straightforward to do unfortunately. I’ve recently got hold of a Tascam ATS-500 which is meant to be able to sync 2 machines with the accessory 2 connections. It didn’t come with the sync cables so I’ve asked @tetrakan to see if he can make them. 🤞🏻

[@bonno666]

@@wehappyfewmusic The cables are very special, they have 2 extra shielded wires inside the cable. If you don't do that you get glitches.

[@DigitalFacts]

Got three of them and one Dolby-S version a few years back when no one wanted them and kicked them out. Repaired them (especially the capstan board on all units needs attention). The Dolby-S version was unrepairable till this day because of some faulty dolby chips. What a beauty of engineering art! :)

[@Tetrakan]

Have you seen the site 238pro.com? I’ve only skim read it but there was information about getting the Dolby version working up there. I’ve come to prefer the less obtrusive and coloured sound of Dolby NR to DBX, so having that NR on an 8 track with my studio master 16/ mixing desk sounds like peak cassette recording tech

[@DigitalFacts]

@@Tetrakan No I didn't know the site even exists. Thanks for letting me know! Will check the information on there regarding the Dolby-S problem.

[@johntammaro]

This looks like a beast of a unit. Looking forward to your tear down and review.

[@valleywoodstudio7345]

Excellent stuff - interestingly my old Fostex E 16 does not advertise in the manual (or the front panel) that it has anything but a global Dolby C defeat switch - yet when you open it up and get access to the channel cards there are defeat switches for track one and track 16. I'd assume they kept it simple for most users, but more discerning 'pros' if asking the dealer would have been supplied the information. Separate note (please excuse this off topic to the video) - I've a Fostex 250 that I'm using with students and owned since 1988, and have been going through the maintenance manual to bring it all up to spec - which it nearly is - and found the ferrrite screw for the channel one Dolby encode circuit is missing! It still seems to function fine on primary record passes (does not like excessive transient materiel on a bounce to track one though) as the inductor only sets a minimum bias point for that section, according to the manual Just wonder if possible you may have something that may go in there if you have scrap spares etc - and if so best way to contact?

[@Tetrakan]

I don’t have a scrap 250, unfortunately ,….for the sake of one channel could you house an extant part of equivalent value on a little Vero board baghterboard and use hookup wire to manage any difference in footprint?

[@valleywoodstudio7345]

@@Tetrakan Thanks. Sadly that may be the case - I've scoured old radios etc to see if I could find a similar screw to no avail.

[@valleywoodstudio7345]

@@Tetrakan I managed to source one from TascamNinja - he had the exact part so all sorted

[@Ejlectronics6]

How funny, I've got one sitting on my bench too! Yet to crack into it might go in blind first ;)

[@Tetrakan]

Much nicer to work on than that 234 you shared on Instagram, doable with no scouting from me I'd say

[@Newmusicreview]

Hi bud....I just got one of these but as usual the motor sounds like a small jet engine...tapes plays / FF / REW but stops randomly frequently....what would you suggest first step ?

[@BolognaFullof]

question: how easy is it for me to replace the belt in my Fostex X12? i'm nervous about tearing it open and would like some suggestions on how to approach it

[@drfonta]

Bias setting question. I was having a hard time getting the bias setting just right. Manual calls for same level of 1k and 10k. Can be time consuming for sure. I tried sending 1k then 10k, playing it back and seeing the difference then tweaking R62 again and again. Then I decided to try recording a dual tone 1k and 10k, then looking at it on the spectrum analyzer making it easier to see how far off I was. Saved a lot of time and I got them dialed in tight now with a nice flat frequency response. Do you have any tips on how to do this better? Thanks for the great video BTW!

[@Tetrakan]

With a open reel system with 3 heads it’s much easier to set bias because you get slightly delayed feedback from the repro head on what the trimpot adjustment is doing. The compromise I use with two head systems is to record a vocal narration of the position of the trimpot on an adjacent track to the test tones with a microphone, so my voice will say stuff like “fully counter clockwise, 20 degrees higher, twenty degrees higher, halfway,…..” and so on. Then playback both recordings, listening to my voice while observing the meter behaviour for the test tone. It’s still a PITA compared to setting up the same thing on a three head system but you get some sense of where the needle peaks and how far to go beyond that for an appropriate level of over-bias.

[@frequincyrecording4286]

I’ve seen video of 2 of these units synced together using that serial port, but I don’t recall what device accessory was used. I assume one tape was stripped with SMPTE.

[@Tetrakan]

As mentioned in this video, I’m normally a bit of a sceptical curmudgeon when it comes to to sync stuff, but the idea of a cassette based 16 track does sound exciting - please post a link here if you find the video again?

[@frequincyrecording4286]

Both tracks 8 were striped with SMPTE from the Tascam ATS-500. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-qg4KEe92imZYsi=lGeYfY3dcwoNtZsK

[@aronslegogbcs1057]

wow, what a deck, i would love one for my colection just cause it looks cool, could the speed be changed to 1/78?

[@Tetrakan]

There’s a tiny trimpot on the capstan motor board marked 4.8 which I assume means it could be calibrated for the lower speed, though I guess that’d require some modification, I didn’t have time to look into it properly.

[@MrThomas331]

mY FOREWARD and reverse work but the play doesnt play, just a clicks, where do i start...?

[@twain2116]

I'm having the same issue after replacing capstan board...