Tascam 414 Mk2 Repair Refurbishment and Calibration

[@JimBalMusic]

Thanks for posting this. Sorry to add to the bombardment of troubleshooting questions, but I have a 414 Mk I, and it appears to have bleed through on the L-R Monitor even when the tracks are all turned off. Unfortunately this creates a rumbly distorted sound that can always be heard through the L-R monitor output, regardless of how loud the tracks are mixed, though it's most obvious on quiet passages. I know the tapes are okay because they play back cleanly on a 424 MkII that I also have. If you happen to have any suggestions, maybe this is something I could try to fix. Thanks.

[@stephenjordan7886]

This video is incredible. The detail is unreal. Thanks for this.

[@Brokeninc]

Thank you for making and posting this.

[@Rompler_Rocco]

THANK YOU!! I've been frequently checking for this video for YEARS, and it exceeded expectations 👍 You are rescuing MANY beloved 414's out there 🙏 I've accumulated 4, which all still worked surprisingly well when last powered up. I've kept new belts on hand, but never had the guts to tear one down and risk killing it. But it looks surprisingly simple inside! I just hope the top section is equally approachable.. my original saw lots of abuse in the 90's and a couple of the inputs are shot. Anyway, thank you so much for the guidance and explanations!

[@ThatTascamGuy]

I hope you got your 414s up and running again. They're remarkably robust little machines, pretty hard to kill. Most often a capacitor replacement or resoldering a broken joint is all it takes.

[@DannyOKC]

I have one since around 199...6? 7? Why do you have four?

[@nathanel9359]

Great video. About to buy a 488 that needs some tape deck repair. Where do you find parts?

[@fabiannacht1784]

I have an interesting question... Are there any digital parts of any kind in this machine? (I'm thinking of digital chips) and if so - do they play any part in the processing of sound before it reaches the tape? Many thanks

[@1980matfowler]

Hey, I have a 414 mk 1 and upon play it works but there is a mechanical clicking (it doesn't show up on the recording but very annoying) any idea what that would be?

[@ezrageissler5371]

hi, i was wondering if you could help me. my porta studio 414 mkii is having issues recording through the 1st input. i get signal but it will not record. I have a feeling it has something to do with the trim fader as it does not function. i opened it up and to my untrained eye none of the components look fried all solder joints look clean the trim pot inside also does nothing to change the volume of the recording or anything. play back is still functional on the channel if i play a cassette i’ve already recorded onto. any suggestions?

[@goofydad97]

Hi , need your help on tascan 414 unit, similar to this video, but there is power Led and the mixer side, but no power to the tape player, belts in the player is fine, no spinning at all, what should I look for ? Which capacitor can be root cause?

[@alexs-mind]

Is there a link to the capacitor? I actually need one for the 414 I acquired recently and it needs to be replaced as well for the same reason… I am trying to find it online and can’t find anything at the moment.

[@alexs-mind]

I FOUND IT SHORTLY AFTER THAT COMMENT LOL, It works beautifully. thank you so much for this video as it helped me bring my 414 back to life :)

[@christopherblyth2454]

Thank you for posting this video. Would you happen to know how to adjust the tape deck speed on this model? For some reason mine is playing tapes at a very high speed. The pitch control and internal pitch adjuster doesn't do much to resolve the issue. The cassette motor doesn't change to any adjustments either, so i'm stumped.

[@christopherblyth2454]

This unit was in storage for a very long time, and hasn't been used for at least 10 years

[@MartynisthenewMartin]

excellent video. my 414 is having a playback issue where the R channel is slightly quieter than the L. can this be fixed with use of the trimmers at all? or will i need to replace the master fader? many thanks!

[@softlocationofficial2151]

Hi. Thank you for this video. I replaced the belts with your help. Now I need to replace the headphone jack up front. Can you suggest a replacement part number or place to purchase? The jacks up front are easily damaged. Thanks again

[@ThatTascamGuy]

I don't know that I've ever had to replace a jack entirely on any of the Tascams I've worked on, although I have had to resolder quite a number of them because the solder joint has gotten cracked. Are you sure the jack itself is bad? I don't have a specific part number to recommend to you unfortunately, but as long as you can find one of a similar form factor it should work (although it may take some creative work to get it to anchor in place if the lugs are not in the exact same place).

[@nolangordin]

Thank you for the in depth video! I just got a 414 and I am trying to diagnose an issue. I have found that all the functions work as expected, but when I attempt to play a tape back, I can just hear a very faint crackle as if the audio is attempting to play back both through the headphone jack and RCA outputs. The record function works as I was able to record and play the tape on another device. All the lights and VU meters indicate that there is audio on the tape attempting to playback. Also the microphone is audible through the monitor, just nothing playing back from the tape. I read there there may need to be some capacitors replaced. Any idea which ones I should replace? Or maybe something else going on? Thanks!

[@parker1787]

I'm also having this issue , did you fix it?

[@nolangordin]

@@parker1787 Yes I did and I made a video of the process on my channel!

[@jacobholland2127]

Is it possible to use a 9v power supply on a 424? If not which power supply should I get? A official Tascam one or will the amazon knock off for half the price do the trick?

[@macros303]

Hello thanks for making this video :) Going to use this to replace my 414 belts.. I was hoping you might be able to help me diagnose a problem with my 246? My unit seems to have a power connection failure with the tape section. When powering on the mixer section all works the tape sometimes works for a few minutes then the counter lights go off and the tape is un responsive, i can still use the mixer though. I only recently changed the belts idler and pinch roller i've been thinking i might have damaged something when i opened it but nothing obvious.. Would really appreciate any advice. Cant seem to find any tascam techs where i live :/

[@ThatTascamGuy]

While I love the Tascam 2XXs they're an absolute beast to work on so I've generally avoided them. Unfortunately I'm not as familiar with their internals as I am with most of the 4XX series. If I were you I would first try wiggling the connectors while the unit is on to see if you can narrow down which one is only making intermittent connection. If that doesn't get you anywhere, undo all of the connections to the motor and motor driver board and look closely at the pins. If you see oxidation or darkening on any of them look closely at the connector itself to see if something has been making an intermittent connection and sparking, that might be part of it. If that's the case try to bend the female connection back into shape so it gives you a strong mechanical connection again then clean up the pin and the connector with an electrical cleaner. As a last step before moving on I would reflow all the solder joints for the connectors in the motor section as well just to make sure a solder joint hasn't cracked on you. It's also possible that a capacitor has failed or some element of the motor driver has partially failed, that's going to be harder to diagnose though. If you've ruled out everything else I would start trying to tackle that possibility by recapping every board connected to the transport and hoping that does it, if not try replacing transistors one by one in the transport motor driver until hopefully the problem is fixed.

[@macros303]

@@ThatTascamGuy Thank you so much for your reply thats really helpful :)

[@bobbarton3073]

Hate to pester you, but my 414 mkii recently took a little bit of a fall, and now the tape functions still work (play, f fwd, rew, etc) but nothing else seems to be (including the on light). However the one light that does work is the zero return. Have any idea what could’ve happened when I tripped on a mic cable plugged into the unit, thus putting me into this situation?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

It could be quite a few things... the first step would definitely be to open it up and see if anything is obviously broken. My first guess would be that something on the audio/mixer side of the board is shorting out which is why nothing but the transport is working, its power system is sort of independent from the rest of the machine for noise reduction reasons. I'd take a close look at the audio connectors and the board near them, especially the one that was plugged in, to see if there's any obvious damage. I'd also check all the wire harness connections and make sure something didn't shift loose somehow.

[@mzagoridis]

Hey man. Wondering if you can help me out. I'm in Australia and I recently bought 414 mk I and am needing to replaced 2 broken/unresponsive gain faders. Where would one start to search for such rare replacement parts? If you have any ideas of somewhere that might have spare parts or old machines for used parts, I'd love to investigate. Would love to get this baby fully operational again! Cheers!

[@Reprobus3]

I had a similar problem. I found a fix that involved replacing the capacitors related to the faders. It's a common problem apparently. I forget the capacitor value, it was available online, and they were really inexpensive.

[@eves_disrhythms]

Thanks for this - learnt a lot - if my Tascam gets power to the tape deck, but the main power LED doesn't light up - is that a case of just a dead led? However... also... I am pretty sure the pre amps dont seem to get power either (I think I am testing it correctly). Are the preamps/inputs/channels and the tape deck on two separate circuits? Just trying to figure out how power gets to the tape deck, but not anything else - if you or anyone has any ideas!

[@K33f11]

Thank you, I hope to take confidence from this to give it a try

[@YannGuillermou]

Cool but how do you unplug the wires between the two sides? I'm afraid to break something :/

[@ThatTascamGuy]

They're pretty tough, you want to grab as close to the plug head as possible and gently rock it back and forth as you pull up. I've worked on a lot of these machines and only managed to pull a wire out of the connector twice, and both times it was when I was rushing and pulled harder than I should. Alternatively you can try to get a flat screwdriver under the plug head itself to lever it up, also gently, but that can be hard especially with the initial connections because you don't have a lot of room to maneuver in there.

[@YannGuillermou]

@@ThatTascamGuy Thanks, it worked!

[@samking4404]

Hi thanks for posting. I think my 414 has the same problem. What capacitor did you use as the replacement? Would I be able to make this repair with a standard soldering iron and and a desoldering tool?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

If you're going to try removing capacitors I would recommend using a desoldering braid rather than a solder sucker, the desoldering iron I use makes it faster and easier but is by no means vital. It's extremely hard to remove all the solder from through-hole parts with a manual solder sucker though, the desoldering braid makes it much easier. I just took a replacement capacitor of the same capacitance from my small collection, but as long as you match the farad value and meet or exceed the voltage rating you'll be fine. Especially because it's in the power system, not the audio system, so there's no possibility that you'll hear the difference between a cheap and "excellent" capacitor*. *before someone wants to "well actually" this, it is technically possible that you could hear a difference in some settings, but with the way the Tascam is designed it's not a realistic concern

[@mmmmvermillion]

I’m working on fixing one at the moment, he belts need replacing I believe, is the capstan wheel supposed to just fall out when you take the belts off and turn the tape player upside down? Is there a clip that holds the capstan wheel from dropping out or is the tension of the belts supposed to hold the wheel, my machine won’t play because the capstan keeps dropping and disengaging the gear.

[@ThatTascamGuy]

Yes, there should be a retaining ring on the capstan. It's not an e-clip style ring though, it's a very thin metal washer that is very slightly smaller than the capstan shaft so it won't slip off. This is a picture of one from one of my units: imgur.com/a/tr16rnJ (sorry for the filthy condition of the transport - I haven't gotten to that one yet) I'm not quite sure what you call that part, but it is VERY thin, made of metal, and needs to have a slightly smaller inner diameter than the capstan itself. Assuming you find something that ticks all those boxes I don't think it has to be an identical part exactly.

[@mmmmvermillion]

ThatTascamGuy awesome and thank you, really helps me out, I’ll have to hunt one down or find something comparable.

[@mmmmvermillion]

I was able to find the clip I needed and it is working now. However, im only able to record on tracks 2-4. Track one does read in the light meter (im getting a signal) however the tape machine will not record track one. Any thoughts?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

@@mmmmvermillion It's possible, given the previous issue with the capstan dropping, that something is misaligned. I would try to check on that first, make sure the capstan isn't continuing to move up or down at all, and play pre-recorded tapes to see if the tracks that play are actually those tracks on the tape. After that I would clean the head very well, and if that doesn't help replace the capacitors in the affected channels.

[@jwd1203]

I have a loud hum on both outputs (head phone / line out) and when I turn the pitch fast it completey drops out. I get the hum when I recorded channels also. any tips on what to look for or at?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

I know it took a while to get back to you, but hopefully this can still be helpful. Any time there's a hum I always look to grounding issues. There are lots of sources for electrical noise inside a tape deck, so there also tend to be lots of ground connections. If one of them has gone bad or is only making intermittent connection (or is entirely disconnected) you're likely to get hum somewhere in the system. Because the hum responds to the pitch wheel I would suspect the grounding issue relates to the transport motor, there should be at least one ground line connected to the transport assembly by a lug that goes between the transport and the case and is held in place by a screw. I would check that first to make sure it is still there and making good connection. If it has become oxidized I would lightly sand its surface and the surface of the transport mechanism where it will be sitting to make sure it's making good connection all the time.

[@jwd1203]

@@ThatTascamGuy Thank You for your reply I will look into it.

[@DanteGuzzardi]

Great video! Would it be alright if I asked your opinion about my 414?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

Sure, what's it doing?

[@saharatchaiyasith9730]

My 414 playback speed is too fast even when I turned the pitch control to the slowest speed, do you have any idea what's the problem and how to fix it?

[@ThatTascamGuy]

The 414 always runs at double normal cassette speed, so commercially recorded tapes won't sound right on it. If that's what you're trying then I'm afraid you won't have any luck, you would need a 424 in that case because that family of portastudios has a selector switch for normal speed or double speed. Is that the issue, or are you seeing something else that makes you think it's running too fast?

[@tB3o3tR9o9]

the problem is, that there is no problem. everything fine^^

[@Zer0Spinn]

I wish I could find something like this for the fostex xr5 :(

[@Tetrakan]

There's some really good information in this video, but shouldn't you be calibrating the playback and record amplifiers separately? I mean - use an MTT-150 or equivalent test tape to adjust the playback trimpots THEN compare tracking and playback meter levels to set the record trimpots? Otherwise you can end up compensating for a lack of gain in the record amplifier with an excess of gain in the playback amplifier = noise floor higher than it needs to be. The process is demonstrated on my channel if anyone reading this isn't sure what I mean (btw I'm not just trying to steal traffic, I really want as many people as possible get their portastudios sounding great , liked and subbed, thanks.)

[@ThatTascamGuy]

That is the best practice, it's true. I changed my refurbishing technique to do it that way as well, but unfortunately that didn't make it into this video... or the next one either, I think. But it'll show up eventually. Thanks for making sure people know though, that's a fair point. On the other hand, not doing it that way also isn't the end of the world. It isn't as technically correct, but because the tapes recorded on Tascams like this are usually only played back on the same Tascams you avoid the biggest problem of not calibrating playback first - the tape sounding awful on another machine. It does potentially push up the noise floor, but in my experience the changes to the levels are so small the difference won't be significantly noticeable, especially as few of these machines are being used with the goal of getting super hi-fi recordings but rather getting the elusive "tape sound".

[@dustinbowlin]

Hi there! Thanks for this fantastic video. I have a 414mkii that was given to me from the original owner, who claimed it was barely used. The rewind and FF are barely working. Play and record are great. I replaced the belts myself, but I'm thinking it's a motor issue. No expert but would love to get this guy working! thanks.

[@ThatTascamGuy]

It may be the motor, but because the motors can be hard to come by (and because play works correctly) I would first look very closely at the transport mechanism itself. A good first step would be to lubricate everything (but carefully! you really don't want lubricant getting into the tape path) and then to make sure everything moves into the correct position when you press play/fast forward/rewind. If something is coming close, but not quite all the way, that can give you results like what you're seeing.

[@dustinbowlin]

ThatTascamGuy It was a spring loaded lever on the back that was jammed. it came apart with a light touch and I reseated it and pushed the white cap on firmly, and all is well again. thanks for your awesome video!

[@ThatTascamGuy]

Excellent! I'm glad to hear you got it worked out and it was so simple in the end.

[@hdr117]

Hey Tascam Guy, Thx for your videos, its really entertaining and giving me confidence to fix my own ! I have a problem with my tascam 424 mk3. After a few seconds my tascam stops playing or recording the cassette. After letting it unused for a while I am able to record for a minute, and then it switches again to seconds. I recognized that the problem started when my counter wasnt tight, it was counting way to slow. Do you ever had this special failure or anyone else ? Greetings from Germany :)

[@clams_pachinko283]

Hello there! I have 2 414s that need some fixing and I do not trust myself at all to open them. They power on and play, one of the third channels will not record etc. just minor things I’m assuming. is there a way we can get in contact about possibly paying you to fix one or two of them? You can reach me on Facebook at powder recordings as KZbin has removed personal messages. Hope you see this.

[@AlexanderGibbonsAudio]

Hey, thanks for posting this video, super informative and well-presented! Do you have an email/socials I could contact you on to pick your brains about my mk 1 414?