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Info needed on TASCAM 38 8-track reel-to-reel

mech986

mech986

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Anyone have experience with the Tascam model 38 8-track reel to reel? I've just seen a unit on the Tascam rolling rack with 2 4-channel dbx units. The deck looks nice but is slow in RR and FFW (may be due to a bad wind on the supply reel?) and the play function doesn't work, capstan not spinning. Heads looked good and movement of the tape through the heads manually gave VU meter indication on 4 channels. All lights intact.

I've heard this is a decent deck, better with the DBX, and the transport problems may be stretched belts - but I don't know about the play function and whether that's a belt or DD capstan - there was one report that it was a fuse but I didn't know enough to look for that when I was testing it.

Seems to me might be worth a C-note just for the rolling TASCAM rack and the DBX units. Oh it has 2 reels of AMPEX 456 (IIRC) on it.

Impressive looking although I know there are better "modern" TASCAM decks. Maybe the biggest issue is I don't have a huge use for an 8 track deck but it looks so cool.

Please reply ASAP as I'm gonna look at it again in the AM, assuming its still there when I get going.

Regards,

Bart
 
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Not one of my favorite formats. I prefer the real thing, 1" 8-Track. The Tascam has a belt driven capstan. You likely need a new Capstan belt. The DBX is only useful with a Tascam deck only due to the patching arrangement being different. The rollaround carts for these are very nice. Head and motor bearing condition are crucial due to difficulty and expense of replacing these parts.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Not one of my favorite formats. I prefer the real thing, 1" 8-Track. The Tascam has a belt driven capstan. You likely need a new Capstan belt. The DBX is only useful with a Tascam deck only due to the patching arrangement being different. The rollaround carts for these are very nice. Head and motor bearing condition are crucial due to difficulty and expense of replacing these parts.
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I agree with all of this , Be a cool machine to have , but the 1" is much better & as said if the head is junk it's gonna cost $$$$
I have the 4 track that's similar to this one & have a friend who has a 16 track that's pretty cool the head on his started to crap out & now it's a 15-track :D
But it might be fun to play with if you want to take a chance .
 
If you want to play with 8 track decks, take a look at Otari. Much better decks for the money.
 
It uses 1/2-inch tape, which is (1) very expensive, (2) difficult to get.
1/4 inch is much more widespread since it was used by all domestic & hi-fi machines. 1/2 inch is rare, it's not a favourite or common studio format, and was never used by any 'home' machines.

The Ampex tape is probably useless. Ampex tapes from the 1980s do not survive - they almost always have 'sticky shed syndrome'. That's why it won't wind or rewind.

For what it is, it's nice machine though. I'd buy it, but I'm always buying impractical things just for the technology's sake.
 
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