414 sound issue when panned

Peter302

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Jul 14, 2021
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Gear owned
Tascam 414 MKii
Hi all -

I’ve posted about this unit before, but I recently picked up what seemed to be a really nice 414 original Tascam portastudio. Really clean, refurbished maybe. But when I pan all the way left, the sound bumps out. As in, if I go loud with whatever I’m playing or panning, the sound distorts not unlike a bass in a massive car stereo. Doesn’t do this on the right channel.

More weird - if I record and play back, the sound is not there. I tested this by playing something back on another machine.

Any ideas?
 
Sounds like dirt in that side of the pan pot. Dirt that accumulates in these as fine dust can seem to cause distortion but really the audio is just partially getting through- It might be good to spray some Deoxit into that pot and also check in the PCB for a broken solder joint. Could also be a dirt switch for source selection.
 
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When you ask if any ideas. I say yes it needs to be serviced by a technician as these plastic devices were not built to very high standards nor using military grade parts. They are very likely to have bad solder joints aggravated by the dropping of a portable unit and the way it is treated as in if covered when not in use or just left to have 20 years of dust allowed into it. Some guys have found dust puppies in the slide fader that cut the sound out and the switches are also like that as well.
 

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