Hello, All!
So, a couple of weeks ago, my Tascam ATR-60/16 took a dive. The take-up reel began constantly spinning, from power on until the power was turned off, while the supply reel was completely dead. Turns out the problem was a bad transistor, but, in a ham-fisted attempt at figuring out what was going on, I messed around with the tension adjustment pots. Now, I cannot get them back to where they were, I guess. My understanding is that they need to be adjusted so that there is a balance between the power applied to the take up reel and the supply reel, so proper tension is kept on the tape. I cannot seem to achieve this balance. Either the tape plays too fast or too slow, and when I am able to get the speed right, if I stop the tape and press play again, it takes 10-20 seconds to get up to speed, if it ever does.
According to the manual, there are two pots that need to be adjusted, Play(T) (for the take-up reel), and Play(B) (for the supply reel). However, it seems that the pots on either side of these, labelled Edit(L) and Edit(R), which are supposedly for adjusting tension in edit mode, have a much greater effect on both the take-up and supply reel, even when not in edit mode. So I'm effectively using 4 pots to balance 2 motors, which doesn't seem right to me, as no mention is made in the manual of the Edit pots having anything to do with tension/speed in Play mode.
Additionally, the High/Low tape speed selection button doesn't seem to make any difference with regard to tape speed whatsoever at this point. This makes me wonder if the transistor that went out took something else down with it...
Anyone familiar with these machines have any ideas? Am I just totally adjusting the pots incorrectly, or does it sound like something deeper is wrong? If any additional info is needed, I'm more than happy to provide it.
Also, as much as I'm trying to work on this machine myself, I feel like it might be a good idea to get a someone familiar with these machines over here in person, just to look it over, point out common problems, etc... Anyone know any ATR-60 people in Seattle?
Thanks for reading, folks!
So, a couple of weeks ago, my Tascam ATR-60/16 took a dive. The take-up reel began constantly spinning, from power on until the power was turned off, while the supply reel was completely dead. Turns out the problem was a bad transistor, but, in a ham-fisted attempt at figuring out what was going on, I messed around with the tension adjustment pots. Now, I cannot get them back to where they were, I guess. My understanding is that they need to be adjusted so that there is a balance between the power applied to the take up reel and the supply reel, so proper tension is kept on the tape. I cannot seem to achieve this balance. Either the tape plays too fast or too slow, and when I am able to get the speed right, if I stop the tape and press play again, it takes 10-20 seconds to get up to speed, if it ever does.
According to the manual, there are two pots that need to be adjusted, Play(T) (for the take-up reel), and Play(B) (for the supply reel). However, it seems that the pots on either side of these, labelled Edit(L) and Edit(R), which are supposedly for adjusting tension in edit mode, have a much greater effect on both the take-up and supply reel, even when not in edit mode. So I'm effectively using 4 pots to balance 2 motors, which doesn't seem right to me, as no mention is made in the manual of the Edit pots having anything to do with tension/speed in Play mode.
Additionally, the High/Low tape speed selection button doesn't seem to make any difference with regard to tape speed whatsoever at this point. This makes me wonder if the transistor that went out took something else down with it...
Anyone familiar with these machines have any ideas? Am I just totally adjusting the pots incorrectly, or does it sound like something deeper is wrong? If any additional info is needed, I'm more than happy to provide it.
Also, as much as I'm trying to work on this machine myself, I feel like it might be a good idea to get a someone familiar with these machines over here in person, just to look it over, point out common problems, etc... Anyone know any ATR-60 people in Seattle?
Thanks for reading, folks!
