Hello all, first post here, looking forward to culling the vast store of collective knowledge within these digital walls. My question revolves aroung reel to reel recording, which tragically seems to be a dying art. Does anyone here have experience with a TASCAM 58-OB? I recently got one for a steal but my zeal for recording vastly outweighs my experience. I would sell my firstborn child for any info, links, tips, tricks, superstitions, or holy rituals connected with this machine. Really, though, I just need advice on reel to reel in general.

Thanks,
Gitgrinder69

I've used quite a few different analog recorders and I have to say that my Tascam 48 has been by far the most reliable and consistently great-sounding deck I've ever laid hands upon. I wish my Studer 2-track and my MCI 16-track were anywhere near as reliable, gentle on tape, or easy to use. It's great.

Tascam made three different but similar 8-track machines for a while: The 38, 48, and 58. The 38 is a consumer-grade machine with some serious flaws. The 48 is the "professional" version and it's great. The 58 is the even more robust "industrial" or super-professional version which should be even better, though I've never used one.

Of course, these are all 1/2" 8-track machines that a lot of people will say are by no means professional grade simply because of the narrow track width. Still, there has been a metric shittonne of great albums recorded in that format and I'd take it over a mid-priced DAW in a heartbeat.

If your 58 is in good working order and you take care of it, you will be happy. If it's busted up, you'll probably lose your mind (and your ass) trying to get parts for it. Some will be identical to parts in the more abundant 48, many will not.

Thanks alot, Justin, it's good to hear I made a decent choice in a machine. Mechanically, its near flawless, but it has a few cosmetic flaws. Do you have any favorite sites or boards that cater to the reel to reel community? Information is relatively sparse when it comes to these things, but hey, it must be out there.
I am now in the process of building a studio, and while it will be primarily DAW based I am personally enamored with analog sound. While I know that the 58 isn't a "pro" machine, I think it will be more than adequate as augmentation to a digital setup. Have you learned any tricks working with tape that you wish you knew when you started? Do you know of good suppliers for tape and parts? Got any good war stories? I'm all ears.

Gabriel

If you don't have the service manual for your machine, you need to get one. Not only is it absolutely essential for proper maintenance of an analog deck, but these Tascam machines include lots of really helpful information in their manuals. Everything from a concise explanation of how deciBels work to detailed exploded diagrams of the machine's innards and exact calibration instructions. It's good stuff.
Keep your machine calibrated. Learn how to do it yourself, get the necessary equipment and alignment tape, and take the time to do it right. When you've mastered it, you'll have a much more intuitive grasp of signal flow, signal voltage vs decibels, frequency response, dynamic range, reference levels, etc. It will make you a better engineer. It will also allow you to predict what will come back off the tape at playback based on what you shoved in there during tracking. Without calibration, it's a crapshoot. Once you've done it a few times, you'll start to learn how often it's necessary on your machine (my 48 holds calibration almost indefinitely, while my JH24 goes to hell if I sneeze near it) and what sorts of things cause it to need recalibration (some decks get loony if you move them, all decks need calibrating if you remove the headstack, mess with the tape path, work on the electronics, or switch to a different brand or formulation of tape).
How to squeeze the most sound and quality out of a 15ips 1/2" 8-track. First of all, you have to be diligent about setting levels to maximize dynamic range. I tend to hit the tape HARD on certain tracks, printing a very hot signal to tape. The electronics on my Tascam 48 have tons of headroom (perhaps surprisingly) and have allowed me to do so.
The louder your signal is on tape, the less you have to "crank it up" in mixdown, which means less tape hiss in the final mix. If you're going to do any heavy compression, it's best to do it on the way to tape rather than coming off the tape. Compression to tape will help you get a hotter signal on tape, whereas compression on playback will raise the noise floor. This is common sense but it's helpful to point out.
This logic applies to EQ too. If you're going to cut the bass or boost the treble, do it on the way to tape. If you're going to boost the bass or cut the treble, do it at mixdown.
There are times when you need to push the VU meters WAY into the red, and it will sound fantastic. Other instuments will barely move the meters before you see the clip light flash and hear clipping. That's just the nature of different sounds. Short, staccato sounds (like snare drums, tambourines, castanets, wood blocks, etc) will be over and done before the VU meter starts to move.
I almost never bounce tracks. I have maybe done it two or three times in the 10 years I've spent recording on 1/2" 8-track machines. First of all, one of the major advantages of this format is that it forces you to conserve tracks, which translates into conserving sonic space. You wouldn't believe how many albums have been SAVED by not having room for that tambourine overdub, or 4th guitar part, or whatever. And being limited to 3 tracks for drums will help you learn very quickly where you really need to put a drum microphone. When we first got our 2" 16-track machine, the quality of my drum tracks tanked for about a year until I learned to NOT put up eleven drum mikes. You think you have what you need among those eleven tracks, but come mixdown you find your great snare sound is ruined by a harsh hi-hat and the good sounding hi hat has a weird tom overtone in it, and so forth. When you only have three drum tracks, you can pay a lot more attention to each of them and make damn sure they have what you need. Anyway, if you do decide to bounce tracks to make room for that one magical overdub, here's how you do it. You mix your two (or three, four, five, or six) old tracks as you see fit on your mixing console and you overdub that mix onto a new track that is NOT ADJACENT to one of the original tracks. There has to be an unused or saved track in between. If you don't, then you'll actually get magnetic feedback on the head and you'll record an ugly squeally tone. This is important to keep in mind if there's ANY CHANCE you'll have to bounce because if you fill up all the tracks with beautiful performances you can't lose, then you may be unable to do a bounce at all. Then you have to get the DAW involved and that's just no fun.

Anyway, that's what I know about tape decks.

You get nasty squeally tones bouncing to adjacent tracks on a 48?

Weird. I've never had that problem with my 388.

Gabriel, there's some good stuff here, ranging from pretty basic to heavy electronics. Jay McKnight is one of the analog tape gods, and owner of MRL tapes, the last remaining USA source of alignment tapes.

http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/

You'll need to buy an MRL to keep your machine properly tweaked. If interested, I can list some other items you'll need as well.

Bri

You probably don't print as hot as I do. The one time I was forced to bounce to an adjacent track, I made it work by backing off on the record level. But that's no fun. My 48 is calibrated for high-output tape and I still tend to make the peak LEDs look like pilot lights. I've never used a 388 but I wonder if it has that kind of headroom.

I'll have a go at "printing hot" (that means loud, right?) once I've got this damned solo worked out ( ). See what happens.

Though I do print pretty loud.

http://www.tascamforums.com/

Hey Justin,

I have a 48 too. Just wondering what you calibrate it at as far as nWb.
I've been doing 355, which might be too much, but I don't know. That's what my MRL tape is.

I've got it all out of wack here because I started messing w/the azimuth and then I was biasing w/ a metal screwdriver, so I have to start from square 1. But just thought I'd ask you what you're doing.
Are you using 456?

I'm thinking about trying 499 and seeing how it goes. I guess that would be a little out of the norm for 1/2" 8 trackers though

I've used Ampex and Quantegy 456, 499, GP9, BASF/Emtec 900 and 911, and some old stock 3M stuff (996? 966?) and I've calibrated the machine for +3 and +6. The machine handled everything beautifully. My preference is for Emtec 900, which is basically equivalent to 499/GP9. A lot of people prefer the sound of 456 or Emtec 911, but I like the higher output tapes.
I haven't touched that machine in a while, but if I remember correctly we most typically calibrated for 355nWb/m (+6). We actually don't calibrate it very often, because it doesn't drift. The MCI, on the other hand, has to be calibrated pretty much every session. I hope to get back into using the Tascam more in the near future.
You can use your head demagnatizer to demagnatize your tools. Of course if you're not careful you can also use it to magnetize them.

Thanks, Justin,

I suppose I should ask you too , since I ask every 48 user I run across:
You know in the manual where it talks about biasing and it actually
goes through a procedure to underbias the deck? (3dB under the peak for 456,
1.5 or so i suppose for 499)

I've heard of most tape decks being overbiased, i.e. turning the knob to the peak and continuing till it drops by 3 dB (for 456) but strangely, the 48 manual seems to indicate that you should turn the pot until the peak, then turn it back the other way.

It doesn't seem like it would matter which way you turn the knob, but I thought I'd ask you.

I mean, underbias, overbias, what's the difference if you're still reaching 3 or 1.5 dB (for 499) below the peak. You end up where you want to be anyway right?

I just think it's wierd the Tascam 48 manual has you turn the knob back in the opposite direction.

Uhh... I have to admit I don't remember. I don't remember what the manual says, and I don't remember what I did. I don't recall using "underbias" so perhaps either I missed that in the manual or decided they were wrong. Like I said, I don't remember. I'll look at the manual when I get home in three weeks.

But yes, it most definitely does matter which way you turn the knob. The movent of the VU meter is just one rather abstract representation of the effects of turning that bias knob. The knob you turn actually increases the quantity of bias signal (which is something like 200kHz) getting mixed in with the audio. This affects the amount of 10k tone that gets successfully recorded (hence the movement of the VU meter) but it affects a whole bunch of other things too, like overall signal level, noise, LF distortion, etc. There's a specific amount of bias signal that will cause a maximum amount of HF record level to occur, and that's a convenient reference point because you can find it by recording a HF tone and watching the VU meter while you adjust it. But whether you go up and down from there, and by how much, is where the metal meets the mustard (i just made that up) as far as a whole slew of interrelated audio effects are concerned. Some people use a distortion meter and a LF tone rather than a VU meter and a HF tone. In any case, the precise amount of bias you want depends on the size of the head gap, the formulation of the specific piece of tape (not just the brand/model, but the batch too) and your own preference for a specific point on the continuum of compromise between all the various parameters. The bias recommendation in the manual is just that - a recommendation based on what they think is the best compromise between, primarily, HF signal level and LF distortion. It's a good place to start until you learn from experience something that makes you want to deviate from that.

I've got a 48 I just bought, in great shape. However, it turns out that when those machines were made (and it may be the same for the 58) that the number 3 pin was hot on the xlr connectors. Not knowing this, and plus plugging it into my Roland 1680 digital recorder, I somehow screwed up the XLR output section of the 48. Back to the shop with it. Just be aware of the different pin configuration.

I also bought at the same time... just kind of happened..a Revox 8 track C278 in mint condition. I'm curious which one will sound better.

Hey Everyone!

I'm a newby here - just joined this second!!

I've been using a 48-OB for about 13Years! So I'm a newby to forums but an oldby user of a 48 haha, yeah ok that wasn't funny, anyway I just had to reply to SaintGeorge about his "pin3 hot" problem.

I'm not sure if mine's pin3 or pin2 hot but this won't effect whether the XLR's work or not.

What I found a few years ago with mine is the XLR outputs didn't work. (I always use the RCA's normally (home studio)). What you'll find is on the audio cards is a pair of 'IC' looking relays (one for RCA and one for XLR) which mute the outputs when the unit's turned on or off. On my unit, for some reason, all the coils on the XLR relays had open-circuited. The RCAs are all fine. The hard part here is finding a replacement. TEAC Australia (Where I live) don't support the 48 anymore so I ended up by-passing the relay circuit with a link. All good!

Hope that helps.

Oh yeah, just had to say since owning my 48 I've only ever had Ampex499 then Quantegy Gp9 on this thing aligned to 355nWb/m and it's fat city. You can still peg the meters hard, in fact it's hard to find mixers to drive any signal hard enough into the thing to get tape compression. I've had to modify my mixer to get more drive out of it, haha. Or could use 456 to get more compression if that's what you want. I'll soon be trying some RMGI formulations, even sm468. I've tryed that on my two track and it sounds good when compressing.

...And for what it's worth the 40 and 50 series were "PRO" machines. Mine came out of a TV -post production studio.

Cheers guys/gals
Cam

posting to bookmark, thanks.

Hello guys,

I'malsoahappy owner of this robust machine. Only after a year I've come across my first problem, which some other people seem to have had: a couple of channels not working on playback.
On my way to try to fix the problem myself I found the service manual online for free,so it is my duty to share with you all:

Hifi Manuals - Tascam

You just need to create an account and you'll get access to a lot of manuals, from different brands.

Enjoy.

You can't cal a 388 much above 250nw. So if one is using 996, he's got nothing BUT headroom. Still, 8 tracks on 1/4" tape doesn't leave much if a guard stripe, so .....

Hi all,

(First post here so apologies if this is under the wrong section)

I've inherited a Tascam 58-OB that's in very good condition.
I was wondering if anyone here would be interested in taking it off my hands?
If anyone wants more details or photos of the unit, then please get in touch

Thanks

Cam

Hi. Is there any chance you still have that 58 or know who bought it from you? I'm looking for one.

hi All
This post seems a bit old, but it matches my problems

I have a tascam 58 Ob that at first didn't work.
I'm a not a tech at all, but I took time to dissemble it clean what I could and reassemble
and then It worked around 80%.
in sync mode 7 tracks worked
in repro : only 4 tracks worked

I've cleaned again the rec/play cards used gently some French deoxit on the contacts and relays
and resoldered the rca connections.
Now
in sync mode : all tracks work ( only track 7 need sometimes a little toggle to work)
in repro mode: only track 4 doesn't work

my questions :

Would you have a idea for the problem in repro mode and for track 7 ?

Track 6 Vu meter doesn't work, but when I send a very loud signal then it moves
and it behaves like the others, What could I do to this ? is it stuck or else ?

The peak meter, flashes even at Low volume.
I've calibrated the machine ( I have the manual) did the peak as they say
0,3V 1khz tone raise the volume (+2,5DbV ???) I've aimed for the +3dbVU so the peak led flashes.
Any idea ?

The XLR Connection is it useful I would like to use them to match my set up, but as I calibrated with the RCA, when I plug the XLR input volume etc doesn't match.
Do I have to recalibrate with the XLR ( The manual doesn't mention the XLR for calibration)

Thanks in advance if you any have ideas / advices

Bises de France

Cina