Tascam 122 MkII or 122

[ksrigg]

What about the Tascam 12 Mk II or the original Tascam 122? Are these great decks, or not so good as the consumer electronics. I know they were used primarily in broadcast, but am unsure of the quality of recordings and playback compared the the better consumer grade three head decks. Any comments welcomed..

 

[speakerman1]

If it is like the 302 when they did the MKII the specs dropped.

Larry

 

[Fast Forward]

You need one of these

 

[Gepetto]

Tascam 122 Mk2 is a great deck, loved it until the chip on the capstan motor gave up the ghost. I will repair it soon after I find the rare SO-16 chip that died.

Very musical and analog sounding deck.

 

[speakerman1]

Are the chips the same for a 302.I have a 302 sitting here just for parts. Can you use anything off the 302 to get it running?

Larry

 

[Gepetto]

Hi Larry
I do not know what the 302 uses. Its been a while since I worked on the 122mk2 and will have to check the board again (it is a bear to get at the capstan motor board). The dead chip is either a BA6301F or BA6303F, I will have to open it up to reconfirm which it is.

Thanks for your help.

Joe

 

[rtp_burnsville]

I have a 112B (non MK series) and it's a good deck but only a two header. Agree with what was posted above, as the MK number increased quality appears to drop.

Are you sure the chip is toast and not the motor itself?

Anyway, I find myself using the 112B way more than any other deck I own.

Robert

 

[Gepetto]

Hi Robert
It is a brushless capstan motor, not much to go wrong in the area of mechanics with it. The motor runs but slightly slow from the way it originally ran. It produces an audible whistle when it is running. When I look at the drive signal produced by the servo chip, it is malformed and has signal content at the frequency of the whistle. Pretty sure it is this chip but won't know for sure until it is swapped out.
Thx
Joe

 

[rtp_burnsville]

Hi Robert
It is a brushless capstan motor, not much to go wrong in the area of mechanics with it. The motor runs but slightly slow from the way it originally ran. It produces an audible whistle when it is running. When I look at the drive signal produced by the servo chip, it is malformed and has signal content at the frequency of the whistle. Pretty sure it is this chip but won't know for sure until it is swapped out.
Thx
Joe

Hi Joe,
Your deck must be a bit different than my 112 as it used a brush type DC motor to drive the capstan. I needed to replace my motor a few months back with one Larry pulled from his donor 302 deck. His motor was slightly different and it was also designed for a two speed deck vs the single in the 112.

I pulled my motor apart and it had a servo chip on the internal circuit board. I reverse engineered it and the supporting circuit to get the replacement to operate correctly. I think most of the process I went though is in a post here someplace if you have an interest.

I also bought a couple new motors from China, but ended up using the one Larry supplied. The China motors were only like $4.00 shipped to my door, unreal.

Let us know how it goes.... If I can help somehow just let me know.

Robert

 

[speakerman1]

I had a 302 manual. I'll look to see if I have those chips. Yes the 302 is a dual speed on record only. It will record at 3.75 IPS or what ever.

Larry