Sony TC-378

This is my new project, the Sony TC-378. This is the ’tilted’ tape recorder, the front plate is hanging back, although is is not very visible in the pictures. The message given to me when I got it was that it worked ok and the pause button was missing.

Well that is both true. It plays nice and the pause button is indeed missing. It is possible to use the pause function however. This unit has the nice feature of a pinch roller that is moving out of the way when the tape is not playing. That is very clever because the tape path is clear when loading the tape. No fiddling the tape in between the capstan and the pinch roller. How this construction will last over the years is of course another question. And pinch roller pressure is of course also an issue.

TC-378 expanded

The only thing that is in need of fixing at the moment is the supply reel. When rewinding, it makes a screaming sound that is impossible to bear. I guess there is something wrong with the bearings. I will have to look into that.

The ‘older’ Teac A-3440

This past week I finally got round to working with my recently bought Tascam 34B. Ever since I got it a few months ago, I haven’t been satisfied with the sound at all. And surely not for this kind of machine. The tape transports are ok, very good exactly. The overall look and feel is excellent, working with it is an absolute joy.

But the sound was not ok. The sound was a little bit muffled, and some highs were absent. My older Teac A-3440 sounds a lot better. But of course, that deck I have already tackled. Using some other decks I finetuned my skills over the last few months, and now I felt the time was right to take on the big mighty TASCAM 34B.

Fortunately I had the service manual (recently purchased on the internet for a few euros, it was not freely available) so I used that as a guide. Other tools I used were my trusty calibration tape, a blank tape of LPR35, my old Philips scope (which will be replaced by a better scope, more on that later), my Philips analogue voltmeter PM2505, and software called Visual Analyser (for spectrum).

On the workbench, my 34B looked like this:

TASCAM 34B with face plate removed

TASCAM 34B bottom view. Notice the adjustment ‘knobs’

So, after a lot of fiddling with the potentiometers, measuring levels, changing tapes, etc. etc. I was done. So I eagerly recorded my first music onto it, played it back and …………..

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Wow!

The sound was really, really great! I used CD recordings of Dire Straits, Donald Fagen, and 4-track surround (quad) music of Pink Floyd, The Doors, Doobie Brothers and Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody to test, and I could hardly, if at all, distinguish between de CD and the tape.

This is truly amazing. I did not know a tape recorder could reproduce sound this good. As you can notice, I’m happy with the modifications I have done.
I don’t think this baby will go anywhere anytime soon, it will stay with me.