[philicorda[_6_]]

On Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:59:51 +0000, Mike Rivers wrote:

philicorda wrote:

Thanks again. I'll get in touch with Tascam and examine that site more

If by "that site" you mean the TASCAM web site, you won't find much
encouragement about parts.

I was thinking of the Russell Industries site. There is a lot of parts on
there!

Send them e-mail, or better yet, spring for a
phone call. TASCAM isn't as independent as it used to be and basically
all their parts support comes from TEAC. If TEAC has a service facility
closer to where you are than California, try that first. Even though
TEAC didn't put their brand name on your deck, they built it, probably
from parts that are used in several other transports. They almost
certainly have a "common parts" list and can sell you a new pinch
roller.

I emailed TASCAM and they got back to me right away.
They still have the pinch roller for $8.10, and some of the belts
(counter belt A, and capstan belt). Not the idler tires though.

That's not a problem as Russell have the idlers, and "Vintage
Electronics" do a complete belt kit for $10.

The transport is certainly from some other TEAC decks. The construction
inside the 144 is quite amusing, with odd shaped bits of metal screwed
together all over the place. It somehow doesn't look like it was made for
mass production. It is at least possible to separate it into it's main
components though, compared to a densely packed modern 4-track.

Another odd thing is that there is almost the complete circuitry for four
track simultaneous recording, with four record amps and bias traps.
However, you can only record two tracks at once, and there are only two
channels of dolby encoding available. It's as if it was going to be four
channel record, but they changed their minds at the last minute.