Optional Accessories; Care And Maintenance - Tascam PORTASTUDIO 424 MKIII Owner's Manual

Optional Accessories

RC-30P Remote Footswitch
Head Demagnetizer
TZ-261 Cleaning Kit (Except U.S.)
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MIDI-Tape Synchronizer
HC-1 Head Cleaner & RC-1 Rubber Cleaner
(U.S.only)

Care and Maintenance

Even though the heads used in your 424 MKIII
have high wear resistance and are rigidly
constructed, performance degradation or electro-
mechanical failure can be prevented if
maintenance is performed regularly.
CLEANING
The first things you will need for maintenance are
not expensive. The whole kit with the swabs and
fluids you will need for months will cost less than
a couple of high quality cassettes.
We cannot stress the importance of cleaning too
much. Clean up before each session. Clean up
after every session. Clean up every time you take
a break in the middle of a session.
DEGAUSSING (DEMAGNETIZING)
A little stray magnetism can become quite a big
nuisance in tape recording. It only takes a small
amount (0.2 Gauss) to cause trouble on the
record head. Playing 10 cassettes will put about
that much charge on the heads. A little more than
that (0.7 Gauss) will start to erase high frequency
signals on previously recorded tapes. You can see
that it's worth taking the trouble to degauss
regularly.
A clean and properly demagnetized tape recorder
will maintain its performance without any other
attention for quite a while. It won't ruin
previously recorded material, nor will getting it
back to original specifications be difficult.
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Cleaning the Heads and Tape Guides
All heads and metal parts in the tape path must
be cleaned after every 6 hours of operation, or
before starting and after ending a recording
session.
1. Open the cassette compartment door. Tape
should not be loaded.
2. Hold STOP and REHEARSAL and press POWER
to activate a Cleaning mode. "Cleaning" will
show on the display.
CLEANING MODE : While in this mode, PLAY,
F.FWD, REW, and STOP are effective, letting
you get access to the head block, and rotate
the capstan shaft and the pinch roller at high
speed in either direction, or at normal play
speed, making it easy to clean them as you
perform the following steps.
3. Press PLAY (needless to hold it this time), so
the head blocks move out.
∑ If you leave the unit in Cleaning mode for
3 minutes after you have pressed PLAY, it will
automatically go to STOP, the head block
moving back.
4. Using a good head cleaning fluid and a cotton
swab, clean the heads and tape guides until
the swab comes off clean. Wipe off any excess
cleaning fluid with a dry swab.