20 Most Recent Tascam 122MKIII Single Dual Cassette Deck Questions & Answers

Look for small leaver or any contact switches. They might have become bent out of shape or broken, or have dirt in them, cutting off the sound. Also check the leads coming from the head, they might have become detached or at least you can trace where they join the PC board. If you touch where they join you should get a buzz on either channel.

There is an idler wheel behind the platen ( black plate behind the cassette)..replace the idler wheel.

The guy in texas is Marrs communications

The 112 unit uses a cam operated transport- it may need a new 6.5" belt and some head base lubrication as well as the feedback pot spray cleaned. I do them all the time.

The problem is a lack of movement in the transport to tell the controller that it has completed it cycle. This is most of the time caused by the grease they used and sometimes a gear with broken teeth on it. These gears have been discontinued and I am having some made but it will take a few months to set up. I do have some in stock right now for repairs. The transport will need to be cleaned of old grease and new grease put into it. They also suffer from decaying capstan surface mount caps. These are replaced when I do the gear correction. After that they are good decks.

I get mine at Stereomanuals.com where the best manuals are reproduced. I am a past Teac Technician so I know what good one look like- I have been doing repair for better than 45 years.

Well which is it 122 mk III or the 238? The grease in the 122 will harden with time and gear crack or lose teeth. The deck needs to be worked on. There is myself in Chicago, Russ in New Jersey that are still working Teac Technicians. There is Adrian in CA but I am not sure he wants to work on cassette decks.

The DAT machine needs new belts and maybe some cleaning. These fail all the time due to old belts that lose the tension that is required.

This is a solenoid controlled deck. INITIALLY I'd say your rewind button is stuck in the pushed position. sometimes dirt, grease, smoke narrow the clearance between the buttons. THEN I'd say the relay that controls the solenoid is stuck in the engaged position. THIRDLY I say the solenoid ITSELF has some metal filings or dirt in IT, and it is jammed. Let me know

Chances are that pre-amp IC that controls both channels has failed. Follow the wires from the tape head and trace the signal. Better still start with the output of the deck and trace backwards. If you touch the audio circuit with an insulated screwdriver (don't short anything) it should buzz. when you find something that buzzes on one side (coming out) but doesn't buzz on the otherside (signal going in) then you have found what needs to be replaced.
PS don't touch the power section.

I have sent you an E mail. This is the best way to determine the problem

Fear not, I am here. I worked at Teac Factory Service and have been servicing decks for 40 plus years. I have a shop that is working on these now. I am in the Chicago area. The problem I think you are describing is that of the processor signalling that it can not control it's mechanism. This is due to a lose belt if it has one or a bad mechanism control motor that drives a gear to move the mechanism- head base and cam to get all the modes. I am not allowed to give you my contact info as that is not what they want but if you ask for it that might be different.Have a look inside, see if there is a belt from a motor to a pulley that seems gummy or lose and then that is probably all you need for the immediate issue. Of course when I get units in fro repair I do all the stuff that is not talked about to make it last long and wear the longest. Changing a belt is not the only thing it needs and the calibration of the levels and bias change with wear and age. SkywaveTDR.If you are really in a rush just look up tape deck repair in Chicago and you will find me.

How can an Idler have anything to do with audio hum?You may have a bad cap in the preamp section, you can have a bad ground in a power supply screw or even a head wire that has broken off- a Technician should be able to locate the problem pretty fast.

Scott has a point. You need to determine what is causing the unit to stop and it could be a bad cam motor belt if it has one or the lack of take-up die to the bad idler or even a dead spot on the reel motor. The reel motor will work normally at high speeds due to inertia but at low speeds as are used in play the dead spot of the motor can become much more apparent.

If it is making noise chances are that it is also running too fast. The solution that I have found to be reliable is to change the motor with a new one. The only problem is that you will putting in the same defective made motor that you started with an a good chance that down the line the thing will have to be replaced again. It is like you are renting motors for this unit not buying them. This is the largest mistake Teac made in designing this deck. Otherwise it is a good machine.

I'm in Vermont and have 25+ years into it and good references

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That would be me at Skywave Tape Deck Repair- maybe I have contacted you already through Thumbtack.I can not say more here but if you search for tape deck repair in Chicago you no doubt will come across me sooner or later.The only other person you would be qualified would be Russ Bachmann at New Jersey Factory service. We both worked at Teac factory service facilities and rose to high ranks at those facilities.