ShortScale.org

i have an older tascam portastudio thing, 4 track simo, 8 bounced,
works great for recording practices and what not,
but anywho,
the last couple of time tracys guitar has come out sounding really really really distorted/fuzzy,
this is the way it is setup
guitar>amp>direct out>input 4
she always plays clean, the amp is a mid 70's ampeg 2X10 with 1/4 outs for each side and low z style mic outs for each side.
i have tried using different cables, different outs, and switching channels on the tascam but i still get this nasty distortion thing going on, i have tried trimming it, and recording her extra low,
my first thought is that the outs are fucked, but when i opened it up the two 1/4 go one place and the other two go to another place.
does anyone have any ideas, im probly missing something small, but its starting to drive me crazy.
the tape is not redlining or anything like that so..... im fucking lost.

I would guess that the output on the amp is fucked up. have you tried any other amps or amp sims or anyting?

i have only really spent about 30 mins on the problem during a break last night.
im almost getting to the point where im ready to buy new tubes, a few cans of duster, and about 15 new cables for the band room.
basically just go thru and clean everything really well, and the especially nasty stuff, i'll get it with a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol, if i can safely eliminate everything except for the amp then i know a fellow in indianapolis that can fix just about anything.

Plug the guitar straight into the Tascam and see if it's still crackleville.

It may be possible that channel 4 was blown in some way. If it's any channel, however, then maybe the out on the amp is hot. Is it for guitar? I've heard that bass amps run hotter, but who knows. Also, is it line out, speaker out or what?

So other things go in and out of the same channels are ok? I not, could be bad opamp or other component in the repro circuit. Not sure how those units are set up.

it would appear that its the amp, i was able to fuck with it a lil tiny bit on monday, ran my guitar, used my cables, her amp, and into my channel on the 8 track, recorded about 10seconds of sound, played it back and it sounded really odd, but not like hers did, i think it was redlining a bit, but i could not tell where i was at.
who knows when i will get to mess with it again.

have you tired demagnitizing and swabbing the heads with alcohol?

If you can get the tracks to a computer and visually see (redundant?) the wave forms, you could look for flat peaks, which generally are where distortion occurs... Distortion meaning clipping, red lining, peaking, what ever you wanna call it.

Also, remember your signal levels:

Instrument/ mic level
live level
speaker/ headphone level

If you put speaker/ headphone level into a "line in" you'll be lucky if you don't blow shit.

Check the manuals to see what level shit is at, or jus hook a speaker/ headphones up to it. If you can hear it, then it's at speaker/ headphone level, and should not be goin' into your Tascam. find a line out, and put that into the line in...