Tascam 414 MKii Fuzz

[wheyface]

Hey everybody!

I recorded some surfy demos last year (you can hear them here: //lovesounds.bandcamp.com to get an idea of what I'm talking about)
All the fuzz and distortion was through the mono preamps and mixer eq's that are on board.  And I LOVE that sound.  Unfortunately the capstan on that recorder busted and I haven't really considered fixing yet. 

My question is has anybody tried converting the innards of that machine into a stompbox? I've taken a look at the insides of it (I can't find schematics anywhere online) but I was just wondering if anybody's tried it. 

[joelindsey]

Are you sure the actual capstan is busted? I doubt it, considering that it's a straight rod of metal.  The capstan belt will often break or wear out after years of use. A new belt is likely a few dollars on ebay.

IIRC the preamp is a two transistor balanced gain stage (real descriptive, I know) followed by an op amp stage, though it may be different on your MkII because the design changed a bit with the various models. You can find the schematics for one of the 488 models online, and there's a good chance they used the same preamp on both. Might point you in the right direction if you want to copy the circuit for a pedal or something. Cutting it apart to make a pedal won't be worth it, and is wasteful imo. If fixing isn't an option, you could use it as a dedicated mixer and wire direct outs for each channel pretty easily.

I think the mid Fi electronics "demo tape" fuzz is based off one of the 424 preamps.

[wheyface]

Haha yes the belt is what I meant.  I had it modded for a while so it would wobble out of control but that died a bit ago as well.

The 488 definitely didn't use the same preamps unfortunately.  I had one sold it recently, most of the time just ended throwing the 414 infront of it.  If I'm not mistaken the 424 and the 488 have the same preamps and the 414s were different.

Doug keeps that schem under wraps, and rightfully so haha.

[nocentelli]

Demo tape fuzz schematic is available over at the other place.

[wheyface]

Where is "the other place"? I've been looking for weeks.

[Mustachio]

Maybe this is what your looking for.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/02/mid-fi-electronics-demo-tape-fuzz.html

[nocentelli]

The other place -

http://tinyurl.com/qe7yokw

The name cannot be posted here, some software censors it out.

[wheyface]

Radical thank you dudes!!!!!!

[duck_arse]

The other place -

http://tinyurl.com/qe7yokw

that's very funny.

[Rooster72]

The other place -

http://tinyurl.com/qe7yokw

that's very funny.

O hey friend, that is funny, I stumbled across the other place and it looked so familiar, I new I shouldnt of came back over here and mentioned what I saw there. Really like that Demo Tape Fuzz

[Rooster72]

The other place -

http://tinyurl.com/qe7yokw

that's very funny.

O hey friend, that is funny, I stumbled across the other place and it looked so familiar, I new I shouldnt of came back over here and mentioned what I saw there. Really like that Demo Tape Fuzz

[garcho]

I love the 424 channel overload, reminds me a little of the Neve/Lennon.

[tjdracz]

414mk II plus reverb = tone of brad laner from Medicine. Got my Tascam for about £10 two months ago. Thought about taking it apart and tracing the preamp to have couple of them stacked in the stompbox form. Not sure how different that would be from Demo Tape though.

[mth5044]

414mk II plus reverb = tone of brad laner from Medicine. Got my Tascam for about £10 two months ago. Thought about taking it apart and tracing the preamp to have couple of them stacked in the stompbox form. Not sure how different that would be from Demo Tape though.

Only one way to find out