Power supply

[Caveman]

I bought an mx2424 in 2k used it 7 days a wk for over a decade grabbed a couple more lots of fun loved these guys.

Im just going to put this out there. Early on there were a lot of guys having issues with the power supply Tascam sold news ones for about $260 I picked one up but never had to use it.

If you have issues with your power supply the lcd display will dim while its writing to the hd etc and you can start running into a errors and corrupted files in writing or ethernet transfers.
The power supply was too weak for the box. The engineers must have cut it down to the bare minimum required which in the lab and on paper works great but in real world its not going to cut it.

We found that reseating the connectors going to the main board helps they can become loose.

Another thing we found, better than hot swaps in front or the horrible dvdram setup (ugh) the entire supply problem was completely solved for most of us when we took out internal 9gig and went out back with an external drive. Once I did this, to three different mx2424's I never ran into the dim display issue again.
They ran a lot better and even ethernet transfers seemed to go faster and smoother. I picked up a used mx and the guy installed bigger more power fan plus an extra fan and he said he ran with top cover off because heat problems. I took that extra fan out along with internal drive hooked up external mx ran cool and smooth.

This is just for people that may run into this issue, I recommend using an external drive you'll be glad you did.

 

[kzhus]

When I bought my MX2424, first thing I was advised was to use an external drive unit instead of the internal. It is said that there were some cutting corners on the PSU when it went to production, resulting in a PSU which cannot cope very well with the current demand of SCSI LVD160 HDs and heat.

Some users installed an additional PSU inside the unit dedicated just for the HDs and some others (like me) got an external SCSI U160 unit + terminator + cable. Never had an issue with the PSU.

 

[Caveman]

yep external drive is def way to go. One of my mx24's was a se no internal drive when i bought it. i wonder if the se mx's had a stronger pwr supply? Didnt matter as i used externals.

I posted hoping it helps someone who might run into the problem. I used to tell new owners all the time pull the internal go external right away.

 

[witzendoz]

Always my first bit of advice, external drives only. Low load on power supply, less heat inside, and loss noise direct from mx.

Never had a problem, early mx’s had power supply problems but they updated it later, a lot of the problems were dud connectors and some soldered the wires directly.

Alan

 

[Caveman]

yeah i just pinched the ends, reseated my connectors and it eliminated some issues i was having but i still noticed the display would dim while writing to hd. Thats when i switched to an external hd ran like a top after. Thats correct some guys did solder the power connectors i found pinching the ends a little did the job. Also, the way i worked at that time if i had an issue and needed to replace my power supply most likely i would have a client paying for studio time burning a hole in the side of my head waiting for me to fix my equipment problems fast!
So i didnt want to have to desolder solder with client sitting next to me. lol

I bought a newer pwer supply but it was before SE so i dont think it was upgraded version. I kept it as a spare.

 

[witzendoz]

There were a lot of mx’s made with the revised power supply before the se came out. I believe only the very early mx’s had the old power supply and a lot of these would have had them replaced by tascam along the way.

Alan

 

[Caveman]

I had one of the first mx's and when we all started having issues with the power supply I ordered a new one from Tascam $260 they never offered to replace it for free I was very mad as a lot of us were. There was talk of lawsuits flying around because there were a lot of things our boxes were supposed to do right out of the gate it was false advertising. We had to wait about 2 years before the box did all it was supposed to do. It wasn't Tascam that discovered the weak power supply it was one of the users on the original forum. It was also original users that discovered reseating the power cables and using external hd's. If I recall correctly, the power supply issue was the last straw for a lot of users. Lots of talk of a class action lawsuit and thats when the original Tascam forum was taken down.
I understand why they took the forum down, lots of negativity and it was affecting sales.

These boxes ended up being workhorses incredible strong reliable recorders. I just grabbed one for under $200. Yeah it draws the wave forms kinda slow but once drawn its good to go. Transfers on ethernet used to take forever its not bad today. For all the issues it had at the start they sure did a great job, closing in on 20 years! Im on my last one, Ill buy a couple more just as bu's or parts. I don't do much recording today, I used to record 7 days a week treated my mx's like rented mules. Incredible machines imho.

 

[witzendoz]

I really missed when the original tascam run mx forum was taken down, it was great talking directly to the developers and beta testing the software updates. I had one last problem they were going to fix when the developers were stopped, never fixed but not a big problem. Was to do with recording when chasing smpte as in the early days I still used tape with the mx supplying extra tracks, now tape use has stopped for me no longer a problem.

Alan

 

[Caveman]

It was horrible when the forum went down. The pwr supply issue seemed to be last straw. I understand ppl not wanting to buy anything else for a lot of us the mx with in/outs was very expensive we didnt think we should have to buy rino storecase hotswap systems to transfer or backup tracks. Tascam shouldve never shipped as early as they did they shouldve developed it more before they advertised.
I understand they were under the gun though with everyone racing to get a box out there to challenge radar.

A lot of early issues stuck with the mx reputation even though all the issues were fixed. Just read reviews on different sites like gs most of those opinions are from ppl that NEVER owned or used an mx theyre full of beans. Like at first ethernet transfer didnt work. Then when it finally worked with viewnet it was super slow. Finally it got fixed with mxview after a couple upgrades and it would transfer a 24 trk song in about 5 minutes. Not too shabby imho. But, read reviews and so called "experts" claim it takes hours to transfer one song.

For me, i dont record bands anymore i just missed monking with an mx so i bought a new used one again. Everytime ive sold an mx i end up regretting it miss it so i buy another one lol This is it, i wont sell anymore

The original forum was a good community made up of polite gentlmen people with a wealth of knowledge like Mike Farrow i think he was a beta tester too. Very smart engineers who shared so much with hacks like me

This site is getting there i hope it stays up. Lots of people helping eachother sharing information. Everyone on original forum who bought the first boxes, we all went thru a lot together learning fixing sharing. There were some very angry people but they left or calmed down as soon as their problems got fixed.

I worked hard with that box, doing two sessions a day 7 days a week except holidays. Bad shot but me my mx around 2005 working hard tracking a live band. Early flat monitor cost an arm and a leg for small one, crazy.