this is exactly why i ditched dat about 4 or so years ago, i had failed at recording about 6-8 times in a row and couldnt pull a tape to save my life, sold the d-8 and got a jb3 and all was good in the universe
i would say get it serviced if you want to continue using it
what brand of tapes
I always used the KAO golds til they were discontinued, then used the maxell HS-4's, in both 60 and 90 meters, i had good luck w/ those for the most part, but when heads go bad and get misaligned, all sorts of weird things start happening