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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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In Reply to: RTR tape question posted by DRam on May 10, 2015 at 15:30:30:
I haven't personally used those tapes, but they have a good reputation. My experience is with Ampex 406/407/456, Agfa PEM 469, BASF, Maxell UD-35, TDK GX and Quantegy 499.
I hope you have some empty reels to spool your pancakes onto, 'cause working with pancakes is a pain.
A lot (most?) of audiophiles/amateurs like to use 1 mil tape because a reel of it is longer and therefore holds more music or whatever they're recording. 1.5 mil (such as your referenced ATR tape) is/was the standard for professional recording because of reduced print-through at high signal levels, and it will tolerate more physical abuse. At 15 ips, a 10.5" reel with 2500 feet of 1.5 mil tape will get you 33 minutes of recording time.
With regard to X-2000R's comment about thicker tapes and "slippage". This is audio folklore mythology. I suppose, on a poorly maintained machine, it "could" happen, but I've never seen it. In fact, my expectation would be that it would more likely happen with thinner tapes.
As far as recording quality is concerned, the high output class of tapes need two fundamental things in order to achieve their best performance. One, appropriately higher bias and HF output settings in the machine's record electronics. Two, record electronics which are capable of hitting the tape with a very strong signal with low distortion. This is because these tapes achieve their wider S/N ratio by being able to handle higher signal levels than "regular" tapes. Some well-designed "pro-sumer" machines can do this. Many middle-of-the-road consumer decks can't. In any case, the worst that can happen is that your deck can't hit the tape hard enough to take advantage of its capabilities - kind of like driving a NASCAR car on a highway with a 75 mph speed limit. But that's not a reason to not use it.
Lastly, even if you can't adjust the bias and EQ to get flat response, you may or may not even notice it, depending on your hearing and what you record.
By the way, your link is to the Full Compass shipping page, not to the ATR tape page. (Aside: I knew the owner of Full Compass, Jonathan Lipp, way back in the late 70s!)
:)
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Follow Ups
- RE: RTR tape question - Inmate51 10:48:57 05/11/15 (3)
- Reels and bias/EQ - DRam 19:09:19 05/11/15 (2)
- That didn't take long. - DRam 19:22:21 05/11/15 (1)
- RE: PYRAL LPR-35 - X-2000R 07:05:18 05/12/15 (0)
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