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Guys and gals,
Been making some tapes from vinyl to reel to reel,using some older Quantagy 407 at 7.5 ips.My deck is a Revox B-77 mk2 2 track.Very happy with the outcome!.
I would like to purchase some new Emtec tape from USR.They sell a sampler pack with 4 tapes on 5" reels for $30 bucks.
Sm911
sm900
sm468
lpr35.
Would this be the way to go to see what tape sounds the best with the Revox,or perhaps I could by a calibration tape and set the deck for the best tape?.
I would think the B-77 was biased for Quantagy 456? or similar.
I have never biased a deck before but have the service manual and would like to learn.
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Don't overlook the EMTEC SM 468....orginally AGFA468 then BASF468.Works very well with Studer and Revox machines, and did not suffer the dreaded shred problem back in the '80's. Print through is non existant (I always ran it at +3). It also packwinds beautifully! I've still got 2 cases of 10-1/2" 468 pancakes (1/4") for my mostly retired B-67's.
I wouldn't worry about 900 series or ATR for that matter... (at least I stopped holding my breath for it about 2 years ago...)
I was wondering why you would say not to worry about the 900 series tape. It's not that much more than the 911 and the additional 3dB would seem like it's worth it. As far as I can tell from US Recording Media's site, it seems like it is available in 1/4" now.
... the electronics will most likley overload before you are able to saturate the tape with enough magnetic flux to justify the extra headroom built into the tape. ;-)
Thanks Danny, I was wondering if that might be the case. It sounds like the 911 is for me then. BTW Will you be going to CES? If so, how about giving us a little report on r2r there and let us know how Doc's Tape Project gear and tape are in the TAD room. I've been seeing decks starting to pop up here and there lately. The Analog Room here in San Jose had one. Brian Hartsell the owner, has a Tandburg 20se in his main listening room the last time I was over there, but he hadn't hooked it up yet.
whilst not particularly my kind of music the handful of cuts sounded very good on Tim's Technics.to my great surprise the sampler was on Agfa tape... it shed quite a bit, no idea where Doc got the tape from... must have been NOS, neat to have seen the Agfa name again.
Unfortunatley, I did not have the chance to hear Doc's machine @ the TAD room, though heard people liked it.
I also didn't run into Doc to talk about specifics on the tape project, though he was passing around info fliers...
Yes, it was NOS 468. We've been negotiating with RMGI to get pancakes in a size that will be usable for the project, but couldn't get it in time for the show. Paul used what he felt was the tape closest sonically to what we will deliver the albums on.That vintage tape did shed, didn't it? Alon Wolf was running a demo tape pretty much constantly on one of our machines for a couple of days in the Magico room, and Michael had to do a pretty heavy duty machine cleaning by Thursday. On the other hand the machine in the TAD room was only running a demo track maybe once or twice per hour and it wasn't so bad. Anyway, it's another vote against using old tape for anything unless you have no choice. I haven't seen any old 1/4" tape lately that didn't shed to some degree, even 111. But so far we have found the sample we have of the new formula 468 to be clean and very nice sounding.
I'm afraid I was going in nine directions at once for most of the show. Setup in the TAD room where I also installed four preamps was very complex and took all day Sunday. Then we did an installation of our backup tape system in the Magico room, during the show. On top of that there were lots of meetings, I had to build a website at the last minute, and I had to leave Thursday morning. Sorry that I didn't run into you, and a lot more folks I know. One of my regrets was not making it down to the E.A.R. room. I'm sure it sounded great.
On the "2 Track Tape Project", "Reel to Reel" and the "News" pages at Analog Lovers.
we should talk soon however...I have something interesting on the hook...
email me when you get a chance...
best,
I think bshapiro is right. You would be better off getting everything done by a pro at least once before you try it yourself. Aside from the fact that it should be checked over every once in a while for lubrication and adjustments to compensate for head wear, you will need some equipment to do the bias correctly. Even adjusting the heads requires a dual trace scope. For bias on my Technics rs1500 you need a scope, oscillator,attenuator,vtvm and a test tape. As far as which formulation you should use, did you check out the "What tape should I use?" section over on USRM's site. If that didn't help, you should email them with your exact requirements. I'm kind of in the same boat. I want to get my machine biased for one of the new tape formulations but I'm still waiting on ATR magnetics to get their tape out. Depending on price, it's either that or the 900 I think for me.
There is a part of me that still believes that ATR is a fantastic hoax. Their "new" tapes were announced no less than 3 years ago. Initial roll out and availability dates were strung along for at least two of those years with a laundry list of excuse after excuse. Now their website has remained virtually unchanged for at least a year and none of the links (specs, products, etc) on the page even work or lead to anywhere.Some people will try and justify this indefinite delay and defend them by saying things like "they want to make sure it's perfect" and other generic responses to that effect.
-To which I reply:
"Hogwash"
If, in 3 years they couldn't perfect a century old technology emulated incalculable times by numerous other manufacturers....
...then they got no business making tape at all.
When I see ATR tape for sale, available for immediate delivery, THEN I'll believe they are on the up-and-up.
Until then. Don't hold your breath. I exhaled long long ago.
I've been saying that for almost 2 years now, getting all sorts of nasty emails from users and such accusing me of all sorts of ridiculous conspiracies etc...
I've gotten plenty of nastygrams from ATR stooges and puppets as well. Either A) They are in on the [alleged] hoax, or B) are so desperate for new tape and for whatever reason don't like the very fine quality tapes from Quantegy or buying off Ebay that they'll cling to any hope.And my response is always the same:
"Show me the tape!" "Show me some kind of proof other than a static website that for all we know is being maintained by some college kid in Sweden that something is being done in the direction of having new tape"!
Interesting and humorous posts. I mentioned to Danny a while back that we probably ought to support anyone who is crazy enough to try to get tape out these days. Perhaps that makes me one of the ATR stooges - if so, I want to be Shemp, though my hair is more like Larry's these days...What I can offer to the database is that my bro Paul has tried the ATR Magnetics tape and recently the RMGI 468 as well. He says they are both great.
ATR Magnetics won't be slitting 1/4" for a while yet. They will first make tape for markets with a reasonable volume demand - 2" and 1/2". That should give you guys some time to fume about ATR Magnetics 1/4" for a while yet, and since the RMGI tape is available now it ought to work out for everyone.
ATR still has all of the classic threads of being a hoax: The few times someone has claimed to have seen the tape, it's always been through "a friend" or a "friend of a friend". But that much more credible first-hand experience remains elusive.
I have a sample of the tape in my hand as I type this (one handed typing.)
It will probably only be marketed to the filthy rich and famous first. Just like the WE tubes. Ray
"I take you as you are
And make of you what I will,
Skunk-bear, carcajou, bloodthirsty
Non-survivor.
Lord, let me die but not die out." THE LAST WOLVERINE by James Dickey
ATR will not be making any tapes someone is taking the piss here!
No manufacturing company takes 3 years to sort out teething problems it is a lie a scandal a hoax. For what perpose I wonder only thing I can think of is that someone gets a kick out of it thinking our lives depend on a new manufacturer! GET REAL ATR are never going to be.
I guess they were right,.. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! I forgot that I mentioned ATR Magnetics a while ago and got a negative reaction then as well. I've only been waiting for about a year and I don't do that much recording with tape, at least not yet!
otherwise I'm with you 110% Doc.
I'd say buy a calibration tape and set up the deck--or find some tech to do it for you since to do it best requires aligning the heads first, etc and its all somewhat involved. That's the only reliable way to get best performance from a deck. I'm not up on the particular formulations, but probably any good tape would sound fine with the deck properly set up for THAT tape.OTOH, if you wanted to be lazy about it, just get the sampler of tapes and try them each, and you'll probably find one that matches the bias and eq for the deck as its set up now. You won't get absolute best performance that way, just something that sounds as good as luck will have it.
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