Peter Maydew
New member
Some of you with collections of old reel-to-reel tapes may have already come across this problem, and some may even know the solution. Apparently Ampex messed up their binder formulation in the mid to late seventies, the result being that it absorbs moisture over time eventually rendering the tape unplayable. However there is a way around this - my reference is Mike Rivers' article on the Josephson Microphones site: http://www.josephson.com/bake_tape.html
What concerns me, though, is that I've started finding this in later Ampex tapes, supposedly produced after 1984 when they started their more thorough incoming inspection. It seems a large collection of Ampex 457 on 7" reels may be affected. Has anybody else seen this?
What concerns me, though, is that I've started finding this in later Ampex tapes, supposedly produced after 1984 when they started their more thorough incoming inspection. It seems a large collection of Ampex 457 on 7" reels may be affected. Has anybody else seen this?