Which reels to buy?

[fluteless]

Hi all, and Greetings from Hamilton, Ontario. I am new to the forum, and have been away from Reel to Reel recording for about 20 years or so. I've just begun building a retro system and am going to be recording all of my old albums.
When I was recording years ago, I was using only the Maxell Ud reels. That's because that was all that was available where I was living at the time. Now, of course there's this thing called the internet, and I've discovered that there is more than Maxell. I am looking at some basF 468 , some Quantegy 480's and finally some 3m 908's. I was familiar with none of these tapes, but they've apparently been recorded on once.

Can anyone tell me which is the best tape to use of these, or am I better to go back to the old familiar Maxells, never recorded on ?

Thanks in advance for your help !!!

[cjacek]

Which machine are you recording to and are you aware that you will need to rebias it for the type of tape you will be using ?

Maxell tapes are great but there are newer and better formulations still made today, namely ones from RMGI (same stuff as BASF / EMTEC).

[fluteless]

Hi and thank you for your response.

I'm not quite sure of what you mean by re-biasing the machine. I've just bought an older Pioneer t-6600. however, that is probably going to be a temporary move until I can afford a Tascam or Revox.

What is meant by rebiasing?

Thanks

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by fluteless

Hi and thank you for your response.

I'm not quite sure of what you mean by re-biasing the machine. I've just bought an older Pioneer t-6600. however, that is probably going to be a temporary move until I can afford a Tascam or Revox.

What is meant by rebiasing?

Thanks

Here's a couple of nice links on bias:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...udio/bias.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/tape-bias

After reading the above, you'll understand why it is neccessary to set the correct "bias" for different tapes outthere. You cannot just pop whatever tape on a recorder and hope for the best. If your machine was biased and setup for Maxell UD tape then you will need to adjust bias for another type of tape if you want your recordings to sound faithful to the original. (There's a whole thing on electronic and mechanical alignment but lets leave that alone for now). I suspect on your Pioneer it may be a difficult proposition as the bias may not be sufficient for more modern tapes. Of course, I don't know this for sure as I'm not intimately familiar with your model. You may want to stick with the Maxell till you get one of the other recorders.

[A Reel Person]

Originally Posted by fluteless

Hi all, and Greetings from Hamilton, Ontario. I am new to the forum, and have been away from Reel to Reel recording for about 20 years or so. I've just begun building a retro system and am going to be recording all of my old albums.
When I was recording years ago, I was using only the Maxell Ud reels. That's because that was all that was available where I was living at the time. Now, of course there's this thing called the internet, and I've discovered that there is more than Maxell. I am looking at some basF 468 , some Quantegy 480's and finally some 3m 908's. I was familiar with none of these tapes, but they've apparently been recorded on once.

Can anyone tell me which is the best tape to use of these, or am I better to go back to the old familiar Maxells, never recorded on ?

Thanks in advance for your help !!!

Basf 468 shoud be "as like" Quantegy 456 as you'll get, which is a 'standard' spec tape from the 80's & early 90's,... (please don't flame me!)

Quantegy 480's (and 478's) are "spec'd for Nagras and superior performance", which I've looked at the spec cards (not in front of me at this time), and it looks like you can run it about +3db hotter than "four five six". Again, pls don't flame me!!

I gotta correct this now, after a quick check of the spec/list: 3M 908 is a is "made-to-be compatible with Quantegy 480" tape, so in the turnaround [estimate] that "908" is run "+3db hotter than 456". Pls dont,... aaaagggghhhh!!!

That's all I gotta say,... 'cept:

Aw, fuck! Flame away!

[_DK]

Be careful with 3M Scotch tapes, they're sticky! Basf (or RMGI) and Maxell would be your best choice

[A Reel Person]

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=145211

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=148809

You gotta learn 'specmanship' to read these papers, I'll forewarn you. You can thank me later.

[fluteless]

So how does one set the bias on a tape machine to meet tape requirements? Is it a mechanical adjustment?
Thanks.

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by fluteless

So how does one set the bias on a tape machine to meet tape requirements?

You first need to get the service manual for the type of machine you have, which usually tells you how to do this (for that specific machine) and points you to the location of the bias adjustments, among other things. Generally speaking, you load a tape on the machine, press record, pass a steady tone, of a specific frequency, such as 10khz, into the inputs of the machine, so that it registers somewhere below 0db, turn the bias pot counter clockwise (using a non-conductive tool) till the needle drops to the left and then slowly turn it clockwise till the needle hits a peak, anywhere on the meter and then you turn it some more till it drops a few db, which is specific to the tape, speed used etc ... Again, this is very general but there is another less technical way. You still need to know where the bias pots are but what you do is play some music material while recording it to your preferred tape. Don't go over 0db when recording. Now, assuming you have a 3 head deck where you can monitor off tape and source, try to adjust bias till "source" and "tape" are similar in sound. You have to have good ears for this and really listen closely, especially to the highs, lows and any distortion.