Studer A807 1/4" tape advice questions

[trancedental]

I've got a Studer A807 on the way (was originally thinking of buying a Revox B77 / PR99 but this machine was about the same price?) & was wondering what tape was recomended when it was new & what's the best available nowadays, I assume that todays best tape for this machine would be RMGI SM900?

As it was one of the last R2R machines made I assume that it was designed for higher output tape? Maybe Scotch 996 / Quantegy 499 or similar?

Can't find any info so far?

Cheers

[Beck]

The A807 will do +9 tapes like SM900, GP9, 499, etc. When it was new it was set for +6 tape like 456, SM911, SM468, etc.

I would probably keep it set for 456 type, but it's a judgment call... depends on what you want out of it. Using 456 and compatible you can get a very clean sound, or some saturation by pushing the levels. GP9 and SM900 are difficult to push into saturation, and it doesn't sound the same, so clean/quite is your only option.

Another plus when using 456 compatible settings is the option of mastering to AMPEX/Quantegy 406, which is bias compatible with 456. 406 is a +3 category tape, but was/is a fav of many engineers for mastering. It's warmer sounding when pushed... it has a character that is most associated with 'That classic analog sound.'

On the other hand, SM900 gives you the quiet and clean of digital without the artifacts of digital.

[trancedental]

Cheers Beck for that!


I'll try some SM911 first then!

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by trancedental

Cheers Beck for that!
I'll try some SM911 first then!

If as your profile claims, you're in the UK, you might also want to try Zonal 700, which is more-or-less interchangable with the others. You can get that from Canford Audio, although you'll have to buy spools separately as the 2400' stock only comes as a pancake.

[trancedental]

Managed to get some NOS sealed Emtec SM486 I'll see how it goes with this tape.

Cheers

[N7SC]

Should you be interested in using 3M 996, and since you are in London, there is a place called something like Stanley's Productions. They still list 10 1/4 inch reels of 996 NOS on their website (the URL is below). As of about 2 years ago they had 94 reels of it in stock. Current price shows as 15 pounds. That is on the spiffy gold precision reel, and in the plastic tape care box, with stick on labels for the box and all that, so it is a pretty good deal. The stuff is wonderful tape, like Beck said of SM900, the quiet of digital without any artifacts at all.

Shame that shipping to the US was so expensive, or I would have bought a bunch of it.

If you are interested, make them show you the box that it is in, and look at the manufacturing date on the box. In my experience, the earlier (1991 era) pancakes (don't know about reels) tend to have some relatively minor lubricant loss or squeeze out problems toward the hub because of the high tension they have been stored under for so long. Pancakes with manuf. dates in 1995 don't have the problem.

The url for stanley's: www.stanleysonline.co.uk

[trancedental]

I'll go down Stanleys when I get the time to see what they have in stock. At the moment I've got enough tape for a few weeks NOS 3 x EMTEC 468 & 1 x BASF 468 & a free unused reel of Quantegy 478 (circa 2000). There's also plenty of RMG tape available if needed.

I'm wondering if the Quantegy 478 is useful , does anyone know any more about this tape as it seems to be for dialogue / talking radio show use? Seems to be about the same output as 406 +3 is it the same tape with the same frequency response, just with less print through? If so it could be good for mastering as many still seem to like using 406 for that purpose?

Cheers