MSR 16 Rewind and FF Issues. Bad Tape?

[Astralography]

I have a great MSR 16 that sounds amazing. Could not be happier with the machine.
What is strange is that I have had a tape on there for about 3 months tracking some Jazz and Prog Rock and it rewinds and FF like a dream. I finally ended that session and when I went to spin up a different reel of tape.. the MRS 16 will not FF and RW properly. It seems to stick.. stall or move very slowly. I noticed a bit of oxidation on the heads, so I think the tape I put on might be a bit old and not in great shape. I have a few other tapes and they all do the same thing.. Slow or lock up after a bit.

So of course I panicked, but then when I cleaned the heads and put back on my other tape that I have been tracking on.. it FF and RW's perfectly. As soon as I put on another tape... it stops working.

Does this machine detect a poor tape and tell us that the tape is no good by stalling the FF and RW?

The machine will record on the older tapes... and playback seems fine also.. but the FF and RW don't work well.. but works fine on the newer tape.

Anyone had this kind of issue with any tape machine for that matter?

thanks

 

[jpmorris]

Old Ampex tape turns sticky and that can cause issues, such as it randomly stopping in play. The CPU might be cutting out the fast wind mode if it's not responding properly, I'm not sure.

If there's anything on that tape it is possible to recover the tape by dehydrating it, but that only works for so long so you'd need to somehow copy the contents to another tape or digitize it or something.
If, as seems to be the case, you haven't recorded anything on it yet, I'd throw the tape away. Keep the metal spool, though.

For new tape, RMGI SM911 should be most suitable for that machine.