Engineer Man:
I have bought lots of tape; I still do. The thing to look for is the "mechanism" that spins around. Sony makes a "PRO" line of tape/good mechanism.
Quantagy used to be Ampex and Ampex used to be the standard. I don't think so any more because the tapes I bought from Quantagy do not have as good mechanisms as Sony and, perhaps, TKD. Tape is not expensive; try a few brands.
Green Hornet