Ampex vs Quantegy Pancakes

mr.eman

New member
I'm pretty sure of the answer I'm going to get but since I've always bought tape on sealed reels in the past, I needed to ask this. Two pancakes of 456 side by side having been removed from their original cases. One is Ampex branded. The other is Quantegy. Is there any way to tell them apart visually or are they identical. Thanks.
 
It was just a name change...nothing more.
However...certain Ampex branded tape from the '80s and into the mid-late '90s had sticky/shed issues, while anything branded Quantegy didn't, and Ampex from the last few years before it became Quantegy, also didn't.

So that's about it AFA visual/obvious differences.
Did you remove them and now don't remember which is which...or are you just asking if there are differences in general?
 
Pretty much what I figured. Was wondering since I come across these all the time. Bottom line is I wouldn't know if I had good tape or bad tape until I received it and spooled it up. Thanks.
 
Pretty much what I figured. Was wondering since I come across these all the time. Bottom line is I wouldn't know if I had good tape or bad tape until I received it and spooled it up. Thanks.

If it comes in the original boxes...there should be a date code on the spine.
 
If it comes in the original boxes...there should be a date code on the spine.

If you are looking for genuine Quantegy tape, I have half a dozen brand new pancakes of 1/4" Quantegy 499 in storage that I bought in their final months of operation. They are available for sale.

David
 
If it comes in the original boxes...there should be a date code on the spine.

I was thinking about pancakes which don't come in date coded boxes. My point was if the pancake has been removed from a factory sealed case, there would be no way to tell if it was Ampex or Quantegy or good vs bad.
 
If you are looking for genuine Quantegy tape, I have half a dozen brand new pancakes of 1/4" Quantegy 499 in storage that I bought in their final months of operation. They are available for sale.

David

Appreciate the offer but I've been using 456 for over 25 years now. I tried 499 years ago but didn't like the sound of the low/mids it produced compared to 456. In any case I found a factory sealed case of Quantegy 456 from a studio in Wash state. $265 which included shipping so I'm good to go for a short while.Cheers
 
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