Do Not Buy From Tapetape !

J

johnbilben

New member
I'm sure most of you guys already know about this bastard but I'm just here to warn all the new guys like myself not to buy tape this unethical , spineless human being. Just to add to the already bountiful stories, i bought a used 3m 226 (i know many of you think I'm an idiot for buying used tape as it is but people who are so broke they cant even buy time need to buy the used stuff) that was extremely sticky, shedding all kinds of shit onto my machine. I've already bought two GREAT tapes from this guy, one of them being the SAME exact model(3m 226) so i was confident this tape was going to be equally great. After that problem i called him and told him the situation and he kindly apologized and said he would send me a BRAND NEW, UNUSED 3m 226. After waiting almost a week, and calling him to remind him to ship it twice it finally arrived this evening. Excited as can be, i spooled the time and guess what? The same exact fucking thing. The thing won't even fast forward without me pushing it that direction and more sticky hell. It clearly is NOT brand new.

To conclude this, he is a liar and a con-man. Don't buy from this guy.






That said, can anybody direct me to where i can find some FUNCTIONAL, 1/2 inch, affordable mastering tape?

-John
 
Thanks for sharing your experience and you're certainly not alone. Check out this thread:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=230731

As far as good, affordable tape ... look for new old stock Quantegy or Ampex but make sure, in the latter case, that you get the date code. Just to be safe, anything above 1995 is fine and will be made of the new stable, non shedding, binder. If it's Quantegy branded then you know for sure but if it's Ampex branded, look for a date code.

If you wanna make it truly affordable, buy pancakes and mount 'em on your empty reels. I'm not sure if your 226 reels have the typical screws, that you can remove or the other kind, the 'stamped' in ones....

There's also RMGI SM911, currently made and sometimes new old stock Basf / Emtec appear on eBay.

So your sources for tape are eBay, for new old stock and new at
http://www.splicit.com/recording_tape.html
and
http://usrecordingmedia-store.stores.yahoo.net/1oprereta.html

Quantegy is supposed to start making tape again but no word whether or not they'll resurrect 456.

--
 
Snackmaster

Go to Walmart and buy the Snackmaster Food Dehydrator and "bake" the tape. I've read that baking a sticky tape isn't a permanent solution, but it might be a satisfactory solution, and baking can be repeated as many times as necessary,... if needed.:eek:;)

Of course, I've not done it yet, but that's what I've heard. I'll be baking many of my tapes in my own Snackmaster at some future time, TBD.
 
IMHO, 226 was one of the worst tape formulations ever produced. Awful sounding stuff when compared to Ampex 406, 456, and their own 250. Regardless, even unopen boxes are going to be between 10-29 years old and not smart buys.

Buying used Ampex/Quantegy stuff isn't such a good idea either. It will either suffer from sticky-shed or be subject to the abysmal QC that Quantegy practiced during their last throws. I was returning 50% of all Quantegy items I bought when production was still in full swing! The slitting, especially on 1/2" was awful.

Baking tapes that you want to record on is not a good idea. Save that process for restoring recordings to playability for transfer to another medium.

In short - buy new tape.
 
...

I've used a small amount of 3M 226 tape, & thus far haven't had any problems with it. I had a "test" (scratch) reel sitting on my 388 for well over a year, where upon starting it up again I got a minimal amount of stick and shed, but several FF/RW cycles of the reel cleaned it up pretty well. Thought for a minute I'd have to Snackmaster that reel right off the bat, but no.

I have ample stocks of new 226 in storage and a Snackmaster on hand for when that time finally arrives. That says nothing of my 1983 Ampex 456 which is a sticky shed monster,... handful of "vintage" reels containing my "legacy". (Heh, heh). Sad but true.

Snack, snack, Snackmaster away, is what I say!:eek:;)

From what I've read online, baking each new reel of tape, regardless of mfgr and date, would be a prudent step for successful reeling right out of the box. After all, you don't know it's "shed" until it's all over your transport. The last article I read seemed to state that to bake each reel right out of the box before use is a small measure of insurance.

Etc., I live in the high desert, where environmental humidity is at a minimum year long.
 
what i dont understand is that i bought and AGFA tape from this guy and it was a wonderful tape. still my favorite tape. sounds great works great.

anyway, where can i get BRAND NEW tape?
 
johnbilben said:
what i dont understand is that i bought and AGFA tape from this guy and it was a wonderful tape. still my favorite tape. sounds great works great.

anyway, where can i get BRAND NEW tape?
Click to expand...

Lots of vendors for RMGI tape. Look them up on Google and place an order.
 
i did read your post cjacek i realized you had answered my question right after i posted that. what is a pancake? im a little confused
 
johnbilben said:
i did read your post cjacek i realized you had answered my question right after i posted that. what is a pancake? im a little confused
Click to expand...
Usually, when you buy 10.5" tape it comes on a metal or plastic reel. You can also buy it in 'hub' or 'pancake' configuration, which doesn't have the reel, just the plastic core. This is cheaper as you're only paying for the tape itself.

The snag is, most modern machines aren't intended to work with pancakes directly. You have two ways to make them usable:

1. Take an old metal spool, and remove one flange. With the machine flat on its back, lay the pancake on the flange, and mount it on the machine. Then you can fast-wind it onto another spool. If you're buying pancake tapes cheap and intending to use them on 7" reels, that's the only way you can do it.

2. Take a new empty metal spool, and dismantle it. Screw the two flanges onto the central core. This is the way I use Zonal tape, as it's only available as a pancake.

There's a picture of some tape as a pancake here, if it helps explain things.
http://www.randallareed.com/Reel_to_Reel_Tape.htm

...I may also make a video of myself fitting flanges on a pancake as my "How tape stuff is done" series seems to be quite useful.
 
John:

While I didn't real all the replies above, I can tell you that stickiness does happen to unused tapes as well (NOS as we say). This is not generated by using the tapes, but by natural "aging" of the magnetic combination. I too had that problem with a big bunch of 456 tapes (some 150 I would say). Some started to deposit, some didn't as they were 2 or 3 years younger than others. I just trashed them all.

I don't know what sort of tape you are using but I personally use either AEG format like PER525/528 or Maxell XL35 (which is a GREAT Tape) and also RMGI 35.

I saw many troubles with Scotch / 3M tapes so I would personally do with others to avoid loosing money and time.


David.
 
Some 3M reel tapes are ok in my experience.

3M 808 is usually sticky shed as well, and as mentioned 3M 226.

I highly recommend Zonal tape, never has a problem with any model and the slit cut is perfect and the tape surface is smooth as ice. Holds up very well over the years, most European recordings and bands were recorded on Zonal tape. If you can still find it buy it definately excellent mastering tape.

The other mastering tape to use is 3M 986 and 996, it is by far one of the best tape ever made for mastering purposes, besides mentioned Zonal tape and has same characteristics as Zonal, excellent perfect dynamic sound.

The next best Basf/Emtec SM 468, also excellent tape and good for mastering, holds up very well. Next would be Ampex/Quantegy 406, 480, 499. I prefer 406 and 499 for the sound quality, I never had a problem with these model number reel tapes as far as sticky shed.
If you can still get it without sticky shed, Ampex/Quantegy 456 tape is also good sounding tape for mastering.

There are alternative brand new tapes that have similar bias values as above mentioned tape. Go to http://usrecordingmedia-store.stores.yahoo.net/
for more info on new Emtec and other brands that are equivalent to your tape that you are using now (tape bias).
Hope this helps.............take care':D
 
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