1/4" 457 tape

[jackschleffner]

Hi.
I just bought a Tascam 388. Turns out that buying tape is kind of tricky. The fellow that sold it to me said to stay away from 456 tape and only use 457. But Quantegy recently discontinued making 457.
Does anyone know a good place to buy?
Thanks
Z

 

[cjacek]

That's right. You preferably want to use the 1mil variants, such as the 457. But this, however, is not the only tape fit for the 388. Although Quantegy has discontinued production and tapes such as 457 and also 407 are currently hard to find, as NOS (New Old Stock), there are viable alternatives such as RMGI LPR35, which is currently in production:

http://www.splicit.com/rmgi_tape.html
http://www.usrecordingmedia.com/rmlp1x18arve.html

Others to look out for (preferably in a sealed box) is old stock Maxell UD tapes and also Basf Emtec LP35 / LPR35. Although the Maxells bid to outrageous levels on eBay, if you find one for around 10 bucks, grab it.

If you can find sealed scotch 207 tapes, another 1mil variant, then that's a good deal as well.

In fact, check out this thread:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=257922

There's way more activity in the Analog Only forum than here.

Although I have a good number of tapes on hand, if I were to start over again, I'd probably stock up on RMGI LPR35, even though it's a bit more expensive. It's arguably the best tape you can get. Period.

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[jackschleffner]

thanks

thanks for the reply!