90 min tapes for 414mkII?

A

adrianhouse

New member
Hi,

Can anyone tell me if 90, or 100, minute high bias tapes are ok to use on the 414mkII? The owner's manual isn't clear on this - it just says not to use 120 minute tapes.
 
I tend to use the 60 minutes or thereabouts, and I read of many folks here doing the same. The tape used is thicker, and to get the additional tape distance for those longer play cassettes, they have to significantly thin the tape used, which makes it prone to snags and whatnot, just generally not good for lots of tape transport stop and starts which go with cassette multitracking.

I'm not sure where the break point on thin to thick tape starts, maybe someone (Dave??) knows...

I've used 90's, but you'll notice how much easier the motors turn and respond with 60's.
 
shedshrine said:
I've used 90's, but you'll notice how much easier the motors turn and respond with 60's.
Click to expand...

How true. I've got a 424mkII and it takes a while for ffwd/rewind. Unless I order online, all I have available locally is 90 minute tapes though. Sucks. Most of my stuff is one pass only so I don't have to worry about the stop/start/punch-in/etc. taking a toll.;)
 
adrianhouse said:
Can anyone tell me if 90, or 100, minute high bias tapes are ok to use on the 414mkII?
Click to expand...

90 should be looked as the maximum length. I've used 90's without problems but, when you look at spec sheets, 90's do tend to be thinner than 60's but are still a viable option when 60's are not available. I'm not sure if 100's are thinner than 90's but, as a precaution, I wouldn't use anything higher than 90's. How's that for a needlessly long answer?:eek::D:o
 
No, that's a good answer, as all above. Thanks guys. I can't seem to find 60's anywhere here - just ordered a few on Ebay, but does anyone know a good place to buy 60's online? Also, was wondering about tape material - metal is out, right? What about chrome - is that what all type II tapes are made out of?
Cheers,
Adrian, getting a little impatient to start recording:rolleyes:
 
Alright! Lots of options for buying tape. I was getting worried there for a while, with even thoughts of digital in my mind :eek:, but now all is good :cool:. Thanks for helping sort me out about this guys!
Cheers,
Adrian
 
stocked up somewhat during the "tape scare of '06". Dark times, dark times...





and for the completionists out there. A quote from the wiki guide to tape thickness...
Playback length

Cassettes of varying tape quality and playing timeTape length is usually measured in minutes of total playing time. The most popular varieties are C46 (23 minutes per side), C60 (30 minutes per side), C90, and C120. The C46 and C60 lengths are typically 15–16 µm thick, but C90s are 10–11 µm and C120s are just 9 µm thick, rendering them more susceptible to stretching or breakage. Some vendors are more generous than others, providing 132 meters or 135 meters rather than 129 meters of tape for a C90 cassette. C180 and even C240 tapes were available at one time, but these were extremely thin and fragile and suffered badly from effects such as print-through, which made them unsuitable for general use. Other lengths are (or were) also available from some vendors, including C10 and C15 (useful for saving data from early home computers), C30, C50, C54, C64, C70, C74, C80, C84, C100, C105, and C110.[13]"
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top