ampex 456

  • Thread starter Thread starter kip4
  • Start date Start date
kip4

kip4

Well-known member
the squeeliest tape I've had so far

I ebought a couple of 10.5" nab spools 1 with tape.
Needless to say i binned the black stuff it squeeled like a little piggy:facepalm::facepalm:
Now i have 2 empty nice 456 spools a matching set at last. yay
 
Ive spooled plenty of that squealy stuff into the bin myself, makes for lots of take up reels. The only pre-quantegy 456 I found to not be worthless is in the grey box with the Ampex label across the bottom, as opposed to those with the label centered vertically. Too much fussing around for me, so I switched to 499 exclusively. Never had a problem with SSS on 499. The problem I have with it is that while 2" is easy to find (even NOS), the 1/4" stuff is tough to find, at least that has been my experience with it.
 
FWIW, I bought a case of 407, the seller actually *knew* it was sticky and advertised it for someone wanting to try out baking or for the reels. I needed the reels, and the price was right for empty reels. Too bad more sellers weren't either that upfront, or at least not ignorant. I still see a lot of sticky tape for sale....
 
And some of these sellers push the idea that "if you bake it, its as good as new". I dont personally agree with that. For me, baking is a last ditch attempt to be able to get some material off of a SSS reel of tape.
 
I think a lot of sellers use the one full reel thing to try to hike the price.
The odd thing is at the start of the tape was some agfa grevert 85 that squeels but nothing like as bad as the blacks stuff after the NEW splice. I spooled that onto an empty old plastic spool labeled it and kept it as a just in case reel.
The main thing for me was to have a matching pair of nabs so i bought at a reasonable price. Any good tape was a bonus.
I havent tried the 499, come to think of it i havent seen any advertised either.
I have a reel of Quantergy 478 that is sweet and a maxell ud 20 120 which is fair too.
a reel of basf sp50 or 52 i cant just remember its not to bad but i had trouble for a start with it being tightly packed on the reel. which was a reel ball ache from the get go. I think i've sorted it now.
I have also got a maxell ud 35 90 from 81-83 on the way to which i'm excited to see the results of. Geez i hope its the right tape on the spool.
I just wish i could find a decently priced reel of either more quantergy 478 or some 406 or 407 NOS unopened.
If i dont find a solution soon i'll just bite the bullet and order some rmgi. Probably not a bad thing to support currant makers despite the prices.
And I agree baking is a last resort temporary fix for retrieving audio but it hasnt been to good for me so far but that probably has more to do with my baking skill and lack of correct equipment than anything else. You should have seen my wifes face when she realised i was baking a tape the first time. She's a bit deaf and must have misheard me and thought i was going all domesticated.
I soon put her right :laughings:
cheers guys
 
oh yer and i guess the state of the box was a bit of a give away too. I thought it was a graphic kind of stone effect but on closer inspection the paper was bubbling away from the box which i though meant it had probably been stored in damp conditions.
 
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