Atr tape

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desmond22

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I was just looking through the TSR8 manual and it says to use high output tape.
ATR is high output tape, isnt it???
 
desmond22 said:
I was just looking through the TSR8 manual and it says to use high output tape.
ATR is high output tape, isnt it???
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They meant the high output tape available at the time. Ampex/Quuantegy 406/407/456/457 and whatever would be their "equals" from other manufacturers. I'll bet RMGI makes what you need.
 
From what I know RMG SM911 is a +6 that should work with your deck. I have a Tascam 38 and use both RMG & ATR. I believe that ATR is a +9 tape. Some other people should chime in but you might be able to bias your deck to +9, I don't know this for sure. Good luck.
 
ATR tape isn't really rated +X but if you read into the specs I believe it comes out to something like +11.

Ed, were you able to properly bias it on a 38?
 
Avoid ATR for the TSR-8, 38, 48, MSR-16, etc. ATR is great for half-track and heavy duty multitrack, but really too heavy for some machines. Quantegy 456 or RMGI SM911 and SM468 are the best choices. As Ruskin said, Quantegy 406 will work fine too.

Ampex/Quantegy 456 is the factory recommended.

:)
 
sweetbeats said:
ATR tape isn't really rated +X but if you read into the specs I believe it comes out to something like +11.

Ed, were you able to properly bias it on a 38?
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I never tried. I put it on and it sounds good. Their might be slightly more in the mid section, but their is no unusually high tape hiss. That's about as good of an answer as I can give. WOW, I didn't know that the ATR was that high of the + range. I'm still learning.
 
Well that's why we were all flustered a bit when you were pushing ATR so hard last year...+5000 doesn't mean a hoot if the bias amps can't muster the levels to properly bias the tape. AFAIK, like Beck said, the 38's bias amps are setup to work with +6 tape. I would wager that, at best, they might be able to bias +9 tape but it'd be just barely, and I bet they can't.

And again, the reason to use such tape is to open up the door to avoiding noise reduction...getting higher output tape actually HURTS you if you are going for saturation artifacts. You want saturation? Then get tape that saturates at lower levels and then you aren't straining your amplifier electronics.

I've ascertained that my Ampex MM-1000 can bias +9 tape without cooking the bias amps...I will still set it up for maybe 355nWb/m at the MAX because there are erasure issues at higher operating levels but these are the things we should be thinking about when learning to setup our machines...work within and capitalize on the limitations of the machine rather than trying to keep up with the Jones...Now, I think that's pretty phenomenal that my 40 year old Ampex can properly bias +9 tape when it was made in a +0 era...that's overbuilt...and the electronics have plenty of headroom to push +9 tape, but that doesn't mean any older machine can do that.

Do you realize how many of your favorite hits were recorded on +3 or +6 tape on a machine set at 250nWb/m or 185 for that matter? +9 tape is certianly a nice option if the machine can really take advantage of it but I guarantee there are people whacking out their machines getting "PHAT" sounds off of +9 tape when what they are really hearing is distortion artifacts from underbiased tape and distorting amplifier electronics. Its a minor injustice to tape AFAIC.
 
sweetbeats said:
Well that's why we were all flustered a bit when you were pushing ATR so hard last year...+5000 doesn't mean a hoot if the bias amps can't muster the levels to properly bias the tape. AFAIK, like Beck said, the 38's bias amps are setup to work with +6 tape. I would wager that, at best, they might be able to bias +9 tape but it'd be just barely, and I bet they can't.

And again, the reason to use such tape is to open up the door to avoiding noise reduction...getting higher output tape actually HURTS you if you are going for saturation artifacts. You want saturation? Then get tape that saturates at lower levels and then you aren't straining your amplifier electronics.

I've ascertained that my Ampex MM-1000 can bias +9 tape without cooking the bias amps...I will still set it up for maybe 355nWb/m at the MAX because there are erasure issues at higher operating levels but these are the things we should be thinking about when learning to setup our machines...work within and capitalize on the limitations of the machine rather than trying to keep up with the Jones...Now, I think that's pretty phenomenal that my 40 year old Ampex can properly bias +9 tape when it was made in a +0 era...that's overbuilt...and the electronics have plenty of headroom to push +9 tape, but that doesn't mean any older machine can do that.

Do you realize how many of your favorite hits were recorded on +3 or +6 tape on a machine set at 250nWb/m or 185 for that matter? +9 tape is certianly a nice option if the machine can really take advantage of it but I guarantee there are people whacking out their machines getting "PHAT" sounds off of +9 tape when what they are really hearing is distortion artifacts from underbiased tape and distorting amplifier electronics. Its a minor injustice to tape AFAIC.
Click to expand...

True, I did push the ATR hard because I had good luck with the product were RMG I went through several reels before getting one that was any good. Thanks to Lo-fi sending me a new tape I now regained respect for RMG. I knew nothing about + or - or ETC at the time, I just shared my experience about my purchases. But thanks to the people here I have learned so much in the 1.5 years that I've been here. I have so much more to learn. I'm hoping to have the courage to do a calibration on my machines in the near future. It's funny, I have a grasp with some things, but I lack the understanding of why things work the way they do.
 
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