BASF 468 Sealed--Should I/Shouldn't I?

p_wats

p_wats

New member
Hey guys,

Someone in my neighbourhood is selling a batch of sealed BASF 468 1/4" tape reels for about $7.50 each (bulk discounts apply).

I've currently got a Fostex R8 that I know is supposed to use Quantegy 457, but the person I got it from seemed to use whatever they had kicking around and the tapes sound fine.

Think I should grab these reels before they are gone?
 
Should be fine...BASF tape seems to be pretty clear of SSS.

Yes the Fostex transports are designed for 1mil tape. It is a controversey as to whether or not it is of any significant consequence to use thicker tape. Logic and reason dictate that it will wear the tape path faster than 1mil tape. How much faster? That's the controversey. Maybe its so little a difference as to be of no concern, or maybe its significant.

Bottom line is that I default to using the tape spec'ed for a machine. However...

That's a pretty good deal for 468 which is a nice tape, and the R8 should have no problem biasing it and taking advantage of the operating standard since it is in the same standard as the 457 Fostex spec'ed.
 
sweetbeats said:
Should be fine...BASF tape seems to be pretty clear of SSS.

Yes the Fostex transports are designed for 1mil tape. It is a controversey as to whether or not it is of any significant consequence to use thicker tape. Logic and reason dictate that it will wear the tape path faster than 1mil tape. How much faster? That's the controversey. Maybe its so little a difference as to be of no concern, or maybe its significant.

Bottom line is that I default to using the tape spec'ed for a machine. However...

That's a pretty good deal for 468 which is a nice tape, and the R8 should have no problem biasing it and taking advantage of the operating standard since it is in the same standard as the 457 Fostex spec'ed.
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Thanks for the advice. Worst case scenario I might just pick it up for the hell of it (sounds like a good deal) and save it for another application. I'll probably try it on the R8 and see how it reacts/plays.
 
As sweetbeats said, it's a good deal for one of the better tapes out-there. It'll probably need a bit more bias to sound right tho.
 
It'll probably need a bit more bias to sound right tho.
Click to expand...

True-true. Good point, Daniel. I certainly didn't mean to indicate that 468 is bias compatible to 457. IIRC 468 has a sweeter HF response...was made that way to meet the market needs of critical archiving and having that sweeter HF response addressed long-term degredation of HF's and lessened the effects. We are talking about decades here, but yeah it likely does require a bit more bias level to get that to sit right.
 
Do it! 468 is a beautiful tape and it sounds great with dbx - it helps overcome some of the HF loss that I've encountered with dbx nr (just my experience)
 
grab it!!!

When we talk about 1-mil vs. 1.5-mil some of you may remember I consider 468 unique and an exception to the usual 1-mil rule. I would use 468 on about anything with no problem... R8, 22-2, 388, etc. Keep in mind you'll have a bit less record time because the tape is shorter, 1250' for EMTEC/BASF and 1200' for RMGI.

I like it best for a super clean half-track master.
 
I ended up grabbing 7 reels for $45. He's got more in a private stash if I decide I really like it.

The only downside is that they were only 5" reels, so it's only about 8.33 minutes, but our songs are never much more than about 3-4 minutes, so we should be good for the album I'm working on!
 
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