Basf 911

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man-bot

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Heyo - I just bought 3 reels of new (from the early 200's apparently) BASF 911. Just curious if this was at all different than RMGi 911. I assume its the same formula so I don't epect any real sonic difference... but for $50/each being unused I thought I would give it a go (considering RMGi cost me $120 per reel plus tax locally)

Any thoughts?
 
you mean from early 2000? If its actually "BASF" branded it ain't from the early 2000's...I believe AGFA went to BASF in the late 70's (???) and then to EMTEC in the 90's (???) and then RMGI several years ago. If it is BASF then it is likely from the 80's, but the 911 and 900 formulations have held up well and AFAIK are not sticky-prone...SM911 is the same basic formulation regardless of the brand (BASF/EMTEC/RMGI) and a "drop-in" substitute for 456.

Somebody chime in to correct me where I'm wrong...Beck?
 
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BASF 911, great tape, as long as it was stored OK you should have no trouble with it. I still have projects recorded in the early 90's on 911 that still play fine today.

I am sure that I bought new BASF 911 in the 1990's at some point it changed to EMTEC 911 but I can't remember when but it was during the 1990's. It was exactly the same tape. And yes it was a drop in substitute for 456, as the 456 used to deteriorate very quickly. My Tech put me on to 911 as he had noticed that there was a lot less head wear using the 911 and it stored well, sounded great too.

Cheers
alan
 
Emtec's company profile says that BASF Magnetics became EMTEC Magnetics in the "late nineties". Probably the biggest difference between current RMGI tape and the older ones is that RMGI tape doesn't have the formulation label printed on the back (unless they've started doing that very recently.)

Cheers,

Otto
 
It is most definitely branded as BASF 911... from looking around the tape appears to be form 1996. Hopefully all is good... we'll see once I get it on my 80-8!

BASF911.jpg
 
SM911 was introduced by BASF in 1986 as a 456 competitor and was always a BASF product. AGFA never made 911. PEM 469 was AGFA’s answer to Ampex 456. BASF became EMTEC Group in 1996 and made the tape through 2003 when EMTEC stopped making reel-to-reel tape altogether. You will see some boxes marked BASF, some marked “BASF by EMTEC” and the later runs will say EMTEC only.

I have brand new SM911 through all these years and it’s all the same formulation more or less. Tape companies did tweak and improve formulations over the years so most brands of tape have evolved somewhat, but you can say these are basically the same.

BASF/EMTEC SM911 is excellent tape. I’m always surprised to see it overlooked or go for much less than Quantegy 456 or RMGI SM911. At the very least it should be considered equal. Personally I prefer NOS BASF/EMTEC to RMGI for quality control reasons. I would buy any SM911 made between 1986 and 2003 with complete confidence. I’ve never seen a bad reel and it’s not prone to sticky shed because it had a stable binder from its introduction.

:)
 
Yeah...BASF/EMTEC 911 is beautiful tape!
I've got a few cases of the stuff...some from the BASF years (used up my last reel not too long ago), some from the BASF/EMTEC years and a bunch of the last couple of EMTEC years.
I can't find any quality differences from the oldest to the newest batches...it's all silky smooth tape!

Also got some of the EMTEC 468 stuff...very close to the 911, even more "neutral"...great for mastering/archiving.

RMGI is pretty good, I tried a few 1/4" reels...but I think the EMTEC stuff was just smoother...though RMGI might be getting closer and better with each batch.


Beck...was it AGFA 468 or 469 that was the 456 equivalent?
 
Beck said:
BASF/EMTEC SM911 is excellent tape. I’m always surprised to see it overlooked or go for much less than Quantegy 456 or RMGI SM911. At the very least it should be considered equal. Personally I prefer NOS BASF/EMTEC to RMGI for quality control reasons. I would buy any SM911 made between 1986 and 2003 with complete confidence. I’ve never seen a bad reel and it’s not prone to sticky shed because it had a stable binder from its introduction.
Click to expand...
I gladly use NOS SM911. I have a number of 1/4" reels of it (EMTEC version) and the M-23 is calibrated for it at the moment.

I'm also still using up some NOS EMTEC SM 468 1/2" on the Otari, which is also an excellent tape.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Agfa PEM 468, 3M/Scotch 250 and Ampex 456 came out around the same time… 1974-1975. Ampex dominated the market in a few years, so Agfa, BASF and 3M/Scotch all eventually came out with bias compatible +6 tapes marketed as comparable to 456. They were 3M/Scotch 226 (1979), Agfa PEM 469 (1984), and BASF SM911 (1986). Agfa 469 was a disaster because it had sticky shed right away within a few months. It was only made between 1984 and 1990, and then Agfa pulled it off the shelf. I would bet that there’s not a good reel of 469 left anywhere, unless it’s been baked to make it appear ok at first. I think some people talking on the web about sticky shed get 468 and 469 mixed up. 469 even smells different than other Agfa tapes… smells more like Ampex. I threw my few reels of 469 away. I kept the nice metal reels. :)

In practice people used PEM468 interchangeably with 456 before PEM469 came out. 468 really needs another dB to optimize the bias for it, but many people didn’t bother with it. I don’t bother with tweaking the bias on a machine already setup with 456.

Yeah I would describe SM911 as buttery smooth. I’ve got more of it in half-inch than I do 456 right now, and I have a few EMTEC SM468 as well. It’s all great stuff.

:)
 
Just saved your posts in a word doc. Beck! Thanks for the info! I always wondered about the history of BASF ever since I found out I had to start buying RMGi to get the same formula.
 
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