best tape for teac 2300

[clevodrummer]

Still trying to score that 388 I mentioned a while back...Seller is holding it for me...but in the meantime, I have two questions:

What is the BEST tape I can get for a teac a2300sx ? Should I go with Quantegy?

Also a friend of mine from the west coast sent me a bunch of recorded reels from a retro type record ship outside of L.A.....He has no idea whats on them, but they are all home dubbed types some with Zeppelin and other rock bands written on the reel covers.

He keeps asking me whats on them but I have been avoiding running them because I'm worried they might be all gunked up with old strawberry hill wine splotches....

If I ran them and cleaned the heads right away would I avoid any potential damage? I sure don't want to screw up my 2300, but I'm also wondering what the hell is on these tapes..

any suggestions?

 

[cjacek]

Well, you really have only one choice, as far as brand new currently made tape and that is either RMGI LPR35 or SM911 or SM468. There is also ATR but I would not run it on your deck.

Check if your friend's tapes are back coated or not. If not back treated then you're at least free from sticky shed and should be OK to run, outside of maybe some dry shed. Check your tape path and clean as necessary.

 

[clevodrummer]

388 or standalone R2R? what is sticky shed?

o.k., i see those words all the time and i assume it means literally "sticky".

Is that what it means?

also, while I am at it and you guys really know reel to reels, i have (only) one more question (for today anyway).

this may be somewhat redundant from an earlier post but I am contemplating two new gear scenarios.

I have really been spending time and getting to know what all my tascam M-35 mixer is capable of..I was using it mainly for direct outs but knew I was barely scratching the surface with its capabilities..

I now have been patching it up for unlimited applications..I like block diagrams and manuals and then just going nuts with different patchings to see what kind of hell i can raise with it..

so know I'm trying to decide between the 388 or finding a good 8 track reel to reel as that's what this mixer marries up to best.

if i hit the number, no problem, get em both!!

but if you had to choose which way would you go?

on the one hand as I have the mixer it would make sense to just get the other half., the reel to reel... but on the other hand, I cant begin to describe how fascinated I am by just the looks alone of the 388.

I really want to get back to more tape tracking...with my drum tracks alone the difference between my digital tracking and tape tracking is making me dread tracking drums with my digital stuff (korg d-888)

so back to the choice i have to make, i need to really consider the pros and cons of both scenarios as my funds are going to be my biggest problem.
thanks all,

clevo

 

[jpmorris]

Sticky Shed Syndrome seems to have two effects, probably depending on how bad it has got. In light cases it seems to work okay but increases the load on the transport which sometimes makes it stop dead if it's a particularly intelligent deck. I've had this happen on a TSR-8 but it only does it with dodgy 456.

In heavier cases, such as a roll of 1980s 406 I have a test-tape on, it actually coats everything with sticky gunk.

Dry shedding is where small amounts of oxide comes off the tape as powder - that's just one of those things unless it's shedding loads and loads of it, like early RMGI tape.

 

[Muckelroy]

I liked the sound of Quantegy 407 - it's thinner than 406 so it's easier on the transport. Plus the +3 flux level makes for some very nice dynamics and tape overdrive properties that you just can't get with +6 or +9 varieties.

Someone may have already recommended a 407 equivalent from RMGI, not entirely sure.

 

[rickb]

The Tascam 38 would marry well with the M-35 mixer...that is my set-up and I like! I have no experience with the 388 and I a intrigued as well. 388 is 1/4" format so easier on the tape budget$$. It a large heavy self-contained unit and wold minimize the cost of snakes to interconnect mixer/deck. Personally I prefer 1/2" format of the 38 and stand alone mixer in the M-35. There is also a M-35EX expander that gives you some more input strips if you are needing more than on the M-35. Might want to get a M-35EX anyway as the channel strios are modular and if one goes down on the M-35 it's an easy swap-out.