oxide everywhere

[tsqair]

friends,
I bought a brand new reel of 1/2" RMG put it on my tsr 8 and after 4 minutes of recording the tape path was covered in oxide ofcoarse the quality of the track i put down is horrible so does this mean the tape i just bought is defective?
thanks:

 

[Beck]

Yeah, Tommy. Either that, and/or you have a wicked tape path with sharp edges that is cutting the tape to shreds. If previous recordings have been fine with RMGI or other tape, contact the dealer or RMGI for a replacement.

 

[Victory Pete]

New tape breaking itself in.

Hi.
When I started to use RMGI tape on my TSR-8 I noticed the tape was noisy, and I did notice some shedding. Apparently RMGI is slightly wider than 456 so it rubs the edges of the guides and also if you have grooves made by the thinner 456 it would cause shedding and noise. I havent worried about it and I think the RMGI tape is slowly breaking in itself. It should wear itself in with time.
Victory Pete

 

[tsqair]

let me be clear about this

this tsr has no more than 20 hours on it - i bought it on ebay - i' havn't used it, even though i bought it 7 months ago ( i have 3 other tape machines) but the guy i bought it from said he hardly used it and i believe him. o.k. now just to be clear about this. When i run the tape for 4 mins, i have to clean the daylights out of the heads and tape path I mean the Q-tips are a dark colored maroon -now your right theres less material left behind after several passes but i cant even record a decent track ( it's muddy and low signal on all tracks) i'm getting frustrated i bought 3 machines on ebay and none of them worked out of the box ( and i paid good money for them)" Ive been in recording studios for 30 years and i bought my first sound on sound machine in "77" and i dont ever remember this kind of
problem im gonna spend more time cleaning than recording
thanks
tommy

 

[sweetbeats]

this tsr has no more than 20 hours on it

Lucky you!

Tommy, I've had the exact experience on my 58...VERRRY low hours and had a reel of SM911 that left bits of oxide after just part-way through the reel. I contacted the vendor (US Recording Media) and they got me in touch with Phile Paske of RMGI. Some early batches of RMGI tape (around the time that the factory moved to the Netherlands) had issues with curing. They didn't/couldn't anticipate the effects the different climate would have on the curing process. A number of batches went out that weren't properly cured and it is feasible that some of those reels could still be on the shelf at retailers. Unfortunately RMGI didn't do a recall but once Phil confirmed the batch number they were super quick to get a replacement reel out which has performed wonderfully. Start with the retailer from whom you purchased the tape. Let us know.

 

[tsqair]

thanks

yea sweets the box the tape came in has a whole lotta numbers on it so they should be able to find out what happened (i'll call phil this week) on a some what brighter note; after recording 4 minutes of music and constantly cleaning the heads and tape path ( i'm talking cleaning 20 times no bullchit) I do have a pristine tsr8 that records and plays all 8 tracks so that is a relief. however this tape issue is a pain in the arse. I will let you know what happens.
all the best,
tommy

 

[tsqair]

i was right

i went to an authorized rmg dealer in baldwin n.y.on the way home from work today( talk about convienant) he kinda was like "are you sure its not a nix on one of the alignment rollers" or something else funky along the tape path of your machine?. He seemed quite sure it was my machine and not a brand new reel of rmg (by the way it was the 900 series i had bought on ebay not the 911) which he informed me the 900 was the wrong tape for the tsr 8. Anyhow i basically had to talk him in to selling me a reel of 911, he was very reluctant; trying to save me 80 bucks.lol. he was a good guy! well i was home in about 30 minutes, and i put the new reel on and guess what? NO OXIDE ...very little... just like the way it should be.Now the machine is fine! it was that F...ING reel that i bought on ebay" which by the way i have no record of the transaction" so i cant contact the seller. So thats it folks theres still some crappy reels out there!
tommy

 

[Victory Pete]

TSR-8's rule!

That is great to hear. I have 3 TSR-8's and love the way they sound with the RMGI 911. Good luck and have fun!
Victory Pete

 

[sweetbeats]

Sorry to hear that...I consider new tape used unless it is new tape being purchased from an authorized dealer. You never know...

 

[stevieb]

Another ebay horror story... will it ever stop?

Geech, people, you should stop ragging on Behringer and turn your wrath to ebay...

 

[jpmorris]

Another ebay horror story... will it ever stop?
Geech, people, you should stop ragging on Behringer and turn your wrath to ebay...

The machine came from ebay and AFAIK worked flawlessly, but unless I've missed something, the tape didn't.

 

[Beck]

It was that F...ING reel that I bought on ebay" which by the way i have no record of the transaction" so i cant contact the seller. So thats it folks theres still some crappy reels out there!
tommy

If you used paypal you can look it up in your account history. Same if you used credit card. It doesn't matter how long it's been.

I would still talk to Phil Paske or Marc Feingold (since you're in NY)... if the tape was new when you bought it. I’ve talked to Phil in the past when RMGI was first getting started. He sent me new tapes free for review, which are still fine, by the way. Not all the early tapes were bad... just certain batches. He's a decent fellow. RMGI should be interested in long-term customer satisfaction. It may not matter whether you have a receipt or not. It's in their best interest to get the bad tape out of circulation.

Phil Paske philpaske@rmgi-usa.com
PH: 661-287-9877 (California)

Marc Feingold marc@thinkfeingold.com
PH: 732-625-1318 (New Jersey)

~Tim

 

[david winter]

Sometimes I happen to record on LGR35 when there's a live concert on radio. I read several times those bad batches stories, and wonder if there's any database about them ? How can I make sure that my tapes will work fine in the next few years ? Thanks !

 

[cjacek]

How can I make sure that my tapes will work fine in the next few years ? Thanks !

The issue with the early batches, as RMGI explains it, was insufficient curing / drying and not a bad binder which means that if your tape is performing clean then it's OK. RMGI uses the same formula as the stable BASF / EMTEC tapes.

 

[tsqair]

thanks

yea tim i realized i payed by credit card so i contacted the vendor (malelo in chicago )they put me in touch with phil paske and it looks like there gonna send me another tape . so thats that.

 

[tsqair]

recieved new tape

i recieved a brand new reel of rmg911 on the house "compliments of phil paske" NICE!

 

[cjacek]

Great to know. Thanks for the update!

Off hand, do you have the serial number for both tapes? If so, can you post 'em? Thanks!

 

[Beck]

That's very cool! Good for RMGI!

 

[dodgeaspen]

friends,
I bought a brand new reel of 1/2" RMG put it on my tsr 8 and after 4 minutes of recording the tape path was covered in oxide ofcoarse the quality of the track i put down is horrible so does this mean the tape i just bought is defective?
thanks:

This is an all to familiar story for me. I have been turned off from RMG for that very reason. The tape shed was monstrous. When I talked to Phil he had me send picks of my reel to make sure it wasn't my deck causing the problem. He did send me out a new reel that was quite a bit better but still had to clean WAY TO OFTEN. I bought a reel of ATR and have no problems since. Good luck.

 

[cjacek]

dodgeaspen: Would you please, for the umpteenth time, lay off the RMGI bashing? This is getting really old and repeated by you over and over and over and over again.... Many people are tired of it.