Precision reels on eBay (SPAMISH post)

Holy smokes you’re right. I read it wrong/too fast. Wow. I just bought a case too. Precision reels are the bomb especially with the plastic Tascam reel clampers…and with the plastic cases too!
 
I know nothing about that particular tape, but what a deal even for the reels and the plastic cases.
Bought a box. Couldn’t resist. Hope it works out well on my Tascam MSR 16.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

@Blue Jinn. Thanks for posting the info.
 
RFR said:
I know nothing about that particular tape, but what a deal even for the reels and the plastic cases.
Bought a box. Couldn’t resist. Hope it works out well on my Tascam MSR 16.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

@Blue Jinn. Thanks for posting the info.
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The reels will work great. Because of the thicker flanges, if they are thicker than standard three-screw reels, you *might* have to lower the reel table height slightly depending on how close to the bottom flange your tape currently loads, but the ID of the precision hubs is slightly smaller than the standard three-screw hubs, so they load more concentrically on the reel clampers. They’re nice to have and use and $10 a reel WITH the plastic case…awesome deal.
 
sweetbeats said:
The reels will work great. Because of the thicker flanges, if they are thicker than standard three-screw reels, you *might* have to lower the reel table height slightly depending on how close to the bottom flange your tape currently loads, but the ID of the precision hubs is slightly smaller than the standard three-screw hubs, so they load more concentrically on the reel clampers. They’re nice to have and use and $10 a reel WITH the plastic case…awesome deal.
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Am I correct in assuming there’s no tape?

At first I thought the reels were loaded.....wishfull thinking, reading too fast. ;)

But I have quite a few pancakes needing reels. At that price, can’t go wrong.
 
Ok, I’m confused. Blew up the pictures. The reels do in fact have tape in them. But what is precision ‘logging’ tape??? never heard that term. Suitable for recording???
 
yeah the reels are loaded.

Logging tape is 1mil spec, so thinner tape stock, and the formulation is optimized for low-speed vocal program material. Logging machines were special-ordered machines setup for low-speed for long run time, like 15/16ips…so a 3,600’ reel of tape would give you almost 13 hours of record time per side. Law-enforcement and emergency call centers used them…places like that. So can you use the tape for recording music? Sure you can. Will it sound good? Good question. I don’t know what the MOL is for 8206, but my hunch is it is WAY lower than a +6 or +9 tape. So if you hit it like you hit a +6 or +9 tape it’s going to be so nastily saturated you’ll be forced to drop your record levels, and then you’ll be grappling with a problematic noise floor. So, it’s analog tape, yes, and you can use it to record anything you want, but I think I’m most cases if you’re putting it on a 15ips multitrack machine designed to operate at 250nWb/s, you’ll end up saying something like “mmmmm that’s not gonna work.”
 
sweetbeats said:
yeah the reels are loaded.

Logging tape is 1mil spec, so thinner tape stock, and the formulation is optimized for low-speed vocal program material. Logging machines were special-ordered machines setup for low-speed for long run time, like 15/16ips…so a 3,600’ reel of tape would give you almost 13 hours of record time per side. Law-enforcement and emergency call centers used them…places like that. So can you use the tape for recording music? Sure you can. Will it sound good? Good question. I don’t know what the MOL is for 8206, but my hunch is it is WAY lower than a +6 or +9 tape. So if you hit it like you hit a +6 or +9 tape it’s going to be so nastily saturated you’ll be forced to drop your record levels, and then you’ll be grappling with a problematic noise floor. So, it’s analog tape, yes, and you can use it to record anything you want, but I think I’m most cases if you’re putting it on a 15ips multitrack machine designed to operate at 250nWb/s, you’ll end up saying something like “mmmmm that’s not gonna work.”
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Well, thanks for the lowdown. That is something I had no knowledge of. (Obviously)

Learned something new.

Hey, maybe I’ll slow down the machine and do an audio book. lol
 
sweetbeats said:
Logging tape is 1mil spec, so thinner tape stock, and the formulation is optimized for low-speed vocal program material. Logging machines were special-ordered machines setup for low-speed for long run time, like 15/16ips…so a 3,600’ reel of tape would give you almost 13 hours of record time per side. Law-enforcement and emergency call centers used them…places like that. So can you use the tape for recording music? Sure you can. Will it sound good? Good question. I don’t know what the MOL is for 8206, but my hunch is it is WAY lower than a +6 or +9 tape. So if you hit it like you hit a +6 or +9 tape it’s going to be so nastily saturated you’ll be forced to drop your record levels, and then you’ll be grappling with a problematic noise floor. So, it’s analog tape, yes, and you can use it to record anything you want, but I think I’m most cases if you’re putting it on a 15ips multitrack machine designed to operate at 250nWb/s, you’ll end up saying something like “mmmmm that’s not gonna work.”
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@sweetbeats

I can't remember what these numbers translate to but:

8206:
Coercivity 350 ±10% Oe (27.9 ±10% kA/m)
Retentivity 1260 ±10% Gs (140 ±10% mT)

406:
Coercivity 330 Oe (26.3 kA/m)
Retentivity 1300 Gs (130 mT)

456:
Coercivity 320 Oe (25.5 kA/m)
Retentivity 1500 Gs (150 mT)

GP9:
Coercivity 370 Oe (29.5 kA/m)
Retentivity 1600 Gs (160 mT)

I remember Beck saying it wouldn't work for music tracking.

EDIT: so it looks like it needs higher bias than 456/406, but should take the levels of 406?
 
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Blue Jinn said:
@sweetbeats

I can't remember what these numbers translate to but:

8206:
Coercivity 350 ±10% Oe (27.9 ±10% kA/m)
Retentivity 1260 ±10% Gs (140 ±10% mT)

406:
Coercivity 330 Oe (26.3 kA/m)
Retentivity 1300 Gs (130 mT)

456:
Coercivity 320 Oe (25.5 kA/m)
Retentivity 1500 Gs (150 mT)

GP9:
Coercivity 370 Oe (29.5 kA/m)
Retentivity 1600 Gs (160 mT)

I remember Beck saying it wouldn't work for music tracking.
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Maybe I can simulate a cassette recording sound on a 16 track :LoL

Btw, where did Beck go? I liked him.
 
Got my tape today. I pulled the trigger Friday and Monday it arrives. Pretty fast!

I gotta say even if this tape is useless, the reels and cases are nice and will come in handy
@Blue Jinn thanks for the heads up ;)
 
Hello Everyone. I have not posted here in this forum in so many years that I no longer have my user name and password from the old days, but its probably been 15 years or so. I just don't post in forums much anymore, however I do read threads here and other forums when doing research.

Regarding this Quantegy 8206 tape. I was watching this on Ebay and this evening the seller sent out a special at $35 for the 7 pack case, plus $20 shipping. At that price, I figured that there is not much to lose so I just bought a case.

I currently have a 1/2" Otari MTR-12 4-track from 1986. Ive owned this machine for about a year, but I have been recording on tape since I was very young about 30 years ago. I learned to splice and edit analog tape back in the 90s, and recorded on Studer 1/2" and Otari MTR-90 2". I then switched to digital for a few years, but in the late 00s, I bought a 1987 MCI Sony badged JH-24 which was an awesome machine. I recorded on that until 2019 in a hybrid analog-digital system with synch provided by an Aardvark TimeSync II which locks the SMPTE from tape to MTC and WC going to the DAW. The MCI was a fantastic machine. Very quiet at 30ips but still saturated very well. I sold that machine a couple years ago to Chris Mara from Mara Machines, who buys, reconditions and re-sells old classic MCI machines.

I got the Otari MTR-12 last year, and have been using it a lot recently. I bought an extra set of the 4 main cards, transport, reel, capstan, and master audio cards a few weeks ago on ebay to get backups. The other day, I bought a backup CPU EPROM chip from a guy on ebay who makes them. I want to keep this machine for a while so getting backups of critical parts is important.

Last Thursday however, the Capstan lock light stopped coming on. I either have a dead capstan motor, bearings, capstan driver card. Ive ruled out other possible failure problems. I hope to get that fixed and get it back up and running this week. The Otari is a clean machine, not as rock and roll as the MCI but still saturates well. I am running NOS Ampex 499 from the late 00s which the prior owner gave to me with the machine, sealed in box. No sticky shed.

I hope this Quantegy 8206 is good tape. It would be great if it has a lower saturation point than the 499 does so I can use it for special effects on kick and drums etc. Ill report back once I get the tape and my Otari running again.
 
Like I said this tape will work. It’s analog audio bandwidth tape. I just caution to not expect it to be a cheap magic solution to anything. I don’t know if it is sticky-prone tape, it is thin stock 1mil tape, according to the numbers it is maybe like a “+2” operating level tape (like lower operating standard than 406), and formulated for optimum performance at low transport speeds (15/16ips and 1 7/8ips) and for speech content source material. It is not formulated for hi-speed hi-fidelity source material. Will it work for “special effects” type applications? I’m sure it would, assuming it isn’t sticky. I just wanted to poignantly share my opinions about this though to maybe temper expectations.

It’s…

…logging tape.
 
sweetbeats said:
Like I said this tape will work. It’s analog audio bandwidth tape. I just caution to not expect it to be a cheap magic solution to anything. I don’t know if it is sticky-prone tape, it is thin stock 1mil tape, according to the numbers it is maybe like a “+2” operating level tape (like lower operating standard than 406), and formulated for optimum performance at low transport speeds (15/16ips and 1 7/8ips) and for speech content source material. It is not formulated for hi-speed hi-fidelity source material. Will it work for “special effects” type applications? I’m sure it would, assuming it isn’t sticky. I just wanted to poignantly share my opinions about this though to maybe temper expectations.

It’s…

…logging tape.
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You think it might have sticky shed? I always thought when Ampex became Quantegy that problem was taken care of.

On a side note, some years back, I got two reels of pristine unopened Ampex 456 still sealed in plastic.

My excitement was quickly squashed as I watched my machine slow down to a crawl, and then spent 20 minutes deep cleaning my transport.

Second reel I didn’t even bother with. I just spooled off the tape into the trash, just keeping the box and reel.

That shit sucks. Yet I’ll see on eBay people constantly selling ‘NOS, never opened’ reels of 456. Buyers will most likely have a disappointment to say the least.
 
RFR said:
You think it might have sticky shed? I always thought when Ampex became Quantegy that problem was taken care of.

On a side note, some years back, I got two reels of pristine unopened Ampex 456 still sealed in plastic.

My excitement was quickly squashed as I watched my machine slow down to a crawl, and then spent 20 minutes deep cleaning my transport.

Second reel I didn’t even bother with. I just spooled off the tape into the trash, just keeping the box and reel.

That shit sucks. Yet I’ll see on eBay people constantly selling ‘NOS, never opened’ reels of 456. Buyers will most likely have a disappointment to say the least.
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If you talk to the people that do archiving for a living, including those who work for the National Archives, they will tell you nothing is safe. Of course it always depends on storage conditions etc. But it doesn’t matter if it’s Ampex or Quantegy. It’s all gonna be sticky eventually I believe. 499 used to be a sweet deal because it wasn’t sticky…not even the Ampex branded stuff. But some of the 499 is starting to go. 3M 996 used to be the same way but even a decade ago I decided to stop using it because I was starting to run into issues and 499 was much more reliable. I know of somebody that had some GP9 that was bad. Everything has to be approched as though it may be sticky if it’s at all an unknown quantity IMO.
 
RFR said:
You think it might have sticky shed? I always thought when Ampex became Quantegy that problem was taken care of.
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Ampex claimed to have fixed the issue many times but they never did. In my experience, Quantegy tape is starting to go sticky. I wouldn't trust any Ampex/Quantegy to be usable.
 
Yuk. That’s sad. I have some Scotch. Thats been pretty good, but I’ve found that to be flaky.
 
Yeah not trying to be a harbinger of doom or anything…but we have evidence for awhile now that lines of tape we once though impervious are not, but, again, some is clearly worse than others, and those that are more reliable are moreso if stored appropriately long-term.
 
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