Sticky Shed Help Thread

analogkid said:
Excellent! this lot of tape is supposedly from 1976-77, I'll be grabbing it all today. Here is a picture of the one box I snagged and brought home already:
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You lucky dog! :mad: :)

I love that stuff. Those are just like the ones I have.
 
Turns out most of this was in the plastic boxes (will get a picture up later) and already recorded... but a bulk eraser will fix that, and all the tap was climate controlled since bought - nearly 30 reels!



AK
 
The plastic box stuff is Scotch 206, example reel here:
 

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New tape Sources

Beck said:
Thanks for the input about baking tape. My opening post has several links to information on the subject. However baking tape should be seen for what it is -- a stopgap method of disaster recovery. It is never a good practice to buy tape that you know will have sticky shed for recording new material.

If you already have tapes that need baking that’s one thing. Buying sticky tape on purpose to record new material is like putting “new wine into old wineskins.” It’s a very bad idea. Much of it is physically damaged, especially near the edges, and it can’t be fully recovered even with baking.

While people are knowingly and unknowingly buying old sticky tape, the future supply of new tape is in peril.

Every sale of old tape (some of it damaged beyond repair) is a sale lost to the few tape manufacturers we have left.

One of the most responsible things we can do in the analog community is to help put sticky-shed tape in the garbage can where it belongs by refusing to buy it.

The main purpose of my effort here is to make people aware of the issue and help them avoid the whole mess in the first place. :)
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Hi

Can you give some sources for new tapes. Particularly the 1inch. I agree that we should support our suppliers, who are also endangered species.
Thanks
 
Hi there,
I just got a TEAC 1/4" 2-track machine, and i'm looking for some tape now. I found a pretty good deal for 4 reels of Ampex 631 in sealed boxes. I've heard the 631 doesn't shed like the 456 does, can you guys confirm that for me? Will I be alright with the 631?
 
That's right, 631 doesn't shed no matter how old it is. However, it's not the best tape for high quality recording... it's considered voice grade. 632 would be better. Keep in mind 456 made 1995 and later does not have shed problems. It's only the older stuff that you have to worry about.

I see 631 sold on eBay by one seller who makes claims about it being the best stuff around. Frankly he’s full of shit. :eek:

If you’re looking for a vintage sound, 631 might do you some good, but it’s not low noise or high output.

406 or 456 made 1995 or later is your best bet. BASF, EMTEC or RMGI SM911 and SM468 are good choices as well.

:)
 
Thanks for the info. :)

I'm an analog noob. I got to use it a bit in school, and loved it. Now I just got my first tape machine. I'm scouring ebay for good tape.

Any info on an MRL? I haven't found any used, do you pretty much have to get them new?
 
I recently got 5 reels of BASF/ Emtek 468 from a seller outa Canada on Ebay. He frequently lists various package deals on the 468, Zonal 418/420, 3M 908,
and Quantegy 480. He list them as 1 pass tapes made for Nagras that were used in movie sound production.
It took my 5 a while to get here but so far they truly do seem to be 1 pass tapes in excellent shape with no sticky problems or anything. They record nicely on my Akai GX230/270 machines after I tweaked the bias and for the most part have no dropouts or other problems when just piping in HD FM and letting em record till full. It cost me like 37 shipped for all 5 on a best offer he accepted, 20 then 17 shipping.
It might be a good place to look if your on a budget and it's not absolutely mission critical. I've only tried the 468 as it sounded like the highest quality tape he has but he also list 10 and 25 tape lots for those of you feeling brave.
Some are outright by it now and some also have best offers.
My tapes claim to be recorded to in 89, really do have old movie audio on them at 15 IPS, and are recorded on one side only and in the original boxes with notes about what movie, time, machine etc.
Guys handle is canozger, and his feedback is almost 99 percent right now.
 
so I bought a lot of 4 Ampex 406 1/2" reels that seem to be dated from 94 and before and the first thing I felt were the effects of sticky shed syndrome. I couldn't tell from the thread but is it safe to say that general opinion here is bake the reels if in already in the situation that I'm in?

Well, sure, there's always buying a new reel of tape, which many of the threads here seem to be encouraging, but I'm a hobbyist and feel that when the tape isn't shedding, which admittedly isn't that often, the sound quality is just what I'm looking for. Thanks.
 
Best bet is to get new tape - once tape begins the sticky process it's going to continue. Baking (from what I have read, have yet to try it myself) is really to recover what has already been recorded and is at best a temporary fix.

AK
 
HEAR HEAR AK!:)

Toss that Ampex tape, keep the aluminum reels, order some SM911 pancakes and mount them on your empty Ampex reels. Voila.;)
 
Can you tell if its sticky before rolling it?

Hm...my post title could mean a lot of different things I suppose...but I'm talking about tape that is in the suspect years and of a suspect fomulation and manufacture.

I searched this thread and didn't find this question addressed...

I got two rolls of Ampex branded 456 with my Ampex 440. I don't know if the prior owner ever ran this tape, but he had similar rolls in his studio that he had used and the path on his 440 looked nice and clean. Yes I know that it is on the avoid list and furthermore I know that there is no way to know for certain what is actually on the reels which makes it even more precarious, but the tape doesn't feel tacky/sticky...it is silky and smooth. I'm not necessarily talking about using it for critical production, but for transport testing and adjusting and such...does a sticky tape not rear its ugly head until its being run across the path in play or fast-wind? That's the question.

Tape #1 pics:
tape%201-1.JPG

tape%201-2.JPG

tape%201-3.JPG



Tape #2 pics:
tape%202-1.JPG

tape%202-2.JPG

tape%202-3.JPG
 
Not sure or I would have answered earlier but maybe Tim (Beck) would know more about it? Tim, where are ya man? You're needed! :D;)
 
Quick question: What's the harm in putting a questionable blank tape on for a quick FF-RW to see whether the oxide comes off? I shuttled maybe about 20 feet of old, bad Ampex 456 through my tape deck and I promptly cleaned the tape path. Is this harmless? I don't see why not. Could someone shed :-)cool:) some light on this?
 
sweetbeats said:
Hm...my post title could mean a lot of different things I suppose...but I'm talking about tape that is in the suspect years and of a suspect fomulation and manufacture.

I searched this thread and didn't find this question addressed...

I got two rolls of Ampex branded 456 with my Ampex 440. I don't know if the prior owner ever ran this tape, but he had similar rolls in his studio that he had used and the path on his 440 looked nice and clean. Yes I know that it is on the avoid list and furthermore I know that there is no way to know for certain what is actually on the reels which makes it even more precarious, but the tape doesn't feel tacky/sticky...it is silky and smooth. I'm not necessarily talking about using it for critical production, but for transport testing and adjusting and such...does a sticky tape not rear its ugly head until its being run across the path in play or fast-wind? That's the question.
Click to expand...

(Sorry, I had a major PC crash… had to reinstall XP and office and all my other programs and updates… you know the drill… still in the middle of it) :mad:

Exactly! You can’t necessarily tell by look or feel. You tell by the date, if available, which it is in this case it is. That tape is no good, especially for transport testing/adjustment! Your adjustments will all be off due to the higher friction of sticky-shed tape.

The key thing to remember is that sticky-shed manifests itself in so many different ways because there are degrees, or stages of sticky-shed… it can be subtle or falling apart all over the transport.

Some people will think they’ve dogged the bullet because the tape appears fine, but their high frequencies will be down by several dB in the earliest stage of sticky-shed. And it will drag a bit more than good tape. Sticky-shed tape significantly increases tape path wear and it also leaves residue that is very difficult to get completely off without several tedious cleanings. It can get into the darndest places and clog things up.

So running a tape as lo.fi.love asked about is not harmless. In a situation where you want to retrieve material from a questionable tape, bake first and ask questions later. Baking does not harm tape, even if it’s not sticky, but running bad tape can harm your transport and present a seemingly endless cleanup task.

That tape is likely in the worst condition, unless the guy lived in Arizona and kept the tape in a low-humidity vault… but even then I doubt it. It looks pretty bad. I would toss it and keep the reels.

But rule #1 is don’t buy used tape. As stated previously you really don’t even know what kind of tape is on that reel.

The tape buying guidelines for avoiding sticky-shed are really for NOS, sealed tape.



:)
 
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