B
Beck
Guest
Good some reels of half inch 3M 996 on my hands for 17 dollars/12 pounds each. There's some mixed opinions whether this tape has a shedding problem. Any way of identifying the bad rolls from the good ones? Unlike Ampex 456 there's a whole lot of confusion on this subject.
Would it be fine on a Fostex G16C? The owner have used it on a B16.
The tape issue with 3M 996 is not sticky-shed per se, so baking will not help and is not recommended for that tape. It’s a heavier than normal oxide shedding on some batches. If you bought the tape used it could also be that an unscrupulous seller put 3M 226 or some other tape on the 996 reels… or someone honestly got the tape and reels mixed up. When dealing with opened and used tape one never knows.
At this point in time much of the confusion and conflicting information about sticky-shed is because people are basing reports on tape they purchased used, and thus they can’t really say with certainty what kind of tape they have. Information they provide regarding the nature of the tape in question is not valid. Although any tape maker can have bad batches (and they did), generally speaking 996 is a great tape with a good track record.
Also just a reminder... never bake tape to use for new recording projects, but only to recover previously recorded material you're trying to salvage. You can't fix sticky-shed. It will go bad again in a short time, and even right after baking is not as good as the same tape brand from the non-sticky era.