Tape for Tascam 22-2

[FALKEN]

If you are going to put a tape in a time capsule, put it on 526, or 468 -- another of my favorites, which just happens to be bias compatible with GP9… imagine the possibilities there. All you would have to do is install a level switch and use two of the best tapes ever to come down the pike without having to re-bias.

wha? Beck, you know you can't say something like this without burning the school down. Expain this man!!

 

[Beck]

wha? Beck, you know you can't say something like this without burning the school down. Expain this man!!

A time capsule… it’s a box that you seal stuff in for future generations to open.

 

[aarowsmith]

I completely agree with Beck here and that too is my experience with tape

I agree all the way with what Beck said here, quoted below after my ramble here, and that has been my personal experience using different brands of tape here mentioned by Beck.

I like the Ampex/Quantegy brand of tape as long as it is stable and not old, no sticky shed please, and also the Basf/3M Scotch reel tape, again no old stuff and no sticky please.

I find Ampex 406/407 and 499 to be the most stable and great sounding analog tape made for older Teac/Tascam machines and newer Fostex reel machines. I also agree that 3M/Basf reel tape 468 tape and 250/226 has its place in the sound quality, it seems brighter and a little more high end and a little more high end hiss than say Ampex/Quantegy.

Different brands and model number tapes all sound different and you have to go by what you want to hear and what sounds good to you and also what sounds great on your particular reel to reel equipment.

All reel tape here mentioned, seem close enough in bias compatibility, so you usually don't have to re-bias or re-adjust your machine. Just make sure to set your record levels to each tape and find the hottest level you can record at, test it out, and not too high of a record level or you will get some nasty distortion that should not be there. Reduce the recording level if you get distortion. And if your machine has bias high/low and eq settings use them and experiment with them.

I really like the older 1970's machines that have bias and eq high/low settings for different bias tapes and for different manufactures brands, right on the front panel, nice. I wish the pro machines had that feature?

And throw away a tape that exhibits problems and or bake it only for playback though, try not to use a tape for recording that has sticky shed or sounds really badly muffled when recording, please throw it away and don't sell it to some poor smuck on ebay please.

And make sure your heads and guides are really clean, sometimes there is still microscopic crud still stuck in your heads even after cleaning, so clean twice, three times or whatever it takes, and you will have a clean sparkling high end sound again. And if all this does not work then you will have to get an expert to adjust/repair your machine or you can learn to do it yourself. My two cents...

Ampex 357 appears to be very close to Ampex 457, but not exactly. Coercivity is very close on 357, 407 and 457 (305, 330, and 320 Oe respectively.) 357 Retentivity is 100 points down from 457, but 100 points higher than 407. Frequency sensitivity @ 1 kHz and 10 kHz are a bit less for 357 than 457, but not much. I've always thought of 357 as on par with 407, but maybe it's technically in between 407 and 457 (making it completely unnecessary… probably why they don’t make it anymore).

I would characterize modern 457 as a new and improved 357, or just a better cut (closer to the center) in the manufacturing process.

The most important thing to know is that all these tapes are bias compatible as demonstrated by the coercivity figures above. Ampex/Quantegy 406, 407, 456 and 457 all require the same bias, as do BASF 911 and 3M 206, 207, 226 and 227… you get the idea. BASF 911 has a coercivity of 320 Oe, same as 456/457. BASF LPR-35 is 320 as well and fits into the same niche as 407/457 as a 1-mil tape for use on machines like the R8, 388 and 22-2.

But in the real world few care about this stuff -- all you need to know is that the tapes are “bias compatible” which is plain English for having a similar coercivity. 406/407 will have a smoother compression than 456/457, but the latter is brighter, though “glassy” if pushed too hard.

So if you have a typical machine set for 250 nW/m flux level, 456 will be bright and clean at 0 VU. On the other hand 406/407 at the same flux level will be closer to saturation and thus produce that pleasing distortion that everyone is after. But it has slightly less sparkle simply because the harder you push tape the lower the top end frequency response. It’s not much change though -- maybe 16 to 18 kHz as opposed to 20 kHz.

In answer to another question, yes I’ve had older (early 80’s) 3M/Scotch 226 fall apart all over my TSR-8 with sticky shed, but newer stuff (in the black box) was fine. 3M hasn’t made tape since about 1994/95, and everyone else is defunct except Quantegy and (God willing) RMGI bringing back the old BASF/EMTEC formulations.

Knowing this stuff is interesting in an academic sense, but if you’re really smart you’ll buy new Quantegy tape for your machine and forget about trying to bend Murphy’s Law in your favor when it comes to the canvas you put you precious work on.

There are really good tapes out there that fewer people are familiar with like BASF/EMTEC SM 468 and AGFA/BASF LM 526. 526 is bias compatible, but most people that still have it are jealously guarding this secret weapon. It’s something to look for though. It was designed for thousands of passes in mastering houses and is virtually indestructible. If you are going to put a tape in a time capsule, put it on 526, or 468 -- another of my favorites, which just happens to be bias compatible with GP9… imagine the possibilities there. All you would have to do is install a level switch and use two of the best tapes ever to come down the pike without having to re-bias. But I digress and now I'm rambling.

Hope that helps.

 

[Blue Jinn]

Anyone know if the 357 goes sticky. I just saw 10pcs go for an insane amount of money on eBay and wondered if it was worthit or worthless...

 

[haroldaj]

Tascam 22-2 compatable tapes

High Guys...this is a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge..well here I go..
as mentioned earlier in my first post, I picked up a 22-2 recently and its great.. after reading your posts I plan to use 468, 35-90, 406, and 456 for different styles and types of musical recordings, am I being willfully ignorant..

 

[Beck]

High Guys...this is a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge..well here I go..
as mentioned earlier in my first post, I picked up a 22-2 recently and its great.. after reading your posts I plan to use 468, 35-90, 406, and 456 for different styles and types of musical recordings, am I being willfully ignorant..

Things have changed a lot since this thread started and evolved, and things will keep changing, up and down. It's getting harder to find many different types of tape to experiment. Have the machine setup for the tape in greatest supply in your part of the world. Then you can experiment with other tapes as you find them. If you're looking for a consistent source of new tape for the 22-2, try RMGI LPR35. Also go with 407 or 457 instead of 406 or 456. The 22-2 is best suited for 1-mil thickness tape.

About using different tapes for different types of music... that's really hard to convey how to do over the web. I hate to say it, but I think those of us that have been doing that for all these years are the only ones who can.

You can figure it out to suit your own tastes, but it takes time and a variety of tape types at your disposal.

What sorts of music are you recording? With some genres it really doesn’t matter all that much.

~Tim

 

[dodgeaspen]

Man Beck is their anything you don't know about tape?? I really appreciate all the information you provide to thoes of us like myself who have no clue. Thanks.

 

[Beck]

Man Beck is their anything you don't know about tape?? I really appreciate all the information you provide to thoes of us like myself who have no clue. Thanks.

There's little I don't know period.

And you're welcome.

 

[mhbmusic]

Just picked up a tascam 22-2, thing sounds sweet as could be. It came with scotch 150 tapes, are those compatible? They seem to work just fine. Thanks I'm brand new to the R2R world, but loving it already! I should have done this years ago.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Thread resurrected!

Is your machine calibrated? I'm looking for someone to do me a few test tones to calibrate my own.

 

[lonewhitefly]

Just picked up a tascam 22-2, thing sounds sweet as could be. It came with scotch 150 tapes, are those compatible? They seem to work just fine. Thanks I'm brand new to the R2R world, but loving it already! I should have done this years ago.

Scotch 150 is very different tape from what the machine is normally set up for. However, if they came with the machine there is a possibility that that's the kind of tape the previous user calibrated it for. No way to know for sure without doing a complete set-up and calibration, which you may want to take it to a professional for.

That said, I often just drop tapes on to a player to see what they sound like, 'correct' or not. For instance, Scotch 203 and Scotch 207 both sound fine on my 22-2 (set up for 207 I believe); each gives a different flavor.

Scotch 150 is a fine old standard tape from the golden age that may give more of a 'vintage' sound character if that's what you're after. It will not suffer from sticky-shed but if I remember correctly, 150 can be prone to squeaking or screeching (due to either loss of lubricant or something else), but I don't think this is the case with all reels of 150. Just take note if you hear strange sounds. You'll likely find more clarity from something like Scotch 207 or Quantegy 407.

 

[leddy]

I have a couple of 22's. Maxell UD35 works wonderful if you can find it. Scotch 207 works well too. Scotch sounds a little more gritty to me, giving it a more vintage vibe. Nice when it's called for.

Just today, I calibrated one for LPR35. High end is nice. Little more head bump than before.