There is really no such thing as one-pass, not literally anyway. Even a master mix will have several passes unless the engineer is extremely blessed or the material isn’t that critical. But for any fairly modern multi-tracking you can expect a tape to have hundreds of passes just for one project. It all depends on the studio, the clientele and exactly what tape we're talking about.
There are lots of different sizes and types of studios between home and Abbey Road, but no matter… you have takes and retakes and you can play a piece back 100 times easy, not counting actually recording. You’ve got 24 tracks, so it doesn’t take long at all. Of course a good engineer will make a working copy to reduce wear and tear on the keeper.
You have different tapes… working tapes, keepers, mixes, and masters, etc. Some tapes are just used more than others.
You get tape used from movie sound stages and postproduction facilities, TV, Radio, state and federal government… you name it.
And in all this you’ve got different studios with different practices using equipment in various states of disrepair. I’ve seen tapes with physical tracks cut into it from worn out heads. You also see different storage habits. Some may have been in a vault, but many have been sitting in storage warehouses with no climate control.
You really don’t know where a used tape comes from. I’ve said this before about one-pass, but if it’s not good enough anymore for the studio that’s getting rid of it, it’s not good enough for you. Yeah, I understand working tapes to goof around with, but that one magic take suddenly happens sometimes and you can’t recreate it. So, I don’t put much on questionable tape.
It’s all a moot point though if we’re talking about this particular vendor. As I stated in another thread, he’s selling data logging tape (3M 8207) right now on eBay and misrepresenting it as “similar to Quantegy 407.” These are the actions of a desperate man… like somebody drowning. He’s also selling NOS AGFA 469. I dare say you won’t find a reel of that stuff on the planet that hasn’t gone sticky.
You can find good low usage tape, but these days it’s going to be from someone you know. Professional tapes like 456 and 911 are very durable… good for hundreds of passes at the very least before dropouts, clicks and pops start appearing. But I still don’t buy recycled tape because I don’t know where it’s been. And as I’ve said before, once the seal is broken you don’t even really know what kind of tape you’re getting. It could be 406 on 456 reels, or 469 or 226. It could be older tape on new reels. It could be a lot of other things than what you paid for.
If the price is right, I may buy used tape on eBay just for the metal reels, but other than that I say buy new tape and then you have your own “one-pass” with a known history.
