BOJAX said:hey,
is it normal to see the acual track paths on the tape after rec or playback?
What brand is the tape, and when was it made? (For Ampex, the date code is like '92115', being the 115th day of 1992. For Quantegy it's like '2005115' since they switched to 4-digit years.BOJAX said:when I rub the tape with a q-tip it kinda comes off. like i said the heads are clean. I don't know if it is possible for them to be any cleaner.
If this is the (potentially) 35+ year old Sony tape you mentioned in the other thread I'm afraid that the best option is to bin it and get some fresh tape. I've never had an issue with tape that old actually disintegrating, especially Jap tape, but there's a first time for everything. Quantegy 407 or Maxell 35-90B (if you can find it).BOJAX said:when I rub the tape with a q-tip it kinda comes off. like i said the heads are clean. I don't know if it is possible for them to be any cleaner.
It depends on storage and the brand. I have a heap of tapes here that I'm going to (eventually) get around to transferring to a more convenient medium. The only ones I've ever had trouble with are a couple of reels of 80's Ampex - fortunately they're only production beds that a friend sent me 10 years ago.BOJAX said:arjoll: what exactly is the shelf life of tape? These were unused so there must be some life in it. Is there?
Not if it's breaking down chemically. You might be able to 'bake' them back to life, but I'm not sure I'd want to use resurrected tape for anything permanent. If you just plan to make loops or something, it might be okay.BOJAX said:jpmorris: I think all the tapes I have now are 25+ years old :O
it would suck if I had to get rid of the sony ones, they were unused
arjoll: what exactly is the shelf life of tape? These were unused so there must be some life in it. Is there?