I just want to say, this thread is making me feel like I've been ripped off this whole time! I've been using RMGI SM911 almost exclusively for about 4 or 5 years, and I feel like I've missed the entire NOS train. I do see the prices have jumped up recently (which is a huge bummer), but I've mostly purchased pancakes (in the 1/4" variety) - I worked at a radio station that had a bunch of reels of 80's 456 that was mostly voice-over stuff that I "recycled"
Anyway, Beck, you've mentioned several times that there are ways to find quality NOS tape (BASF 911, etc.) in bulk/on the cheap, but I've tried searching and been reading here for several years, and it's difficult to find these threads (or I don't know what I'm doing). I know what tapes to avoid, and that's about it (and honestly, whenever I've seen someone selling tape in my area, it's always 456/457 and I don't want to waste money going to look at tape that's sticky - because, you know, no one ever lists serial numbers). Any pointers on what to look for (comparable to 911), and how to look? Junkbay is all over the place, and you never really know... Could you maybe point me to some threads you remember being beneficial? I feel like some stuff was lost when this site transitioned to bbs or whatever. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough...
I've always shared links for tape deals over the years. Of course those who are looking for tape aren't going to do that. I haven't bought a new reel of tape from current tape makers in many years... no reason to as long as better less expensive tape is available. I find all my tape on eBay, Musicgoround.com, facebook marketplace and Craigslist. And now and then I may stumble onto something like a bunch of new tape and calibration tapes from the University of Illinois a few years ago. The important thing for the tape user today is to plan ahead and stock up well in advance, and for the long hall. Just-in-time purchasing of new tape will cost you an arm and a leg.
In the first couple years I was a member here we got some comedic value out of the fact that people were paying more for used tape on eBay than they could buy it new. All they would have to do to buy it new for less was google it. That still works, although we don't have all the tape suppy outlets that we used to.
In 2004 I was buying brand new 1/2" EMTEC SM468 from Tapeworks Texas for $18.00 per reel. The only thing he has now is his "Special Run" BASF/EMTEC 1-mil SM900 for $39.99 per reel in 6/carton quantities. I tried it years ago at $21.00 per reel and its good stuff. Even at the price it is now it makes me consider setting up my machine for it and using it exclusively. But I have too much other kind of great tape to do that. For someone just staring out its an idea though.
TapeWorks Texas | Audio Tape - BLANK MEDIA Call us 866-TAPEGUY
A note about searching eBay. eBay has gotten much worse... the bastards running it should be linned up and shot! They no longer follow standard internet protocol for narrowing searches. They broke it sometime back, so it broke a lot of my saved searches. One of the problems with eBay now is you get too many unrelated results, which is as bad as getting too few results. Either way it makes it hard to search.
The following used to narrow things down...
+(tape, tapes, reel, reels) +(scotch, 3M)
Translated it tells the search engine the following...
Must have the words tape or tapes or reel or reels AND must have the words Scotch or 3M
But they made it so it won't recognize the plus sign anymore and it returns over 22,000 results, including adhesive tape. sandpaper and automotive parts. You could just search the musical intruments category or electronics... but many sellers don't know what category to list things under, so it could be anywhere.
The most important thing anyone can do is to complain. You must complain and rattle cages or your world will naturally get progressively worse. eBay needs to hear from everyone about how difficult they're making it on buyers and sellers. Its the American way to agitate for better conditions... or if your from somewhere else its the somewhere else way... wherever you are.
One problem is any dumbass can sell on eBay and consequently eBay now treats all sellers like dumbasses. /Rant
One thing I've done to find the "Hidden" deals is to search by model number. This is/was especially effective with Ampex/Quantegy product and is how I found the best prices online. For example, 456 1/2" on metal reel is model number 456-273111 (or 456-27311Y). Pancakes of the same size without metal reel is 456-272111 (or 456-27211Y).
As for info on what tapes to buy and what to avoid, that's in the Sticky-Shed Help Thread and bits and pieces in other threads over the years. I wish I could rename the sticky-Shed Help Thread to something else because it was the result of and in context of conversations the members were having at the time. Now I'm sure plenty of people miss it because they're thinking, "What the hell is sticky-Shed and why does it apply to me?"
I'm guessing something w/ ATR, but with little or no risk to ATR.?????
....then he dropped it down to like $300-$400 and after some time it just vanished on eBay (maybe someone actually bought it?).
, but it does strike me as pretty odd, that other than a website asking for money, there doesn't seem to be any chatter anywhere else about a "Quantegy comeback." Hutt had participated in a thread at Tapeheads which for some reason was then locked.