What is your favorite cassette to record on?

[VESSEL2020]

This is derived, and inspired by a poll that Sweetbeats started:
the "Tascam Cassette 4-track Appreciation Thread...Vote For Your Favorite!" thread.


I'm sorry if this has been done before,..but
I haven't seen any polls or threads, on H.R.com about different flavors
of cassette media.

I'm curious to see what other people are using, or in favor of,
in their portastudios,
and other favorite cassette 2-4-6-8 track machines.

Obviously,..anyone who uses these machines knows,
you shouldn't use anything below a type II cassette...
and anything higher than 90 minutes.
Due to shedding, and stretching.

I have couple favorites,...
but I have to say my all time fav. would be..
Maxell type II-S 60 min.
and Scotch XSII's being a close second choice.

I love the crisp, warm sounding recordings I get with them.

I do favor many metal types, like the TDK MA-XG's..
and the great Sony Metal Master..too.

This poll is not limited to just type II cassettes.
Whatever you favor,...put it up.
Please try to keep it type II, and above if at all possible.
But if you really have a favorite that isn't,
What the hell,..put it up anyway.

If it is not listed here,..please mention it.
There are plenty of great cassettes out there. (what's left of 'em, anyway)
If you have any pictures to add, please do so.
I think it would be a great reference for any newbie,
just getting into the format.

Also, I'm just curious to see how many people are actually
still recording, using a cassette based format.

There are alot of people that are very analytic like myself,
that may notice a difference in the same type of cassette,
like a Maxell type II that was made in Japan, vs. one that was made in
Canada. Believe it, or not...there are differences.
Well,..I can hear them,..anyway.

I have been recording with cassette since the age of 7,
when my father kicked down his old "3 in one" Pioneer
stereo system, with Vinyl, Cassette, & 8-track, to me.
Still to this day, I record on cassette...
This is my favorite way to record,...with R2R following right behind.
I'm just accustomed, to tape and don't think it'll ever change.
I don't want to turn this into a analog vs. digital war,
so I'm gonna shut up.

There is no poll,..just post.

If I've posted some wrong info, don't be afraid to correct me.
I'm gonna post some pics of the flavors I like to use...
starting here. Sorry for the poor picture quality,...it was done quick.

 

[DigitalSmigital]

Maxell rulz

 

[jjones1700]

I've always recorded on XL-II and XL-IIS. I've pushed the levels way beyond sane levels and the Maxell never distorted. Part of it is probably the deck, but I attribute a good portion of it to the tape. I recorded on some Fuji ZR-II and it was okay, just wasn't around long. I've got a few SA tapes lying around that I need to try out. My hesitation in recording on my 424mkII vs. my 388 (or 38 for that matter) is that cassettes seem to be disappearing fast. I can still find ample supply of 1/4" and bigger open reel tape. I'd LOVE to be able to keep working with the 424 without any worries, but unlike Dave (AReelPerson), I didn't "future-proof" my stash of cassettes.

 

[Blue Jinn]

I don't have a portastudio, but I've always been partial to Maxell XL-II. Agree with jjones, seems to handle the level nicely and is pretty low noise.

 

[SteveM]

Maxell. I don't use a cassette multi track but for mixing down or anything else, XLII.... which is 42 in Roman Numerals.

 

[sweetbeats]

This is great, Vessel...thanks for the fun thread!

I remember my dad's cool Sony mid-70's "boombox"...mono 3-way with an 8" woofer, I believe it pulled in shortwave radio as well as VHF TV bands in addition to AM and FM radio...and of course the cassette section with the cool built-in condenser mic. That led to my brother getting a boombox himself...stereo even...with TWO built-in condenser mics and our "radio show" was born...of course we were the only two listeners as well as being the DJ's, but it was fun. We ran the SNOT out of the generic C60 cassette that came with the unit...plain white shell...I can remember "Car Wash"...stuff by KC and the Sunshine Band too...MAN that was fun. We'd take that thing on family road trips and document the travels...Radio Shack was a popular store because that's where my (bigger and more technically astute) brother got his cool "150 in 1" electronics kits and blank cassettes...Radio Shack branded...off-white shells and IIRC the C30's had a green and black label and the C60's had red and black...I spilled squash on one of the C30's so it has an orange stain on it...I'm pretty sure I still have those cassettes...the early Maxell's came in these cool cases with a flip-out 'L' section for sliding the tape out...got those somewhere too...dang...where ARE those...

Before I got into recording I avidly used Maxell XL-II's and XL-IIS's...then it was metal tapes...and the TDK MA-R's with the alloy shell...those just seemed to sound better and I always felt it had somoething to do with the mass of the shell...stability or something...I used Denon metal and type II cassettes quite a bit too. I got a couple Sony type II cassettes once and I HATED them...sounded awful.

As of late I've used either TDK SM60's or late issue Maxell XL-II's. I prefer the Maxell's over the TDK's...just a more...natural sound? They don't sound as good as the 80's and 90's vintage XL-II's though, or especially not the XL-IIS's...I used to think I was nuts having a preference...its just tape right??? Now I KNOW I'm nuts thanks to all you sots.

I have three boxes of 10 of the XL-II's and a box of the SM-60's for my 234. Still have a long way to go getting that thing up-to-snuff but I'm really shocked at how nice it sounds.

Someday I wouldn't mind getting a 122mkII for cassette masters. I do have an old Onkyo TA-2057 tape deck that works great though...

Ahhh cassette...

 

[Bobby Darko]

I use and never had a problem with these:

 

[jjones1700]

This is great, Vessel...thanks for the fun thread!

I remember my dad's cool Sony mid-70's "boombox"...mono 3-way with an 8" woofer, I believe it pulled in shortwave radio as well as VHF TV bands in addition to AM and FM radio...and of course the cassette section with the cool built-in condenser mic. That led to my brother getting a boombox himself...stereo even...with TWO built-in condenser mics and our "radio show" was born...of course we were the only two listeners as well as being the DJ's, but it was fun. We ran the SNOT out of the generic C60 cassette that came with the unit...plain white shell...I can remember "Car Wash"...stuff by KC and the Sunshine Band too...MAN that was fun. We'd take that thing on family road trips and document the travels...Radio Shack was a popular store because that's where my (bigger and more technically astute) brother got his cool "150 in 1" electronics kits and blank cassettes...Radio Shack branded...off-white shells and IIRC the C30's had a green and black label and the C60's had red and black...I spilled squash on one of the C30's so it has an orange stain on it...I'm pretty sure I still have those cassettes...the early Maxell's came in these cool cases with a flip-out 'L' section for sliding the tape out...got those somewhere too...dang...where ARE those...

Before I got into recording I avidly used Maxell XL-II's and XL-IIS's...then it was metal tapes...and the TDK MA-R's with the alloy shell...those just seemed to sound better and I always felt it had somoething to do with the mass of the shell...stability or something...I used Denon metal and type II cassettes quite a bit too. I got a couple Sony type II cassettes once and I HATED them...sounded awful.

As of late I've used either TDK SM60's or late issue Maxell XL-II's. I prefer the Maxell's over the TDK's...just a more...natural sound? They don't sound as good as the 80's and 90's vintage XL-II's though, or especially not the XL-IIS's...I used to think I was nuts having a preference...its just tape right??? Now I KNOW I'm nuts thanks to all you sots.

I have three boxes of 10 of the XL-II's and a box of the SM-60's for my 234. Still have a long way to go getting that thing up-to-snuff but I'm really shocked at how nice it sounds.

Someday I wouldn't mind getting a 122mkII for cassette masters. I do have an old Onkyo TA-2057 tape deck that works great though...

Ahhh cassette...

Wow, first off I'm blown away that the one deck you DON'T have is a 122. I've got the 122b and love it.

I too got started on the old boombox back in the day. I wish I still had that thing, it sounded great. I've still got the "live" recordings that my friends and I did on that thing. Eventually I was given a newer (albeit smaller) boombox, but with dual cassettes. This is where I first noticed phasing. I didn't know what the hell it was, but I knew is was cool. Running two cassettes with the same material at the same time and one side evidently played just a tad slower. It was fun to listen to. I would start them both up but have the faster side a couple seconds behind the other. Hearing the changing depth of the echo and the phasing as one tape passed the other in the song was just too cool.

I've used the drug store brand cassettes as I was growing up, and then I've used Radio Shack cassettes as well. After that, I was using random brands; Scotch, Sony, TDK, Maxell, Memorex, you name it. I never even saw the "higher end" brands such as Denon and such. I think I've only got one metal tape, and it's from Radio Shack.

Ah, good times... Where have they gone?

 

[sweetbeats]

MEMOREX!!!!

Those cool cases with the 'L' shaped section that would flip open to access the cassette were MEMOREX!!!

Oh me...how could I forget?

Where are those things...hm...

The tape deck in my nearly 20-year-old Subaru is still chugging away without a hitch and dare I say I've never cleaned or demagged it.

EVERY CD player I've owned in those years is either dead or has problems.

Ooops...sorry Vessel...not trying to start a pissing match at all. I think part of what has led to the demise of those components above is a change in manufacturing ideology and consumer standards. The CD players I've owned were of decent quality. One Onkyo, and one Philips. They were both nice but gave up the ghost at some point. Our current Panasonic DVD/CD player/recorder freezes all the time and fortunately the power cord disconnects from the back because where we have it located it is hard to get to the receptacle...just noticed last weeke there is a "reset" switch in a pinhole in the face for this purpose so now we don't even have to slide it out to cut the power. How nice I guess to have this convenience for when it locks up.

Gotta look for those old cassettes.

I was gonna mention earlier that I haven't seen my Onkyo tape deck in some time as my brother has it...transferring all our old tapes that HE has to digital. That will be fun and convenient to be able to access them and share them using technology...and to have them backed up in another medium.

Wow, first off I'm blown away that the one deck you DON'T have is a 122. I've got the 122b and love it.

Heheh...easy there fella......is there such a thing as a plain old "122"? And if so what are the major diffs between the "122" and the "122B"? And how about the "122B" and the "122mkII"? They're all 1 7/8ips decks right? But the mkII incorporated dbx noise reduction?

 

[jjones1700]

MEMOREX!!!!

Those cool cases with the 'L' shaped section that would flip open to access the cassette were MEMOREX!!!

Oh me...how could I forget?

Where are those things...hm...

The tape deck in my nearly 20-year-old Subaru is still chugging away without a hitch and dare I say I've never cleaned or demagged it.

EVERY CD player I've owned in those years is either dead or has problems.

Ooops...sorry Vessel...not trying to start a pissing match at all. I think part of what has led to the demise of those components above is a change in manufacturing ideology and consumer standards. The CD players I've owned were of decent quality. One Onkyo, and one Philips. They were both nice but gave up the ghost at some point. Our current Panasonic DVD/CD player/recorder freezes all the time and fortunately the power cord disconnects from the back because where we have it located it is hard to get to the receptacle...just noticed last weeke there is a "reset" switch in a pinhole in the face for this purpose so now we don't even have to slide it out to cut the power. How nice I guess to have this convenience for when it locks up.

Gotta look for those old cassettes.

I was gonna mention earlier that I haven't seen my Onkyo tape deck in some time as my brother has it...transferring all our old tapes that HE has to digital. That will be fun and convenient to be able to access them and share them using technology...and to have them backed up in another medium.



Heheh...easy there fella......is there such a thing as a plain old "122"? And if so what are the major diffs between the "122" and the "122B"? And how about the "122B" and the "122mkII"? They're all 1 7/8ips decks right? But the mkII incorporated dbx noise reduction?

Unfortunately my 2006 Titan only has a CD player in it. When my Buick died, that's when I lost the cassette player in my vehicle.

I've still got ALL of my old cassettes. I've got them stashed away in a couple of plastic totes in my closet. I've already transferred some of the more memorable ones to digital and sent them to my friends who were on the tape as well.

There is a 122. It is a dual speed deck; 1 7/8" and 3 3/4". The 122b is the same deck but added the XLR I/O. Neither of those have internal dbx, but they do have Dolby B/C, as well as the connections ready for a dbx unit. I'm not too familiar with the later revisions (mkII and mkIII) of the 122. I believe they are single speed (3 3/4" I think) decks, but have the built in dbx. I've got the manual for a later model in pdf format, just never read it since it's not for the "b" model I have. If you do land a 122 (or the "b" model) I've got spare parts for it.

 

[VESSEL2020]

This is great, Vessel...thanks for the fun thread!

I remember my dad's cool Sony mid-70's "boombox"...mono 3-way with an 8" woofer, I believe it pulled in shortwave radio as well as VHF TV bands in addition to AM and FM radio...and of course the cassette section with the cool built-in condenser mic. That led to my brother getting a boombox himself...stereo even...with TWO built-in condenser mics and our "radio show" was born...of course we were the only two listeners as well as being the DJ's, but it was fun. We ran the SNOT out of the generic C60 cassette that came with the unit...plain white shell...I can remember "Car Wash"...stuff by KC and the Sunshine Band too...MAN that was fun. We'd take that thing on family road trips and document the travels...Radio Shack was a popular store because that's where my (bigger and more technically astute) brother got his cool "150 in 1" electronics kits and blank cassettes...Radio Shack branded...off-white shells and IIRC the C30's had a green and black label and the C60's had red and black...I spilled squash on one of the C30's so it has an orange stain on it...I'm pretty sure I still have those cassettes...the early Maxell's came in these cool cases with a flip-out 'L' section for sliding the tape out...got those somewhere too...dang...where ARE those...

Before I got into recording I avidly used Maxell XL-II's and XL-IIS's...then it was metal tapes...and the TDK MA-R's with the alloy shell...those just seemed to sound better and I always felt it had somoething to do with the mass of the shell...stability or something...I used Denon metal and type II cassettes quite a bit too. I got a couple Sony type II cassettes once and I HATED them...sounded awful.

As of late I've used either TDK SM60's or late issue Maxell XL-II's. I prefer the Maxell's over the TDK's...just a more...natural sound? They don't sound as good as the 80's and 90's vintage XL-II's though, or especially not the XL-IIS's...I used to think I was nuts having a preference...its just tape right??? Now I KNOW I'm nuts thanks to all you sots.

I have three boxes of 10 of the XL-II's and a box of the SM-60's for my 234. Still have a long way to go getting that thing up-to-snuff but I'm really shocked at how nice it sounds.

Someday I wouldn't mind getting a 122mkII for cassette masters. I do have an old Onkyo TA-2057 tape deck that works great though...

Ahhh cassette...

It brings back some really good memories,..right?



I hear ya on the Sony type II's,...They are my least favorite of the lot that
I have right now. Probably the only thing they are good for, is..the car deck,
...if that. They have a really dull frequency response. Almost everything recorded on 'em, sounds really sub bass-y. No matter how much you EQ.
I got a deal on 250 Maxell type II's and about 25 Sony's came with 'em.
Right now, as my stack stands...The last time I did some inventory...
I've got a little over 950..various cassettes. Mostly Maxell type II 60-90's,
and TDK SA60's - 90's. I'd say a quarter of that stack is all metal.
Everytime I go to N.Y.C., (usually once a month)..There are a few stores that have some back inventory,..with some really tasty tapes.
I can for the most part, haggle a good wholesale price for 'em.
I believe my stash of gold will continue to grow,..until I have bought every type II and above from the little stores in Chinatown.
There are some gold mines to be had.

 

[sweetbeats]

I hear ya on the Sony type II's,...They are my least favorite of the lot that I have right now. Probably the only thing they are good for, is..the car deck...if that. They have a really dull frequency response. Almost everything recorded on 'em, sounds really sub bass-y. No matter how much you EQ

That's exactly it!! That's precisely how I experienced them too! Just plain strange.

 

[Seeker of Rock]

I had a Quantegy cassette tape I used on my 488 MKII that worked and tracked great.

 

[VESSEL2020]

I had a Quantegy cassette tape I used on my 488 MKII that worked and tracked great.

I've never used a Quantegy cassette tape.
Is is it type II?
I'm very curious how they sound?
Do you have a picture, you can post up here?
Do you know where they are available?

 

[shedshrine]

I've never used a Quantegy cassette tape.
Is is it type II?
I'm very curious how they sound?
Do you have a picture, you can post up here?
Do you know where they are available?

My stash...

'A Reel Person' Dave on sound qualities of various high bias tape brands :
Type II audio tape in 2006/2007

"Right off the bat, I'd say that Emtec CEII & CSII is a very clear sounding tape with no noticeable emphasis, as compared to Maxell XLII which has a bit of a fatter mid & bottom end. Something like TDK CD-Power probably has a slightly fatter bottom end than Maxell XLII's. Sony CD-It is a fine cassette with a middle-of-the-road response somewhere between Maxell and Emtec. Quantegy sounds like Quantegy, which is a smooth, solid response without noticeable emphasis, but may not be as soaring and cristalline in the high end as Emtec or Sony. Memorex is fine tape, again with middle of the road response like Maxell,... not bad at all. TDK-SA and SAX are very clear sounding tapes, with smooth response, clear highs & without noticeable emphasis, much like Emtec.

These are minor sonic differences, based on my own subjective listening tests. Nothing too formal, but that sums up how I think the various tape brands break out in relation to each other, with the emphasis being that they all sound very good with only minor differences.

I have more tape in stock than I've actually had the time to use or test, but I have gotten great bulk deals from totalmedia, so I'd recommend that as one-stop shopping. I'd be surprised if I don't have well over 1,000 blank Type II cassettes in storage boxes, after having been accumulating tape stocks for several years already. That says nothing of my 1,000 or so used cassettes in the "archives", with "sessions" from roughly 25 years of raucus noise."

 

[Cosmic]

Mostly Maxell XL-II and Xl-IIS, and also a few TDK SA-X.

Also, being from Europe, BASF SM (Special Mechanism) Chrome. Very sturdy and good-sounding, even now.
I started with those when I had my first machine that had 'Chrome' setting in '74 or so. They play like they were recorded yesterday.
I did the unspeakable and recorded 6hrs of a BBC show on the BASF 120-min Chrome (on a cheap deck) and even they are still in fine shape.

C.

 

[grimtraveller]

Although I've used Maxells and a couple of others, I've generally been a TDK man. I first came across TDK back in the 70s when I lived out in Nigeria. At that time, the country was a cornucopia of ancient and modern, rare and new in the sense of records, tapes, equipment, TV programmes, movies, books, magazines......basically, one tended to pick up whatever was available. I used to use Hitachi cassettes, for example. But in the main, it came down to Sony, BASF or TDK. Virtually all of my albums were recorded onto one of these three with Sony probably just edging it. But when I got back to England in '81, for some reason that escapes me, all my albums went onto TDK cassettes. I'm a little more varied now because I tend to put three LPs onto a 120 {and I've had some of those for 22 years} and there's hardly anywhere here in London that you can buy cassettes easilly. So I use what I can get. Funnilly enough, today I went into this little shop just off the Edgware Road in Central London. It was a veritable treasure trove of old analog stuff. It was like being transported back to 1971 or the mid 80s. The guy that owned the shop had tons of stuff, he even had cassettes of Beatle albums in the original cases. There were Garard record players, Bush radios, good grief, tons of stuff. I thought of you guys on the analog forum.
In terms of recording on my Tascam 488, it's TDK SA90s all the way. I have used Maxell and Memorex but probably 98.5 % of the songs I've done were on the TDKs. Always type 2s. On reflection, I probably went with TDKs because I always found them reliable. I wish I could say something techie about the quality of sound and accurate representation across the frequency spectrum........but I can't ! My eardrums are probably constructed out of cloth or something.

 

[VESSEL2020]

WoW!!! Some really good posts so far!!!
This is where I was hoping the thread would go.

Thanx for the Quantegy pics Shedshrine!
Now,..if I could only find some, to see how tasty they really are!

Maybe I'll throw a couple more pics up just for the hell of it.

 

[dintymoore]

When I used cassettes I used metal tapes, Maxell or TDK, on machines that said not to, like the Fostex 4 track we were using at the time. To me the sound difference was worth the potential head damage.

 

[VESSEL2020]

When I used cassettes I used metal tapes, Maxell or TDK, on machines that said not to, like the Fostex 4 track we were using at the time. To me the sound difference was worth the potential head damage.

You're not the only one dinty!

I'm very anal about my cleaning process,...
Clean and demag the whole tape path, after every use.

I also have a spare 424mkII, that I use my metal cassettes on for this purpose. You're right, the sound quality is well worth the risk.
fortunately,...I've not run into any problems yet. "knock-knock"

I'm itching to use a metal cassette on one of my 688's,
but,..I'm not willing to take that BIG of a risk!