svhs on adats

jimmyc

New member
Hey there, I know adats use svhs, I have been using Quantegy 42 min tapes. A friend of mine told be the svhs u can buy in my local electrical store will work. What I was wondering is if they work at a satisfactory level to record with in a pinch?
thanks
 
sorry
i didnt make myself very clear! The vhs they sell at my local electrical store ie. currys and dixon here in the uk are the type people by for their video recorders, thanks
 
Not a good idea to use anything but tape-formulated for ADATs....

Tape formulations of stock videotape is not of high enough grade to work very well.... increased drop-outs and shedding will cause significant problems.
 
I don't use ADAT tapes, I use TDK Super S-VHS pro tapes without problems. I've also used surplus bulk-erased S-VHS tapes without many difficulties as well. I would try the local generic S-VHS, only a trial will tell you if they work or not. Be prepared to manually clean the tape path if the generics don't work (shed).
 
Yes you can use SVHS tape for all ADAT tape machines !

I use Maxell BQ, broadcast quality SVHS tapes. They work great every time and have no drop outs. You can use different brands as long as they are good quality SVHS tapes.

The wife tale that you have to use ADAT approved tapes only, was only because Alesis made royalties off all those tapes sold. They are all manufactured by the same companies that make SVHS tape stock so why pay the difference' !!!

Different brands have lower error rates than others, but you should always excersize a tape by fast forwarding and then rewind. Also if the SVHS tape is used then bulk erase the tape and reformat it. This will clear any previous time code on tape that could cause ADAT glitches.

The fact is that the only SVHS tape known to shed was Ampex brand of Adat tapes, all other brands have never had shed problems. For some reason maybe Urban Legends, People think that SVHS tapes shed, They Do Not Shed Period ! SVHS Tapes are very reliable and are still used today for long term storage Archival purposes.

The fact is, I have even used Broadcast Quality Maxell VHS tapes and they worked flawless for ADAT recordings. My theory is they come from the same high quality tape slitting stock as SVHS tapes. Either case as long as the tape you buy is top qualty, it will work fine and it will Not clog your heads. Go ahead and test this out yourself !
 
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