Tape Trail

A Little help on tape selection for good listening

70.208.145.111

spindoctor

Good Evening All Y'all!!
I'm totally new to reel to reel listening. I recently inherited a Sony deck and have accumulated a few tapes via ebay. I've been impressed with the sound and the music. My question is whether there are particular labels that are especially good. Or are there really only 1-2 producers of tapes? I'm a longstanding vinyl guy but really enjoying the reel to reel.
Sim

Follow Ups:

yes, only one -- two mfgrs., at most, today - mhardy6647 06:59:14 02/26/15 (2)
.. by and large, though, my personal favorite remains Maxell UD 35-90 (and its kin). AFAIK, the Maxell tapes age gracefully (none too subject to "sticky shed syndrome" or other wholesale degradation if stored reasonably properly) and are pretty readily available (though not always inexpensively) used.

No problem (IMO) with used, recorded tapes -- get yourself a bulk eraser if you don't have one.

Your Sony's bias can (presumably!) be tweaked for best performance with the Maxell formulation if need be.

New tape available from the link below. Selection's limited & the price is fairly high. I've bought from them before (though not recently) and found them perfectly good vendors. I am sure there are other vendors, but none with which I have any experience.

all the best,
mrh
- http://www.usrecordingmedia.com (Open in New Window)
- RE: yes, only one -- two mfgrs., at most, today - spindoctor 19:18:28 02/26/15 (1)
  Thanks for the recommendation. Will try and purchase these types of tapes.
  SIm
  - RE: yes, only one -- two mfgrs., at most, today - Sanlanman 14:46:07 05/03/15 (0)
    Maxell UD, UDXL and XLI tapes are very good tapes that age well. Others to consider that usually hold up with age are TDK's LX, and GX series, BASF tapes, and Scotch 206/207 series tapes. Any of them can go bad if stored long term in high heat.
    New tape From RMGI (now Pyral) is still available. The LPR35 formulation is said to be close to the Maxell formulations. One source is www.full compass.com.
    
    Edits: 05/03/15

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