Avocado Memories: Photos of long-forgotten blank cassettes

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Clark V Kauffman, Mar 23, 2014.

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  1. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    Yes, but it was duplicated at high speed on a bin loop duplicator. Not the best sonics, even with the recent addition of chrome tape and Dolby HX Pro.
     
  2. shadowlord

    shadowlord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austria
  3. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    Thanks to Clark V Kauffman for starting this thread. I've enjoyed looking at the pictures of old cassettes tons. Brings back lots of memories, as the OP intended. I've got some cassettes from the avocado era, but I actually enjoy the cassettes of the brushed stainless steel era a bit more. At any rate, I've been inspired to scan a few of my old cassettes to add to this thread. May as well, since I don't do anything else with them. Can't be sure, but I hope they haven't been posted already.

    First of all, test the waters to see if this posting thing works or not...

    Passport C-60, horrid cassette, one of the first I bought.
    [​IMG]3M Passport 60 by House de Kris, on Flickr

    Audition C=60 from Woolworth, terrible as well. Came in a plastic bag.
    [​IMG]Audition 60 by House de Kris, on Flickr

    IMT C-60, awful awful stuff. To think that I committed some important sounds to this vault of memories.
    [​IMG]IMT 60 by House de Kris, on Flickr

    Pickwick Pro 60, now we're talking quality.
    [​IMG]Pickwick Pro 60 by House de Kris, on Flickr

    OK, that's if for the old dreck. If this post works, I'll post some much better cassettes. Promise. Maybe.
     
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  4. Stuart S

    Stuart S Back Jack

    Location:
    lv
    "USA Materials, Made In Mexico"

    reminds me of:

    "Designed in Cupertino, Made by Suicidal Chinese in China" :D

    Just noticed, that PickWick is the Pro version, it gets wrapped even tighter around the capstan than the non pro version!
     
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  5. MacGyver

    MacGyver Forum Resident

    Location:
    IRRIGON, OR. U.S.
  6. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I had one of those little silver Sony Walkmen that was the same size as a cassette shell, the one with the slanted buttons. It was the iPod of the '80s.
     
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  7. ti-triodes

    ti-triodes Senior Member

    Location:
    Paz Chin-in
    Some more Sonys


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    [​IMG]
     
  8. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    Ampex Cassettes

    Ampex made cassettes that were considerably better than the first batch I shared. The Plus Series was OK, at best.
    [​IMG]Ampex Plus 60

    But, the 20/20+ was a great improvement for type I.
    [​IMG]Ampex 2020 90

    Someone has already posted a Grand Master type I, here's a Grand Master II (type II, obviously). Purdy durn good.
    [​IMG]Ampex Grand MasterII 60
     
  9. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    When I started buying cassettes, they only came in a few standard lengths. C-30, C-45, C-60, C-90, and C-120. It was through this forum that I learned that C-180 tapes existed. I didn't go for 120s, so I doubt I would have picked up any 180s. The majority of my purchases were 60s and 90s. 60s for radio shows and 90s for two albums. When other lengths became available, I had a great time finding the optimal length for the music I wanted to record. Here's a sampling of the different lengths I was able to locate, from C-40 to C-100 (skipping C-60s and C-90s) in three parts.

    C-40
    [​IMG]Sony CDixII 40

    C-42
    [​IMG]TDK SA 42

    C-45
    [​IMG]TDK AD 45

    C-46
    [​IMG]Maxell XLII-S 46
     
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  10. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
  11. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
  12. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    BIG WHEELS

    In the previous post about non-standard lengths, the TDK SA 42 has noticeably larger hubs. I like to call these Big Wheels and would easily be swayed to purchase a blank cassette that featured these larger than average hubs. Here's a few more of these Big Wheels.

    [​IMG]Axia PS-IIs 50

    [​IMG]Axia PS-IIx 54

    [​IMG]Sony UX 46

    [​IMG]TDK AD 50

    [​IMG]TDK AR-X 46
     
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  13. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    That's Cassettes

    Some good things have been said about cassettes made by That's. I've like all I've tried, with the exception of the previously pictured FM80. There was nothing standout about it, other than the noise. Otherwise, here's a few more That's.

    [​IMG]Thats OW-2 54

    [​IMG]Thats PhII 54

    [​IMG]Thats CD-IS 70
     
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  14. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Damn! All of these images are bringing back some memories. I used almost every tape formulation and type pictured in House de kris's posts. That IMT tape brought back some very unpleasant memories of using it. They were very cheap blanks I bought at the local Thrifty Drug store in the 70s. I wish I hadn't.
     
    House de Kris likes this.
  15. Mbe

    Mbe Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    This whole page = WOW!
     
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  16. ti-triodes

    ti-triodes Senior Member

    Location:
    Paz Chin-in
    Even more Sony's. I didn't realize how many different tapes they made until I started pulling them out to photograph them.


    [​IMG]


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    [​IMG]
     
  17. Clark V Kauffman

    Clark V Kauffman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Des Moines, Iowa
    Whoa! That takes me back. I think I purchased just ONE Passport cassette ... and must have been 40 years ago. I remember that label design.
     
    House de Kris likes this.
  18. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I used their metal SR's for a while, they were excellent tapes.
     
  19. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    They were inexpensive also. I used Metal SRs for as long as they produced them. The formulations constantly changed for all manufacturers and sometimes there were surprises that either sounded great in general, or just meshed well with certain cassette decks.

    I love all the Japanese hyperbole on all these boxes. I may pull out some of mine and scan some tonight - I owe this thread. Is there any market for high quality tapes that have been well treated or recorded on once and well kept or are they only worth anything if they are still in the shrink?

    In my early teens I used to very carefully unwrap the tapes and tape the cellophane wrappers to my wall. Not sure why I did this, just for esses and giggles. I have a picture somewhere but I don't know where.
     
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  20. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    Sony Cassettes

    After seeing ti-triodes' post with all those Sonys in shrink wrap makes me regret not keeping at least one copy in pristine unmolested state. Alas, I'd use pretty much every tape I bought. But, not always. At any rate, I'll add a couple more Sonys to what's been posted already.

    HF-X 50
    [​IMG]Sony HF-X 50

    HF 90
    [​IMG]Sony HF 90

    Metal-S 54
    [​IMG]Sony Metal-S 54

    ES-II 90 ti-triodes has one with the shrink wrap in place, this is what the cassette itself looks like. I really like the extra window above the head area. Don't know why, I just do.
    [​IMG]Sony ES-II 90

    Hip Pop 90 These came in many colors. Someone else has already posted two, a green and an orange. Here's blue. I've got another color still in shrink wrap, but no picture yet.
    [​IMG]Sony Hip Hop 90
     
  21. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    More Sonys

    I'll finish out the Sony thoughts with a real oddball. Called the Canvas X-II, it was intended for the user to apply their own original artwork to the cassette itself. Included in the slim case was a clear label which you could draw your creation, then affix it to the "Canvas Window Side" (side A). Although side B had the same window, it was not denoted as the canvas window side. Both sides are included for your viewing pleasure here. This is another rare one that I have an example still in shrink wrap. But, no scans of the wrapped version, yet.

    Side A, the Canvas Window Side
    [​IMG]Sony Canvas X-II 64A

    Side B, the non-canvas window side
    [​IMG]Sony Canvas X-II 64B
     
  22. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
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  23. House de Kris

    House de Kris VVell-known member

    Location:
    Texas
    BASF part II

    A few of the older type I tapes, SK. Nothing really to write home about, as far as I can remember.

    C-45 in orange-ish
    [​IMG]BASF SK 45

    C-90 in green (older version). One thing about BASF, they didn't seem to care about sticking the label on straight.
    [​IMG]BASF SK 90 a

    C-90 in green (newer version)
    [​IMG]BASF SK 90 b
     
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  24. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    We need a thread like this for 8-track and reel-to-reel recording tape, too.
     
    Unknown Delight and Stuart S like this.
  25. Stuart S

    Stuart S Back Jack

    Location:
    lv
    First cassette pornography, then we get 8 track and reel to reel porn. What is this world coming to?
     
    andrewskyDE and Grant like this.
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