Avocado Memories: Photos of long-forgotten blank cassettes

Please re-read what I wrote. I didn't say heads don't wear out. I stated that I've not had the experience that they wear out faster as a result of using Type IV tapes.

 

Awesome collection! I was a big TDK fan too.

Here’s what’s left of my sealed cassettes, I have to confess I opened a lot of my sealed ones over the last 10 years to record on. I wish I’d been more selective and kept one of each sealed.

 

I already read what you stated, slack about upkeep said it all. As if!

 

Nobody is putting up the best looking Maxells, the XLIIS with the gold jewelry look to the gold metallic label. Stunning, I have some I'll post.

 

I don’t have that one I’m afraid, I think that came a year or two before the top Maxell in my pic. That one is my favourite Maxell, it’s made of a really interesting material, very heavy and solid.

 

Yes, I have a ton of them. It looks nice and sturdy. But a little dull plain imo.

Have you seen the Maxell Metal Vertex MV90? That is their final high end super-duper classy design. The most expensive Maxell cassette tape on the used market.

I have some of them including a few still sealed.

 

I don’t think so. I’ve seen the TDK metals but not sure about the Maxells. They weren’t quite as easy to find as TDK here in the UK.

 

No, I rarely recorded on the normal tapes.
SA's and SA-X's were mostly used for my recordings.
They still play back fine, some are over 40 years old.

 

I usually used the normal bias tapes for comps and albums I didn't care as much about, though they still sounded good. The high-bias tapes were for my treasured album copies.

I regret having used the Sony ferrochrome and the BASF chromium tapes for anything.

 

Quality Normal cassettes are underrated. They kick out so much bass, and can be fantastic for electronic music.

Type II was also my cassette of choice but I love the sound of the AR, I wish I had more of them.

 

No worries. If you're determined to miss the point, so be it. It wasn't a criticism of you but of the practice that some had of not looking after decks in the past. Hence the great need for servicing now - on top of that required after so much time.

What metal tapes do you have these days? I have some by Sony, That's, TDK, Fuji, Maxell, as well sone 'metal' type II - Denon, That's.

 

Why the BASF? I love the Chrome Supers. They just can’t go too hot.

 

They don't work well with Japanese decks that don't have bias settings. Japanese brands were dominant here in the U.S.. JVS, Sansui, Sharp, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Kyrocera, Nakamichi, ect.

 

I have a CaseLogic case that I've cut open with scissors, and a TDK and Maxell case that I can't open because the metal slider has corroded and can no longer move along the rows of (nylon?) teeth. Maybe I'll try some WD-40, or something like that.

 

I seem to recall a few brands that had transparent cases and featured reels not unlike the one featured in the SH banner at the top of this page.
The TEACs had gold reels, and one that I have stashed away someplace had a metallic green that was especially nice looking. Not sure of the brand, and they're all packed away at the moment - Denon?

 

If you'd had a European or Advent cassette machine, the BASF Real CRO2 tapes would have worked fine for you. They did for me on that Advent. And the Advent recorded great on Maxell UD-XL and XL II. And TDK SA equally well.

 

I have some, just a few, mainly TDK and Maxell. It was a Denon metal that faded on me. I recorded Pink Floyd's The Final Cut (what I considered the finest analogue recording in 1983). Recorded it on a special tape, not my normal stock. And three months later it was my only tape not sounding so bright and clear anymore.

if anything, maybe a deck needing demagnetized ruined it. But if that was the case, it was the only tape in my collection affected. So I ruled out the deck.

 

I read that BASF tape were ideal for JVC decks. I had a JVC KD3, which was a beauty in 1982/83. My BASF tapes still play fine, even the chrome c-120s are fine.

 

Well, I never saw one. And if I had, I wouldn't have seriously considered one anyway. Doesn't matter anyway. true chrome tapes were rare out here in the western U.S. The soldiers who bought their stuff overseas bought the Japanese stuff.

 

A Norelco 300 C-90 from around 1970.
This one was a better quality tape.
Cheaper tapes had welded shells, the better tapes used screws.

 

A very early TDK SD tape.
I found it in an old dusty box of tapes.
This would be the second tape that I bought, probably around 1968-69.
Most of my early taping was of concerts on WBCN.
I'm going to play it back later tonight to see how it sounds after 49 years.

 

and sounded better if you just shaved with one of their electrics.

 

Wow those are old cassettes!

When I was a kid a "Norelco box' meant the old standard type of cassette case/box with the black hinge part and the clear part with the J-card. I had never seen a Norelco cassette tape or even cassette recorder.

I knew Norelco (their main US brand back then) was part of Philips and that Philips invented the Compact Cassette. Norelco meant electric shavers for the most part by the time I heard this term.

Interesting the cassette is made in the USA and not in Europe, where the Philips cassettes were made. Did Philips make cassettes here or source them - also has CrO2 variant listed.

 

Interesting, I had a few Denon metals (or Denon-made for others like 3M/Scotch) and all were great and no fade. That JVC KD3 you had was a sweet deck back in the day.

I actually have a couple JVC ME-90PII metal tapes from then. Good tape too. JVC made cassette.

 

Grant, the Advent cassette machine was entirely American made. By the way. And BASF had a factory in the USA for many years too.