Reel to Reel Tape: Where to buy, how long does blank tape keep, & other questions...?

I recently picked up a 1969 Sony TC-630 Reel to Reel recorder at a thrift shop so I could play some of my old Reel to Reel tapes on it and do some recording as well. I realize that 7 1/2 ips isn't the best speed in the world but it still can still sound pretty darned good when done right.

I was wondering if anyone knows a good place to buy new 7" tapes (if anyone still makes them).

Are old, sealed blank tapes okay to use if they've been stored well? What brands of tapes are best?

Where can I buy a take-up reel?

I have seen pictures of two types of reels. My tapes are all the type with the small hole. Is there an adapter I can buy so the bigger-holed reels will fit my Reel to Reel recorder?

Thanks for any help!

 

*bump*

 

Here's where I get my tape:
http://www.usrecordingmedia.com/opreelrectap.html

 

Thanks for the link! Not ideal for a Canuck, unfortunately, but for all I know I might not do any better elsewhere.

 

The reel with the big hole is 10 1/2"
I buy my tapes at US Recording too, they sell take-up reels and adapters if you can play the bigger reels.
7 1/2 ips isn't bad! Just a little more hiss than 15.

 

Ah, okay, that makes sense. They must have accidentally used a picture of a 10 1/2" reel on the site I saw then. The caption below it said it was a 7" reel.

Unfortunately this machine wouldn't be able to accomodate a 10 1/2" reel. Still, it's a decent consumer reel to reel recorder. I had to loosen up some of the parts but it is now in excellent working condition. Here's a picture of a Sony TC-630 from 1969.

 

Best practice, according to a number of audio archivists, is to archive RTR tape on 10.5 inch reels w/no hubs, interestingly.

 

I bought a Tascam 22-2 last year, and I went out and bought a reel of Quantegy 456. I soon realized that the machine was having trouble with the weight of the tape. Upon further inspection, I found that Tascam recommended 1 mil tape as opposed to 1.5 mil, which is the thickness of 456. So I'm buying Quantegy 407 now... it's practically the same tape but it's only 1 mil thick.

If you have the manual, see what Sony recommends. You might have to go digging around some forums to find out. I'm willing to bet that a consumer deck like the TC-630 would require thinner tape. A local tech might be able to help you out with that, because chances are that you'll need the machine recalibrated anyway.

Good luck and have fun!

PS You might find some other tape suppliers via Yahoo Shopping, froogle.com or eBay.

 

Hi,

Your Sony was a middle class machine for the day. They can't take 10" reels. I would advise running Quantegy 406 in it. Your machine will likely have trouble erasing 456 or GP9 on it. The old style Quantegy tape (not backcoated) works well in older recorders like yours. Make sure the pressure pads are in good condition. If they are not, it will accelerate head wear. Frequency response will be good to 18,000 Hz. at 7 1/2 IPS.

 

Quantegy 407 would probably be better since it is 1 mill in thickness, and that is what most consumer machines are designed for.

 

Can someone explain to me why tapes are archived sometimes as "tails out"? I never saw what the reason for this was.

 

It lessens the occurrence of print thru appearing before the music. By winding this way the print thru is still there, but it is after the music, which is often obscured.

 

It also allows for more even spooling of the tape, where each lap lines up to create a smooth surface along the wall of the reeled tape, where a fast-forward or fast-rewind results in erratic accumulation on the reel, which is the major contributor to tape warpage when stored that way.

 

True, and excellent point. But it is surely possible to do a good heads out pack at speed by turning the tape over before winding or by using a bidirectional transport.

 

To elaborate: The print-thru can be heard as an 'echo'. Winding tails-out makes the echo occur after the original sound, rather than before it.


Of course this basically applies for full-track and half-track recordings. Quarter-track (which almost all modern consumer decks are), with its use of both sides of the tape can be stored with side 1 heads-out.

As far as tapes for that particular deck, I would concur with the rest of the guys here and use Quantegy 406 or 407. Just remember that all current Quantegy back-coated stocks are still prone to the sticky-shed phenomenon that plagues the industry with tape that is several years old.

-Aaron

 

Thanks, everyone, for all the information and suggestions. It looks as though I should be able to buy some tape in Canada. http://www.quantegy.com/disttemp.asp

I was able to obtain a manual for the TC-630 and it tells you how to align the heads and whatnot, so now I just need a test tape.

 

Well, what tapes are not prone to the sticky-shed phenomenom. I recently bought an Akai GX-747 dbx and would like to buy some good quality tapes. I have tapes that I recorded (on an Akai M-10) back in the early 70's and 80's that I need to bake now to be able to play.

 

Hi again,

About that Sticky-shed. The best backcoated tapes of super quality that don't have it are: Scotch 206, Scotch 250 (rarely does it), Maxell UDXL, TDK LX B series, BASF 900, most Agfa tapes and Scotch Dynarange. The Ampex tapes were especially bad: 406, 456, GP9. For good info on tape baking see www.wendycarlos.com

 

From another thread:


The stocks known to be problematic with the sticky-shed phenomenon are:

Ampex/Quantegy 406/407: late 70's-present (Yep, Q'gy still couldn't get it fixed in current production)

Ampex/Quantegy 456/457: all years (probably the worst offender of them all)

Ampex/Quantegy 499: all years

Quantegy GP9: all years

Ampex/Quantegy 041: early 90's-present (also sold by Radio Shack as 'ConcerTape' and by other dealers as 'surplus' or 'bulk' tape)

Scotch 176/177: early 80's-early 90's (This is a non-backcoated tape, and I have heard some sticky-shed stories with it, but they may have been storage-related, rather than binder failure, as I have had no trouble with what I have used in my travels).

Scotch 226/227: early 80's-1995 (I have some 226 that is perfectly fine, and some that is gooey, use it at your own risk unless you bake first)

3M 996: early 90's-1995 (A crime, as this was my favorite modern tape stock, and many of my 996 reels are beginning to deteriorate as we speak)


-Aaron

 

Thanks for the info, sure seems like a widespread problem!

I can't find any info on tape baking on that site, can you possibly steer me to it? Thanks!

 

Go here for some tape-baking info...

Here's the Wendy Carlos article re: baking tapes ...

-Aaron

 

I'll just have to use lots of NoNoise on all my tapes.

Thanks.

 

More here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22bake+tapes%22

 

Any info on where I can buy any of the above tapes new? Do they still make them. I find a lot of used tapes on ebay and some old "new" tapes. Are these good?

 

Maxell, TDK, and 3M stopped making open reel tape around 1995. 3M sold its mag media division to Quantegy shortly after that.

BASF/EMTEC/Agfa hung around until I believe 1999 or 2000 before throwing in the towel and liquidating all the magnetic media division's assets at auction. A company in the Netherlands bought some of the BASF/EMTEC manufacturing equipment at that auction and has announced that they are going to manufacture new production open reel tape in the near future.

A company called ATR Magnetics has announced that they are going to be manufacturing professional open reel mastering tape very soon.

Unless you find the tapes mentioned in that other thread NOS or used somewhere, at this particular moment as far as factory fresh new production tape is concerned your only choice is Quantegy.

As far as tapes sold on Ebay, I would avoid ANY Ampex or Quantegy mastering (backcoated) tape (406/407, 456/457, 499, GP9) as it will turn gooey on you: The $64,000 question, of course, is WHEN...

Scotch 206/207 is a great tape (me second favorite tape after 3M 996), is chemically stable, and can be found NOS in sealed packages (usually only on 7" reels, however) on Ebay quite easily, and for decent prices.

-Aaron