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Old 10th Oct 2007, 1:30 pm   #1
Electric-Hair
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Default brands of tape now and in the past?

Im curious about blank reel to reel tapes.

There seems to be only 2 that are currently available - Quantegy and RMG.

I see a few old ones and even some are sealed new old stock about, like
Scotch, Maxell, Ampex....ect

What are some of the other older ones of the past?
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Old 10th Oct 2007, 7:21 pm   #2
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

BASF, Agfa, Philips, Scotch, were some of the better main brands of tape in the UK up to the early 70's then there was Maxell, TDK, Sony.

For professional use there was Zonal and Ampex.

There were also a lot of cheaper brands, International Electronics was one but it stretched very easily, Shamrock was another.

I'm sure some of the other members can come up with a few more brands.
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Old 10th Oct 2007, 10:08 pm   #3
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Michael has mentioned the main ones; I'd add EMItape, Kodak.
cheapos: Normans, mastertape.
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Old 10th Oct 2007, 10:19 pm   #4
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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I'd add EMItape, Kodak.
EMItape was common, but I've never encountered Kodak, Ben
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Old 10th Oct 2007, 10:36 pm   #5
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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BASF, Agfa, Philips, Scotch, were some of the better main brands of tape in the UK up to the early 70's then there was Maxell, TDK, Sony.

For professional use there was Zonal and Ampex.
I remember the BBC used quite a lot of Agfa PE36 in the late 60s and 70s. This is quite distinctive having a matt backcoat which made it unsuitable for use with pressure pads.

Paul
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Old 10th Oct 2007, 10:41 pm   #6
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Going right back... Mastertape anyone! And, from Tandy... Concertape. Also I've got several unused reels of Ampex Tape. There was an Irish brand as well, can anyone advise...?

Philips own brand - specific looking reels weren't they?

And the fact that there were two types of tape then. Polyester Based (which is now standard) and Acetate stuff. The Acetate stuff had some interesting properties...

Cheers,

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Old 11th Oct 2007, 7:24 am   #7
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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Also I've got several unused reels of Ampex Tape.
If you're lucky (really lucky) it might not be shedding. Yet.

Two years ago I got some 16 track recordings back from some 1/2" 456 new in 1993 - had to be baked.

I'll have to have a look at what I've got around home, there's some old stuff there both from dad's collection and my late father-in-law's. From memory Zonaphone (not Zonal, it was newer), Teletape, Overture and a few others, plus the normal collection of ancient Scotch, Emitape etc and some "newer" Maxell, Ampex (half of it needing baked) and Zonal.
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 12:10 pm   #8
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Tape is interesting. I found this 1973 PDF about which tape to use on the net somewhere. He has compared Maxell, BASF, Sony, TDK, Memorex, and Scotch tapes. Sony and Scotch had the worst dropouts and Maxell and TDK have the least dropouts for used tape. Sony and TDK have the best output. Maxel and TDK have the best frequency response and retain the high frequencies the best. google "bass-01-04-7301b" or http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=1

Memorex Iv heard commented around is like sand paper on the heads...mmmmmm.....?

Another thought, the back coating on some tapes in regards to Akai's crossfeild head design I would like to know?

Acetate tapes are 1960's and before, and they don't last too long do they?

Different old tapes do have their own particular sound don't they..mmm?
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 1:07 pm   #9
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Later European recorders were all set up for a standard type of tape that BASF made that was called "LP35". This will be printed on the leaders (if they are still there). Tapes are often sold as being similar or identical to the LP35 specification, have a look at the small print.

Of course at high tape speeds bias is less important than it is with cassette (which stretches every aspect of the tape technology envelope to acheive the very impressive results that it sometimes does) and sensitivity is not an issue as Dolby NR is seldom used, so differing tape types can more easily be accomodated on open-reel machines. It's still worth re-biasing though if you have a large quantity of tape that you want to get the best results from, unlike biasing a cassette deck (which is normally a tedious chore) 3-head open reel recorders with off-tape monitoring are a joy to do. I tend to trust the factory EQ and bias for maximum flatness of response, it offends the purists but the results can be very good.
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 1:25 pm   #10
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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EMItape was common, but I've never encountered Kodak, Ben
I have some examples of quite a few of the brands already mentioned, including Kodak!

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Old 11th Oct 2007, 6:36 pm   #11
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Pictures anyone? Here are some of mine....

Cheers,

Steve P
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 6:46 pm   #12
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

This is from Belgium....
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 6:47 pm   #13
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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This is from Belgium....
Agfa were/are known as "Agfa-Gevaert"
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 7:03 pm   #14
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

American Ones...

Yes the Irish Brand one is made in the USA. If I can find the reel to go with the box I'll post it too...
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Old 11th Oct 2007, 8:09 pm   #15
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

Hello,
Well hows about this reel folks. Its was made for the 'Sound Mirror' tape recorder and the label says: Manufactured by Thermionic products Ltd London. and strangely 'The British Development Co U.S.A.'
Oh and by the way..its PAPER tape and still plays some recorded music.
Regards, John.
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Old 12th Oct 2007, 4:52 am   #16
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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Yes the Irish Brand one is made in the USA. If I can find the reel to go with the box I'll post it too...
I'm pretty sure Irish was the budget brand of Ampex for a while.

Orradio (the manufacturer on the box) was bought by Ampex in 1959 and spun off to became Quantegy in 1995 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orradio_Industries

I'll have to get camera out in the weekend and take some photos!
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Old 12th Oct 2007, 8:37 am   #17
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

I have loads of odd reels, everyone knows Scotch, but do they know what they were called in the first place? See the pictures, though these are Clydon reels, up in my loft I have some scotch plastic reels with the same logo.
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Old 12th Oct 2007, 8:40 am   #18
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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Hello,
Well hows about this reel folks. Its was made for the 'Sound Mirror' tape recorder and the label says: Manufactured by Thermionic products Ltd London. and strangely 'The British Development Co U.S.A.'
Oh and by the way..its PAPER tape and still plays some recorded music.
Regards, John.
I have a box of 20 Soundmirror reels with the paper tape but they are in their original shipping box (20 reels, 20 reel boxes, 1 shipping box), I will try and get a picture up soon.
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Old 12th Oct 2007, 9:06 am   #19
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

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I have loads of odd reels, everyone knows Scotch, but do they know what they were called in the first place?
I believe the original name for SCOTCH was SCOTCH BOY and I seem to remember a lad in a kilt on the early boxes. This together with the Durex name must have led to some 'naughty' comments at the time....J.
PS Have just downloaded one of Steve's pictures and this confirms my thoughts. I will see if I can find the one with the lad on the front.
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Old 12th Oct 2007, 10:35 am   #20
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Default Re: brands of tape now and in the past?

As an ex ERF apprentice, l'll be gentle with "Heatercathodeshort" and his 'Atkinson'!

In a nutshell.... In the beginning there was BASF who made the first plastic backed tape; they merged with Agfa under the Farben IG group during the war; Agfa made film stock. After the war BASF and Agfa demerged and with the original Agfa works now in East Germany, it became ORWO (Original (Agfa) Works). In 1964 Agfa and Gevaert of Belgium merged to become Agaf-Gevaert. Agfa and BASF merged in the early 1990s (I think) and were sold to the Koreans as EMTEC in 1997.

In Italy there was Ferrania (1962) and in France, Pyral. Ferrania was a photograhic film maker, as was Agfa, Kodak and Ilford who also made tape. When Ilford became part of CIBA-Giegy they also produced tape in France.

The UK was dominated by EMI. Their main competitor was MSS-Mastertape - both excellent tapes. Zonal added magnetic stripes to cine film and then in 1961 launched Zonatape which was quickly followed by Ilford's new tape, Ilfotape. Ilford bought Zonal in 1964 and later sold it to Racal. Zonal survive today as Zonal-Media and have talked about reintroducing 1/4" tape. Zonal made superb tape for the BBC. Ask them to start up again!!

The other main UK tapes were Scotch-Bay and Synchrotape. Scotch-Boy was originally the American owned Durex Abrasive Company who sold Durex tape - stop sniggering! - they were bought by Scotch 3M in 1951 - hence Scotch-Boy in the UK. Synchrotape used UK and Japanese stock. There was also Gaumont-British "Ferrosound" by MSS and Ferrograph made for W&W by Ferrania and Scotch.

Butterfly - who made gummed labels - produced the first British made Thermionic Recordon paper discs. Who made the UK paper-backed stock of 'Soundmirror' tape, I know not.

In America the main source was 3M (Scotch) who made paper and plastic tape and Orradio Industries (set up by the Goverment for their Brush and Magnetophon recorders) at Oppelika. Orradio also produced the Irish and Shamrock brands Orradio/Oppelika was bought by Ampex who then took over the 3M tapes business and in 1969 sold the entire business off - it then became Quanetgy.

Other branded but 'badged' US tapes were Lafayette, Audio Fidelity, Ferrodynamic, Reeves Soundcraft, Audiotape..... Scotch also made tape for Revox, Tandberg, Ferrograph.....

My favourite tape? BASF 35LH. Most UK decks were set upon EMI stock until BASF offered a free spool of tape if makers recommended BASF tape. Within a year or so, BASF dominated the UK market.

Its all in my 'Guide to British tape-recorders'...... !

Barry

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