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Old 14th Mar 2018, 5:08 pm   #6
Hartley118
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,196
Default Re: Vintage Tape Machines and Attitudes

It's a paradox that much of the worst tape deterioration over the years seems to have occurred mainly to Professional grades of tape such as Ampex 456 which suffer from the notorious 'sticky shed'.

On the other hand,my old recordings on 'common or garden' polyester tapes from the 1960s seem to replay perfectly well. They're typically a mixture of EMItape, BASF and 'El Cheapo' - tape was expensive stuff back in the day!

I just have to watch for 'dried out' splices which can break and cause catastrophe in fast wind.

Has anyone here actually suffered from serious deterioration in 'consumer grade' tape over the years?

Martin
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