Magnetophonband Type E recording tape.

[Rogers-Lodger]

Originally Posted by Lodgesound

These look like an interesting find - is there a machine associated with this at all?

I work for the BFI National Archive & don't live far from you - I would be interested to know more.....

There Was a Lowe opta ferrophone with the tapes , I know the guy that bought it. I am at present looking to acquire some tapes with speech on them from the same guy. I dont think the content is going to be unknown as the guy who owned them probably transfered them and shared them with someone in the AES . But they are still period german tapes with " the budgie" on the tins as the bloke described them.

I have procured 12 tapes all in all . They are all labelled L but hand altered to E . Not all have TYPE E printed on them. One is lablled as re-spooled and there looks like there is a splice on one of them.....

There might not be any audio to archive here.....

I think the tape are very rare, I may auction 1 to see if people are interested. Please contact me off the forum with offers for the emitape bits if you are interested.

I might be going to the British Library Sound archive next week if I do I will take a tape to show them....

Dave

[brenellic2000]

That they have the IG Farben and Frankfurt address discounts them as being Genoton or BASF at Ludwisghaven. Perhaps IG Farben had a 3rd product line for industrial/professional users?

They certainly do not appear to have been unspooled.

Barry

[Rogers-Lodger]

I think the reference to Frankfurt is regarding the main offices that were there. And you must remember that the case is for L type tape and not the type E that it contains. So it dosen't have any bearing on where the tape was made.
Dave

[mrmagnetophon]

I'm almost doubting that its IG farben tapes, it might have been another company using the farben boxes, as we already see that the L was changed to E.

Also i will pm you, but don't know any value. The ferrophone machine was a little later, so if the tapes were original to that Machine, than it could be possible that this is another brand of tape.

I think Farben kind of slowed down in production and BASF really got going, what im trying to say is Farben became less popular than BASF to my knowledge.

-Chris

[Ted Kendall]

IG Farben was the holding company of which BASF was a part. BASF and other concerns were demerged around 1950, by order of the Occupying Powers, but the production facilities remained at Ludwigshafen.

[brenellic2000]

Hi Ted,

My suggestion of it being Farben's "3rd brand" was intended to mean BASF, Agfa (pre Beyer of 1948 - Agfa's new West German plant produced 'F' tape) and 'a third' brand -possibly salvaged from war-time Wolfen?

Genoton was a split-off from BASF by Matthias, their senior chemist; BASF disowned Genoton, so I am not sure if Genoton was actually part of Farben or an independent company?

For Chris' benefit here is the RGD-5 portable. I give a brief history in my "Guide to British taperecorders".

Barry

[brenellic2000]

Eureka!!

I think I've found the (an?) answer to the mysterious 'Type E' tape.

Engles' research records pre-war 'BASF' tape as IGF (I.G. Farben) Type C (acetate) followed by the Type L (Luvitherm PVC) between 1943-1947, which we already knew.

He then lists the 'L' PVC tape as a BASF product from 1948 (when Afga went to Beyer and competed against BASF) but in 1949-1954 there was an homogenous BASF 'L-Extra' tape with a 220 Oe coercivity compared to the 'domestic' C and LG tapes of around 80 Oe.

Perhaps the 'Extra' professional tapes were only sold under the Farben label and stamped Type E (as seen) while the bog-standard 'L' boxes were simply over-marked 'E', by hand.... as per my original hunch. If they were a professional recording tape they would almost certainly been sold on AEG or NAB hubs. BASF LGS (Scotch compatible 300 Oe) tape then took over from 1953, under the BASF label.

This may well suggest that all pre-1948 tape was sold/marketed under the I.G Faben label regardless of its source - beit Ludwigshaven, its nearby satellite plant, or the Afga-Wolfen works.

Does anyone have a pre-war BASF labelled tape box or spool?

Barry

[Rogers-Lodger]

I presume this is you referance :
http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/basftape/basftapes.html

[Ted Kendall]

Since Agfa, Beyer and BASF were all under the IG Farben banner until around 1950, it seems quite logical for tape from any facility to be so labelled at this time.

Geneton was homogenous tape, incidentally - at least the stuff that EMI used. It was liked for its mecahnical stabiilty, compared with the contemporary EMI product, but tended to shed, necessitating frequent head cleaning, which was professional practice anyway.

[mrmagnetophon]

Thanks for the picture of the RGD machine.
You should check with david winter, he has the most magnetophon and pre war machines and accessories that i know of, also stuart blacklock "vintagerecorders" might know.

-Chris

[Rogers-Lodger]

More info on tyoe E
http://goldohr.wordpress.com/2010/08...-letzter-teil/
I use google chrome and it translates the site. It is a bit frustrating because you dont quite get the subtleties of the text in the translation.

If I quote the translation
From early 1949, with the mass production of the band started Genoton Type E again. Background of the reactivation of Genoton was the bizonal agreement, the volume required in the respective zone of occupation even be able to cover. Production in Ludwigshafen and Waldmichelbach was completely taken by the French occupying forces claimed; deliveries from Wolfen (SBZ) were against the political background of the war as not safe enough. Furthermore, let an explosion at BASF in July 1948, of which the Magnetophonbandbetrieb was affected, impairing the ability to deliver on. The quality of the tapes from the early post-war production could BASF - a note of caution - do not classify as a problem. Since BASF was able, with the magnetic tape-type L and LG extra to place a competing product, they responded in Genoton Genoton with the improved type EN. The Genoton EN-mass band until early 1956, when the magnetic tape Gendorf production ended, the German radio a very popular tape - if only because the Ludwigshafen-L extra lubrication tendencies exhibited. Until then covered the production Gendorf half the demand for German radio bands. There have been supplied to the ORF, BR, RIAS and SFB.

It seems to say that type E was made from 1949 and was L extra and then Genoton made L EN in competition.

[Rogers-Lodger]

I found a picture of a magnetophonband tape (Ludwigshafen labled as BASF ) and a picture of a Ferrophon ( suprised no one was interested in this machine ) it is quite impressive in my opinion . Interesting to put it at 1951 as this conincides with the vintage of the tape. The one owned by FWO was modified to use Magnetophon Heads ( of which I have one in my possession )

[Rogers-Lodger]

some agfa ch tape pictures
http://rfm-forum.magnetofon.de/viewt...f72e641a1d1ebc

[Rogers-Lodger]

http://www.technikum29.de/en/communi...echnology.shtm
the link for message 32

[mrmagnetophon]

Is the Ferrophon for sale? i have been wanting one forever!
-Chris

[david winter]

Just to avoid any confusion: tapes with a carton ring on the center are new old stock and came with a small paper saying that the tape had to be placed on the take-up reel and rewound in order to remove the (useless) carton ring.
Type C tapes were sold along with the metal core inserted into the carton ring. As to whether Type L (and E) tapes also came with the core, I don't know.
If you want to see the original paper explaining how to remove the carton ring, go to my "AEG Magnetophon" page on Facebook and browse the photos, or click here.

I would of course be much interested in acquiring one or two E tapes. I only have Type C tapes with the round "AEG Magnetophon" label, and they all contain recordings that I cannot part with.

Hope this helps,

David