Used Reel to Reel Spools all sizes plastic and metal

[Ray_Singh]

Dear friends.

Long story - but I have been looking for a set of metal 10" reels with tape for my Philips N4450. I found an old music studio which is being gutted near me and went to take a look. I have found a massive amount of audio reels.

A large number of smaller reels, both plastic and metal with used tape.

A massive number of very wide metal spools Agfa, BASF, 3M - too wide for my N4450 machine, so must be professional. PEM 469/ 3M 966 etc. Does that make any sense to anyone?

I am going to meet with the seller in the morning and will buy what suits my machine - does anyone want anything, i can collect and you can pay me back.

Pls let me know asap.

[Reelman]

If I were you I would go for the 10.5” plastic spools if possible rather than the metal ones if they are just for the N4450. They are less stressful for the rather under specified winding system of this machine although they do look better!

I’m sure somewhere in the original manual it suggests plastic rather than metal spools.

If you were to obtain more spools/tape than you need at reasonable prices I’m sure you will find takers on this forum!

Peter

[Ray_Singh]

Thanks Reelman - I appreciate your help.

Please can i ask you if the tape in the AGFA PEM 469 and 3M 966 is too wide for my n4450? It looks a lot wider than the stuff i use with my machine. Perhaps this is professional studio tape?

[DMcMahon]

Ray, as far as I can see the N4450 is a 1/4" (6.25mm) tape machine.

A quick Google of the 2 tape types above indicates they are 1" so if 1" then no good for your machine. That is not to say that those 2 tape types may not also be available in other tape widths other than 1".

David

[Sergeauckland]

Pro tapes were usually mono or two track on 1/4" tape, two or four track on 1/2", 8 track on 1", 16 or 24 track on 2".

Some 'budget studio' machines offered more tracks on narrower tape, even 4 tracks on cassette, albeit in one direction only, and I've heard of 8 tracks on 1/4" (not the endless loop 8 track).

Wider tapes, especially 2" are very valuable these days.

S

[jamesperrett]

PEM469 was certainly available in 1/4" width and I think that 3M 966 was also available in 1/4". However, they were also available in other widths and larger reel sizes (up to 14" diameter in the case of 966). I would warn you that I have found both tape types to be sticky when trying to play them these days. The 3M 966 can be rescued by baking but the PEM469 degrades in a different way and I couldn't find a way to make the problem reels that I had playable without it leaving a sticky residue.

[Reelman]

Yes, as mentioned the N4450 will only use quarter inch tape and it is worthwhile being aware of sticky-shed syndrome:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky...ape%20unusable.

Not all old tapes are affected by it.

However, do remember that even if the tape is no good, spools for quarter inch tape will always find a home. It’s easy to rid a spool of tape if a little messy.

Peter

[Ray_Singh]

Thanks all. I will buy what looks good bearing in mind the sticky tape syndrome and if i cant use it, I will put it here for sale.

[Ray_Singh]

Thanks friends.

I visited the seller today. It was at a place called Stable Studios in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. I met Nicky James's daughter who informs me her dad was famous for being in the Moody blues. A very cool place with masses of history, but sadly being demolished for housing.

The tapes for sale were all way too wide for my machine. No 1/4" tapes there at all. BUT.....

Masses of 1" and 2" tape all of good quality and from what I can see without the sticky-shed syndrome.
I bought a few of each to offer up on here as a swap for something suitable for my machine or a straight sale. I know the N4450 is not supposed to use metal reels, but they look so cool and 99% of the time, my machine is off and not being used.

So i have the following available:

Ampex 456 Grand Master 1" tape (2 pcs)
BASF Studio Master 911 2" tape
Ampex 456 Grand Master 2" tape - a few of these
3M 226 and 3M 966

Notes:
All are pre-recorded metal spools
All NAB.
Pictures show the box leaning up against the wall and an open box. The box against the wall also contains tape.

I am happy to sell for what I paid for these - £15 per reel plus P&P or collection from near Swindon or central London (Holborn).

Pictures of the articles ********************a/7SPEDdC.

[Luxman1050]

Pictures not working.

[Ray_Singh]

Lets try again.

********************gallery/7SPEDdC

[Reelman]

No change, sorry no pix.

Please put the full address as copied from your browser Ray, ie we need to know what the asterisks actually mean.

Peter

[paulsherwin]

Please upload the pictures to the forum as attachments rather than using external hosting. A number of hosting sites have caused problems in the past and are blacklisted.

Ampex 456 was a professional tape formulation used by many studios in the 1970s, but it has since become notorious for sticky shed problems. That said, the empty NAB reels alone are worth your asking price.

[Ray_Singh]

I hope this works. I have added attachments. Thank you Paul.

[Ray_Singh]

I will donate to the upkeep of the forum if i can sell all of these.

[Kentode]

Can you tell us what's written on the paperwork that's with the reel in the third picture?

[Mark1960]

Given the history mentioned in post #9, I wonder if these tapes contain anything interesting that might be recovered by someone with the right equipment.

[jamesperrett]

From the pictures they look relatively recent - this was the last Ampex packaging design before they changed to using the Quantegy brand so these date from the early 1990s. While I'm not interested in buying any more tapes, I'd be interested to try playing them in case there is something still left on them. Do you know if the seller already has a copy of the contents? Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to share the contents unless I had permission from the copyright owner.

One other question - what is the diameter of the reels? It may just be the camera angle but in some pictures they look a bit bigger than 10.5".

[Ray_Singh]

Thanks Friends.

I have taken pictures from the sheets as requested. Its quite interesting.
I am still in contact with the owner of the reels and studio, so can ask for permission. I cant personally play these as I dont have a machine. They had a machine capable of playing these at the studio, but it was not working, missing one part.

All reels are 10.5" i agree they look odd in the images and hard to tell the size.

[Kentode]

This is getting interesting! A quick search didn't bring up anything for "Black dream".

Is the machine with one part missing for sale?