jaxson50 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I found a couple of old ones, how do you handle these things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 With care......:blink: ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 With care......:blink: ... I knew that part...is there a market for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 You mean how to store them or how to treat them when using them? Tape is pretty forgiving in how you treat them, but can degrade over time. Keep them dry in a place that does not have moisture, and obviously, away from anything highly magnetic. High heat as well will destroy them. You don't want a bunch of dust or smoke in them, so keep them covered. If you are going to play them, a clean machine will keep them from getting worn out. A lot of times tape damage from playing is because of metallic particles that shed being transferred back on, as well as wear from scraping across the heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I knew that part...is there a market for them. Yes........Tape is still used quite a lot.....New machines aren't being made... I'm not sure about new tape reels..................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I've got a reel to reel tape of some studio work I did about 25 years ago with Tony Martin (Black Sabbath). I remember it because I used a Tom Sholtz Rockman straight into the desk. It wasn't really done then.It sounded ok though. I'd like to hear it again. If I can get it run off I'll put it on here. He's always been a great singer. He should have done better after Sabbath. I was with him Saturday night. He's got a new album coming out. I'll put a pic up as proof. As is said..'No pics, it didn't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I believe it is chromium dioxide from tape that can build up on tape heads. A little isopropanol or other rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip can remove it. Probably not a bad idea after 100 or so hours of recording/playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I believe it is chromium dioxide from tape that can build up on tape heads. A little isopropanol or other rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip can remove it. Probably not a bad idea after 100 or so hours of recording/playback. You also have to "demagnatize" them every once in a while.... I still have my old Teac 4010-S I bought when I was in 'Nam..... it's up in the attic.... I doubt there's a market for them anymore, the iPods are so superior in every way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rogerb Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 A few years ago I tried to pawn an Akai reel to reel that I had owned for a number of years. They would not take it. I still have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Thanks for the info folks. These are in the orig. box, one is John Mayhall the other is Blind Faith, somebody gave them to me 30 years ago and I threw them in with my records, never thought about them again and have no use for them now. Sounds like a Viagra commercial! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 A few years ago I tried to pawn an Akai reel to reel that I had owned for a number of years. They would not take it. I still have it. Yea I've still got my Revox B77. It does great duty however, as a high-quality stereo tape echo if you wire it a certain way through the board. IMO there's othing like the sound and flexibility of real tape echo, good modern simulators not withstanding. On the subject of the tapes, it souns like these are domestic ( e.g. non "back coated" tapes). You can tell easily by looking at the side of the tape that doesn't contact the tape heads. If it's black, and slightly rough to the touch, its a "back coated" tape that is designed to play on professional machines that do not have pressure pads to hold the tape against the heads. If the back is smooth and shiny, it's a domestic reel. I have some domestic reels that are forty years old and still play without a hitch. Strangely enough, the "professional" tape seems to stand the ravages of time much less well. In the 90's I booked studio time to transfer some some 2" 24 track masters of my old punk bank to ADAT. The oxide started to fall off the tape as soon as we put it on the machine. The engineer told me to take the tapes home, and bake them in the oven for least 16 hours at 170 degrees. This actually worked, and the tapes were playable when I tooke them back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Just so I'm sure you have the right terminology, a reel-to-reel tape is all wound up on one reel, apart and separate from another reel or holder. A cassette tape has two reels permanently encased inside a plastic holder (the cassette). I've had a few young'uns call this reel-to-reel, which technically it may be, but for the vernacular of the day, it was not a reel-to-reel set-up. Call your local library or university library. They may have the equipment to play them back/dub to another media. You may have found the missing Nixon tapes! Keep the tape on the reels, don't touch the media with your bare hands. If you ahve to re-wind the tape media onto the reels, use cotton gloves. Peronally, I'd try to dub to another media, cd, mp3 or whatever first to see how the media holds together. You may only get one shot at recording what's on them. Generally speaking there is a shiny side and a dull-ish side. The dull ish side has the recording substrate on it and should contact the pick-up head when threaded through the machine. I think that means the side closest to the spool... if memory serves me, and sometimes it don't. Not sure of the half life of the plastic the tapes are made of. They may fall apart when you try to play them back, but I think they are quite durable. Keep out of extreme cold, heat and direct sunlight...yadda, yadda, yadda.... Oh and avoid close proximity to or direct contact with magnetic fields.... large speakers and CRT Television or computer screens and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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