Are ANY old tapes useful?

[igirl]

Or should they just all go in the bin?

I have brand new Ampex 456 - still in the plastic. It probably *still* has SSS I'm guessing? What about Maxell UD35-180?

[Arnold_Layne]

Or should they just all go in the bin?

I have brand new Ampex 456 - still in the plastic. It probably *still* has SSS I'm guessing? What about Maxell UD35-180?

The maxell UD35-180 is garbage, I'll take it off your hands for free :)

Seriously though, The maxell tapes are not known for "SSS". The Ampex 456 most likely has SSS but you can test it by pulling the tape by hand off the reel and you'll notice of the backing is peeling off.

A_L

[shotwell]

Agreed. The Maxell stuff is excellent. You shouldn't have any problems with it.

The Ampex stuff, well, if it isn't toast already it will be. I wouldn't use it.

[igirl]

Thanks - somehow I was hoping that since it was never exposed to air that the Ampex might have a chance.

Surprising - the oldest tape (Maxells) may be useful still. But they do date back to the 70s so with that in mind I wouldn't expect a lot. I'll give them a try however an see...

[Scorpion8]

I have a bunch of late-70's early-80's Maxell reels and they are still perfecto. *yes*

[toddbailey]

My collection is from the late 70's and a mix of (almost) every brand produced.
Only 2 tapes developed problems. Nothing that a warm oven or a silicone soaked cotton ball couldn't fix...

[Skywavebe]

Hi Igirl,
Here I go again having to make corrections.
The Maxell tape is good as long as it was handled properly as in no bent over edges.
The Ampex tape- NOT all Ampex 456 was known to have sticky shed conditions. There was plenty of production of it when the new chemical they and 3M were sold had not yet been used to make the tape. With the older Binder material used that tape should be as good as any used older tape and in fact probably better due to the 456 being a top line tape of that day.
The only way is to put it on a machine and play it for a while- no recording is needed. Then if the tape goes through the machine at least 60% of the way without and squeaking or major black residue coming off onto the heads and guides- it is good. If it is compromised, it should show up pretty quick.
If it is bad tape the reel is still good and I have seen metal reels sell for up to
$20 with a box. I did not pay that but some will- or just order a RMGI pancake and spool it onto that reel. A good reel of tape is going for around $60 these days so throwing a good reel of tape out would be throwing at least $20 in the can. Most can not afford that these days.

[Warped Bezel]

Thank you for that important knowledge, Sam...I appreciated that.

[igirl]

Thanks Sam - that's very helpful info! I may just ultimately opt to sell my NOS Ampex off on Ebay rather than devalue it further by opening the plastic just to "try it out".

I have a ton of empty reels now, to load RMGI onto.

FWIW, I never got squealing out of my SSS Ampex tapes/machine when I briefly tried a couple before baking - but I did get a lot of sticky black goo on my machine, and also ran into tape that would not come off the reel smoothly - even stick.

[Des-Lab]

Hi Igirl,
The Ampex tape- NOT all Ampex 456 was known to have sticky shed conditions.

Maybe, but enough of it *IS* bad enough to brand the entire product run as an unacceptably high risk. Especially if you are paying anything above what the cost of a box and reel would be. So I stand behind my advice to avoid any Ampex tapes of the 406/407, 456/457, and 373/20-20 marks. There may or may not be perfectly good examples of that tape out there, but when the odds are running about 8 in 10 that it will be SSS infected, it really is sage advice just to avoid them altogether.

[eclectiktronik]

I'd say that is wise. However, I have also heard that the Ampex formulation used in the 'problem tapes' changed circa 1994, and tape made with this (from date code of late 94 up till quantegy took over in 98 ) is good. The date sticker on the box has a 7 digit number to check this; it may be found on the end-of-tape hold down sticker. ISTR the first 2 digits are the year of manufacture.

Take the above with a pinch of salt and I still would not use the tape for valuable recordings just in case. We have yet to see if the binder problem had been resolved and will withstand the test of time.