More fun with Ampex/Shamrock

[DaveInVA]

http://www.braveknight.com/images/ShamrockPowder.jpg

Always a good sign when you see the lubricant turned to powder inside the box. Good thing I only have about 300 of these.

Edit:
Surprisingly its actually playing without the screech as yet - bet it wont stay quiet til the end.


Dave

[ke4mcl]

green shamrock box? crap... i have some of that stashed away i havent seen in years. uh oh..

[DaveInVA]

green shamrock box? crap... i have some of that stashed away i havent seen in years. uh oh..

There are 3 distinct versions of 041 Shamrock.
The older late 60's to early 70's are grey spool with brown tape. These are fine. Haven't found a bad one yet.
Next is mid 70's to late 70's:
It is brown one side grey other side. I've seen it on both black or grey spools. It has greatly reduced recording quality from the older stuff but haven't seen a lot of SSS with it.
Next is the newest stuff from the 80's:
Black spool, tape grey one side, dark grey other side. Total garbage. The oxide falls off in shards. Totally unusable.
I still have about 100 NOS Shamrock tapes of all types and about 200 used of all types.

I am almost to the end of the first side of the one with the powder and no squealing so far..


Dave

[Robert1]

Always a good sign when you see the lubricant turned to powder inside the box. Good thing I only have about 300 of these.

that does not necessarally mean the tape is bad, i just would not use it on any modern high end deck. i would have no problems using it on old vintage decks made in the 50's or 60's. in fact, i am on the lookout for the type of tape like what you have for using on my vintage tape recorder collection.


Surprisingly its actually playing without the screech as yet - bet it wont stay quiet til the end.
Dave

it depends on the length & the tapes thickness. i never had any trouble with the 60's Ampex / Shamrock green boxed tapes of the 1200 / 1800 ft lengths when used on any of my vintage mono recorders. however, i have had 2400 / 3200 ft Ampex tapes of that era with excessive shedding / squealing problems.

[DaveInVA]

that does not necessarally mean the tape is bad, i just would not use it on any modern high end deck. i would have no problems using it on old vintage decks made in the 50's or 60's. in fact, i am on the lookout for the type of tape like what you have for using on my vintage tape recorder collection.



it depends on the length & the tapes thickness. i never had any trouble with the 60's Ampex / Shamrock green boxed tapes of the 1200 / 1800 ft lengths when used on any of my vintage mono recorders. however, i have had 2400 / 3200 ft Ampex tapes of that era with excessive shedding / squealing problems.

I have over 100 machines to choose from myself. Right now I am using a Crown 724 which uses glass lifters so it can handle some tapes that will stop newer machines with weaker motors etc. These are tapes I recorded myself going back as far as '66. If I find something I like I rip it to something else.

A couple posts back I listed the timeline for the Shamrock 041. The older ones are fine even if some of them powder up a bit. Its the later Shamrocks that are unusable.

Dave

[Jonny Ramone]

That might be mold. Be careful.

[DaveInVA]

That might be mold. Be careful.

It appears to be some variation of silicon.

Dave

[stereorob]

looks kinda like coke and a razor too *devil*

[Jonny Ramone]

It looks VERY much like the stuff I cleaned off of a Chet Atkins LP sleeve recently - yellow and powdery. It still had the plastic outer sleeve on it, though.