Scotch Master II Type-II Tape

[Scorpion8]

A few weeks ago I spied a bunch of Scotch Master II C-90's at the local SA, and having always been a Scotch fan I grabbed them. Each was $0.25 but the guy gave me 6 for $1. Score already. Now Scotch tape has a reputation of dropouts and turning gummy (I have one Type-III FeCr that has gone south) but the Master series was a much better tape.

Anyway I just finally got around to examining these. The shells are very well built and don't flex. They remind me of UD XL-IIS shells in their stoutness. And they cleaned up real well. They held up to time in good condition. I looked at one, and it had some Dan Fogelberg ~ The Innocent Age taped on it from vinyl. If you're familiar with that recording, it's very acoustic and you can hear Dan's guitar plucks and sqeaks as if you're there. The bass goes very low as it emanates from his guitar body, and it's just all around good tunes.

So how did the tape stand up? Sonicly, it sounds like it was recorded on brand new stock yesterday. With no Dolby there isn't even a hint of hiss. Playback is thru a SA thift-score Akai HX-R5 tape deck with the most beautiful flourescent meters ever. Anyway, the tape seems immaculate. While not a fan of some of the other stuff the original owner recorded, he/she did do these recordings very well and more importantly the tape has stood up. These 6 will be keepers for special projects to re-record someday. My stash of used tapes keeps growing (especially with summer yard sales) but these will have a special place.

I always liked Scotch tape. This brings back memories ....

[Des-Lab]

I never really used many Scotch cassettes. I remember when I was about 9 or 10 years old, someone gave me for my birthday or something, a pair of Scotch "Highlander" C-90's. They were kind of cool with the translucent blue shell and metal internal rollers. But the tape didn't sound very good nor did it last long. Both got tangled up and eaten by the capstan in an otherwise good deck.

The only other ones I can say I've used were the XSI and the CX. They might be the same tape under different names. Both are very hardy Type I's that have stood up well and sound pretty good. I would put those tapes in the same league as Maxell UD and XLI as well as TDK AR and AR-X.

[Scorpion8]

Highlander was from Scotch's "we give up" era, of producing a product just to have a presence in the market without wanting to be the best. Lots of Scotch tapes in the 70's were studio or master quality and used to be known as standards. Their reel tape was always hard to find, but well regarded back in the day. These Master series tapes (I and II) are I think the end of the era at Scotch so far as magnetic tape.

[hmdropout]

These Master series tapes (I and II) are I think the end of the era at Scotch so far as magnetic tape.

I snagged some of these lightly used from a local flea market:

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q128/boswell1973/IMG_0380.jpg

Nowhere on the J-card or the tape does it state that it is type I or normal.

I had recently acquired a 46 minute version of this same style of Scotch tape without a case or J-card and decided to slap some children's music on it for use in the truck. But it sounded reeeeaaalllly good in the old factory Ford system.

So I decided to test out one of the AVX 60s by recording Bruce Dickinson's Accident of Birth on one.

I don't know if the "studio master" and "professional use" claims are valid, but Bruce and crew sounded damn good to my ears. Perfect, no. Solid, yes. But that’s what I’m looking for when I record a CD onto a tape.

Seems that tapes very similar to these were sold under different names and variations after a quick search for "AVX" on ebay.

But there is not much info on them out there on the Internets.

[Kirunavaara]

The Master series were about the last cassettes that 3M manufactured themselves by the beginning of the 1980's. Later models (except the 1983 Highlander which was also original 3M) were OEM-ed by other manufacturers. I've encountered the following so far:

BX: Black shell, made by unknown manufacturer in Hong Kong. Transparent shell, made by SKC in Korea.

CX: Made by SKC in Korea, possibly with their AX tape (SKC's best type I).

XS I: Made by Denon in Japan. Don't know if it contains DX3 or DX4 tape.

XS I-SX: Made by Denon, Japan.

XS II: First made by Denon in Japan (probably DX7/HD7, maybe HD6), later by SKC in Korea.

XS II-S: European version made by ICM, Switzerland, probably with BASF pure chrome tape. American version made by SKC, Korea.

XS II-SP: Made by ICM, Switzerland, probably with BASF Cr Maxima tape.

XS II-SX: Made by Denon, Japan, probably HD7.

XSM IV: Made by Denon, Japan.

AVX: Made by SKC, originally in Korea, late examples in China.

Blackwatch 2020: Denon, Japan. HD8

Blackwatch 4040: Denon, Japan. HD-M

Looking at where they really come from, it's not strange you like the XS I. I even like 3M's original High Energy and Master and Metafine tapes - considering these formulations date back to the 1970's, these were very good performers at their time. I've only one issue that seems to affect most examples of Master II: When you rewind them, the tape winds very uneven, which often causes jamming. Used in record/play mode only, they work fine. 3M had better kept their Positrak back coating for that tape.

Martin

[Naknut]

Great information Martin.

[Kent T]

Scotch Master was excellent tape in the day. I used a good bit of it in the day. Tip: Scotch sold Master I cassettes to Zenith as an OEM product. These sold for less than the Scotch Master I price. I still have some of them around. The Zenith dealer growing up sold them to me for $1.98 for a C-60.