Ampex Tapes

[speakerman1]

I have had no problems with shed or anything. Why are they so cheap. You never here about them on here. Is there a reason?

[Des-Lab]

We'd love to know more information one what you have: model #, size, etc.

I think the Ampex name as far as tape goes is essentially mud. Hence the low worth of them. The GOOD Ampex tapes aren't considered good anymore, instead being considered a liability. Think 406, 407, 456, 457 (and 373, a.k.a. 20/20). Those were considered the "quality" Ampex tapes. Unfortunately they are also the worst of the "sticky shed" offenders. This only applied to those tapes when they were sold under the Ampex name. It creates confusion when I also come on and say that the Quantegy versions of the same tapes are good. They are. And that's the difference. Quantegy came around in the mid 90's (I want to say 1997 but don't hold me to that) following the merger with Ampex and the 3M/Scotch Magnetic Media division. The sticky shed issues were apparently resolved by then, so they are safe. I have some 457's from 1998 and they still perform flawlessly.

As for the "other" Ampex tapes such as the 600 series, those were the low end tapes and not many reel fans wanted them anyway. 642 was and is a good modern equivalent to Scotch #150. It works and would be a good tape for any old deck or low fidelity application. I just would not use it for anything where quality is needed.

-hence why you can find them so cheap.

[speakerman1]

I have 631, and 671s on 7 inch. I'm using them on my Akai Gx265d. But wouldn't the gear your using to record from and play back on come into consideration?

[clhboa]

I realize this is the RTR forum so please forgive the mention of 8-tracks. I've read that Ampex 8-track tapes tend to have melted rubber pinch rollers.

[speakerman1]

I sent jbeckva a test tape on ampex. I really don't know what he thought of the sound.

[WalrusIsPaul]

I have some Ampex,over the years they got to the point of sticking..They are the Grand Master series in the black box..Over the years they stick when playing it gets about 2/3 thru it starts to squeel and stick

[Scorpion8]

I have some Ampex,over the years they got to the point of sticking..They are the Grand Master series in the black box..Over the years they stick when playing it gets about 2/3 thru it starts to squeel and stick

Does this pertain to the Ampex GrandMaster 356/357-series? I just picked up a great used reel complete with labels and stickers and original performance card. Black box with eagle on front? It is a back-coated tape.

[Skywavebe]

Hi Scorp,
The Grand master was 456, 457 there was no 300 series I ever heard of.
Not all of it is bad just during the time they messed with the binder formula.

[Des-Lab]

Hi Scorp,
The Grand master was 456, 457 there was no 300 series I ever heard of.
Not all of it is bad just during the time they messed with the binder formula.

Ampex had a tape (presumably geared towards home users) called "20/20+". Was a 1.0 mil tape and was sold in 1800' and 3600' lengths. Was one of the few Ampex tapes that I know of that were leadered (green/red) and is a horrendous sticky shed culprit.

Its catalog number was "373" and had that printed in the reel sticker.

[Scorpion8]

The Grand master was 456, 457 there was no 300 series I ever heard of.

See the PDF scan. It's labeled in several places as 356/357-series tape. And the box is Ampex GrandMaster with the gold eagle.

18227

[Lance Lawson]

Does this pertain to the Ampex GrandMaster 356/357-series? I just picked up a great used reel complete with labels and stickers and original performance card. Black box with eagle on front? It is a back-coated tape.

The Ampex Grand Master with the eagle are prime sss candidates. That's what the bulk of my RTR tape collection consisted of. Both Grand Master Gold and Grand Master Silver. Not a single one of those tapes survived and all were trash by the mid 90's. I tossed something like 30 reels in 1997. Many of my Grand Master tapes were Albums I'd borrowed from a radio station to record and some of those recordings were rare then and unobtainable now.

That said Grand Master was really nice tape it had a very smooth sound and my TEAC sounded the best with it.

[Scorpion8]

The Ampex Grand Master with the eagle are prime sss candidates. .....

Even the back-coated ones? Looks like I got myself an Ampex spare reel.

[Lance Lawson]

Even the back-coated ones? Looks like I got myself an Ampex spare reel.

The back coated one's too! Yeah I could have had 30 spare reels lol!

[Scorpion8]

So did we ever decide on Ampex GrandMaster 356/357 for SSS, yea or nay?

[shotwell]

I think it's a yea.

I once picked up 10 or 12 357 tapes. They were the worst SSS tapes I'd ever seen! Even worse than the 1979 456 I bought, and I thought that was bad.

Thankfully I got more for the empty boxes and reels than I paid for them.

[Scorpion8]

I think it's a yea.

I went to pull my 357 reel out of the plastic bag to examine it and couldn't find the opening. It's NEVER been opened. I have a never-been-used Ampex GrandMaster 357 (1.0mil) 3600' tape.

[shotwell]

That's interesting. You should probably sell those to a collector! I can't imagine those being good for anything else.

[Lance Lawson]

AMPEX Grand Master was a curse! It gummed my TEAC down to a crawl and caked up everything it touched. I ran a cassette of AMPEX from my SONY to Hard Disk and while the cassette did play to the end of 20 minutes of music it made a filthy mess of the SONY. Its sad really Grand Master was my favorite RTR tape.

[macman007]

All my Ampex from the early 90's is shite. It had suffered the sss syndrome. However, I recently happened on Quantegy 632, 5000' pancakes. A box of ten 150$ shipped. I split one pancake into 2 2500' 10 1/2" reels. So far the sound is pleasing, warm and crisp, with the nice analog sound found on most older formulations from the seventy's. For now its a cheap alternative to much more expensive tape for older decks from the seventy's and such ie: Teac A3300. It sounds best at 0db with +3db peaks. Its perfect for transfering albums to open reel without any loss of quality. If anything the open reel copys are better than the original sources. I will be doing a formal test with test tones and select music examples the way Des does with his tests. I will do a seperate post with my results shortly for those interested.

This tape could be a good inexpensive alternative for those of us that have older decks and dont want to rebias and modify them for new tape formulations. No its not XL 1, but it sounds nice, its available in large quantities, and the price is right.

Phil.

[WalrusIsPaul]

ALL my Grand Master after a while ( actually a short amount of tame compared to some others that ended up with sss) while had sss and would slow up towards the end of tape cause the machine to squeel

[Blue Jinn]

ALL my Grand Master after a while ( actually a short amount of tame compared to some others that ended up with sss) while had sss and would slow up towards the end of tape cause the machine to squeel

Here is a repost from homerecording.com analog:

Well, hopefully most people around here know what tape to avoid by now, so here’s what to look for if you can’t afford the going rate of RMGI, or are in a wait-n-see over their shedding issues. Buy only sealed New-Old-Stock (NOS) and backcoated for serious multi-tracking or mastering.

Also… forget descriptions and comparisons by many eBay sellers… they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. I won’t mention any names, but tapeandtape are his initials. Information on eBay concerning tape properties is very unreliable.

The following are +6 and generally bias and level compatible with 456:

AMPEX/Quantegy 456 and 457 made from 1995 to 2004. (1994 or older is likely sticky or will become so. 2005 and later is more likely to have really bad slitting). 457 is 1 mil long play.

AGFA PEM 468 (The original 468)
BASF, EMTEC or RMGI SM468 (Same formula as AGFA… good stuff)
BASF, EMTEC or RMGI SM911
BASF, EMTEC or RMGI LPR35 (1 mil thickness like 457)

3M/Scotch 966 and 967 (renamed 986 and 987 respectively) made to replace 226 and 227, which had sticky-shed problems. (967 is 1 mil thickness like 457.)

Zonal 700 (Currently only make ¼” width, but used to make others so you may find NOS).

************************************************** ********

The following are +3 and generally compatible with 406. These work just as well as +6 tapes in many applications, especially with noise reduction. 406 is/was preferred by many for mastering.

AMPEX/Quantegy 406 and 407 made from 1995 to 2004. (1994 or older is likely sticky or will become so. 2005 and later is more likely to have really bad slitting). 407 is 1 mil long play.

3M/Scotch 206 and 207. Most of this is ok, but there have been bad batches that shed, so it goes in the good risk category. I’ve never had a problem with it. IMO a great mastering tape at 15 ips.

Maxell XL or XLI 35-xxB (35-90B is 7” reel. 35-180B is 10” reel) 1 mil like 407.

Zonal 840 (1 mil like 407).

************************************************** ********

The following are +9 and generally bias and level compatible with 499. These aren’t recommended for semi-pro multi-tracks because of wear and tear on the transport and heads. Many machines can’t even bias up for it, even some pro decks. And if you have noise reduction there is really no reason to use it.

AMPEX/Quantegy 499. Any year up to 2004. 499 never had sticky-shed.
Quantegy GP9 made from 1998 to 2004

3M/Scotch 996. The original +9 high output tape

BASF, EMTEC or RMGI SM900

Zonal 999

************************************************** ********

Some non-backcoated tapes of note. Generally backcoated tapes are better for tracking and mastering… smoother tape handling and less print-through, but the following are good tapes nonetheless.

AMPEX/Quantegy 632

3M/Scotch Dynarange 212
3M/Scotch Highlander 229

Maxell UD 35-90

TDK AUDUA

************************************************** ********

A reminder of what NOT to buy:

AGFA PEM 469 (which is nothing at all like 468, despite what a certain eBay seller claims, whose initials we all know). Buy this only if you have a death wish.

AMPEX 456, 457, 406, 407 made 1994 or before.

3M/Scotch 226 and 227 (Historically not as bad as old AMPEX, but is known to develop sticky-shed and all of mine have now gone sticky)

Sony SLH – all bad

Data logging and instrumentation tape like AMPEX/Quantegy 799, 797 or 3M/Scotch 8207.

Digital tape like Quantegy 467

There are plenty of desperate sellers looking for equally desperate and uninformed buyers. They will sell you tape unsuitable for music recording if you are willing to buy it.

[Big Kelv]

I've been trying to get my hands on some Zonal 700 1/4" for the last six months to no avail. I know an authorised seller who tells me that there is a production run due around now. I'm not holding my breath, they only do short runs and their factory has probably either gone bust or switched to a more viable product due to the current economic climate.

Regards, Kelv