A Sticky (tape) subject

I recently received a lot of tapes and have slowly been going through them. I have encountered one brand, Reeves Soundcraft S-12 Acetate, that has been giving me problems. One or in some cases both channels don't work unless I physically add tension to the tape. They also seem to make the tension arms jump around when rewinding/fast forwarding. I looked around but couldn't find any answer. So far I have 5 tapes that do this, all those two brands.

I think I'll end up dumping the tape and keeping the reels as they look cooler than the Scotch ones.
 
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the one sealed one i have opened so far is mint and i did a test reocrding aww got a dj mix on it my roomates in joy listening to his mix off it
 
I actually just came across the FIRST Ampex 10.5" that DID NOT suffer from SSS in my experience.

It's a 632, and is also a fantastic performer. I had pretty much given up on Ampex (although in 7" size I have had few problems...strange) 10.5" tape.

I know there are some serious Ampex experts here. Was 632 an entirely different formulation than the 456's and other Ampex known to be SSS prone?
 
ran into my first sony tape last night that jams damn it gets squeely to bad its the frank zappa tape
 
Just reading this makes me sick. I bought new tape back in the late 90's some could be mid 2000. Problem some of the tape is in plain white box's forgot who made it so far it seems fine. Also got about 20 box's of ampex 456 and 25 radio shack 44-1884 and 40 maxell XLI 35-90b I wonder out of all this new tape ost still in the shrink wrpae is going to be bad I got this tape rand new at a local music store and the radio shack tape before they turned into phone shack. lol


Also got a bunch of radio station tapes from a am network there on ampex 641 and lafayette who made the lafayette tape?
 
Ampex 456 - Probably bad
Radio Shack 44-1884 - Who knows
Maxell XL1 35-90B - OK
Don't know about the 641 or Lafayette tape.
 
I just ran across some old (1980) Ampex 456 that I could not completely "reform" by baking. This is the first 456 that has not responded completely to the baking process for me. I ended up baking it for a total of 48 hours and got a transfer, but it was still dragging down the transport in rewind or fast forward modes.

So, I guess the really old 456 is worse than the newer 456. I've baked a lot of 456 and never had this problem before, and this tape was stored in an air conditioned building its' entire life.

Dave
 
Ugh think the tape in the no name box's I bought years ago might be bad. I gave a reel a try on the deck and had a high pitch sound on the audio. Tape ran smooth looks good so gave it a try to record on it using a radio and sounds great but that high pitch sound came back. Even tried it on another deck same thing.

So what is the fast way to get this off the reels 7 inch do they make a 7 inch cores? If not wonder if a old 8 track spool would do the trick. Then comes the next question can you still get audio tape in pancake style?

Ask me this is worst then kodak and there red film.
 
Is there like a list of tape kinds/brands which are good/bad?
Maybe the forum can put this together, after all there is so many experience here ...
 
Curious is anyone has had this happen to cassettes too? I like the idea of using a food dehydrator! But does anyone have a make in mid or temp setting to use it on?
 
Curious is anyone has had this happen to cassettes too? I like the idea of using a food dehydrator! But does anyone have a make in mid or temp setting to use it on?

I had a whole box of Ampex 20:20+ cassettes go sticky shed a few months after I bought them in the 80s. Ampex replaced the box, they went the same way.

Also I found, to my surprise, that BASF Ferrichrome cassettes went the same way. This took several years though.

So yes, it DOES happen with cassettes...
Mike
 
Just as a warning, I have seen some notorious SSS tape being sold on BT without warnings. I just wanted to put that out there. You really need to do your homework before buying old tape, some is great, but others may not be the deal you think you are getting. It can really mess up your deck. Be careful out there.
 
Yep, I avoid all Ampex and Scotch on principle. Most (but not all) the others are probably ok...
 
Well, I'm a believer

Here is a picture to serve as a cautionary tale for those of you who are just learning about sss. I have known about it since joining AK in 2012. But until tonight I never actually encountered it (having studiously avoided certain brands/formulations known to suffer from it). I recently bought a bunch of TDK SD and Scotch 150 1800s, and among them was a reel of Sony. Wound on a TDK reel, but in a Sony SLH-180 box, and leader on tape also says Sony. Aware of Sony's reputation, I started a FF to run the tape all the way through and check it for general health. After a while, maybe a third of the way through, I began to hear squealing. About halfway through the tape I stopped it. The tension arm over on the supply side was completely gunked up! (See pic.) I removed the tape and will spin it off both reels so as not to deposit anything more onto the tape path. I now see what people mean about how it can completely gum up the works. Be careful!
 
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I just bought two reels of TDK LX 35-180BM, and started to record off from vinyl the "new" Led Zeppelin II album. About half way through the first track the sound started diminishing, then by the end there was barely any sound coming off the tape. I stopped the tape, rewound it, and there was a lot of white powdery stuff on all tape path contact points.
I've never had this happen with TDK 10.5" reel tape before, and I also own other reels of this tape that do not have this problem.
It must be how the tape was stored, after all it did come from Florida.
Just a heads up that even good tapes can be bad if stored improperly.
I hate to throw the tape away, but I just don't trust it any more.

Glenn
 
I had a similar TDK tape let go of the top layer, in a snake skin fashion. Not SSS, but definitely an annoying issue. Some BASF tapes tend to be powdery, Philips tapes are diverse (some are SSS ridden, some are fine), Maxell is nearly always good, unless heavily abused.
 
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