Capital Pre-recorded Tapes.

[ShaneR2R]

I bought a pre-recorded reel tape produced by Capital, entitled Jackie Gleason How sweet it is, and I am just blown away by the sound. I have 2 of these Capital tapes now, the other is by the Kingston Trio, it had never been opened. Is it just me or do these Capital reel tapes from the early to mid 60's sound great? Both tapes are recorded at 71/2 ips, and Capital used a Biosonic process with full dimensional sound. Well I think what ever this process is works Ha Ha! I record most of my tapes from CD and LP and the results are always good, but there seems to be something even better about these pre-recorded Capital tapes. To my ear I don't seem to hear much compression if any at all. What do others think about these pre-recorded tapes? I believe the ones I have are acetate but I don't know for sure. They are in great shape, play great, and seem to be strong yet. My Teac A2300s is very gentle on the old tapes. Time to look for more of these tapes, even though most of this music is not what I listen to on a daily basis, I need some rock reel to reels Ha Ha! But hey these reels are fun anyways.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

You can tell if it's acetate by holding the pack up to the light. If you can see thru the side of the pack, it's acetate.
The 7.5" tape speed helps SQ a bunch. Columbia tapes from that era and speed sound quite nice too.

 

[ShaneR2R]

You can tell if it's acetate by holding the pack up to the light. If you can see thru the side of the pack, it's acetate.
The 7.5" tape speed helps SQ a bunch. Columbia tapes from that era and speed sound quite nice too.

I will have to try this the next time I play one of these tapes. I did know this info but forgot about it! Thanks!!!

 

[ShaneR2R]

I do have another question for someone. Are the RCA Victor reel tapes any good? The one's from the 50's and 60's. How do they compare to the Capital tapes?

 

[icenine]

I highly recommend some of the Buck Owens and the Buckaroos two-fers on Capital reel to reel also...from the same era. Most of them are really cheap and plus the music is great... also George Shearing and Nat King Cole were released on tape by Capitol as well.

 

[jblmar]

I have the Jackie Gleason album on CD. It's really very good.

 

[jayk]

thought i had a j. gleason tape of that era but it's sammy spears' (gleasons musical director) 'a little traveling music', 7 1/2 ips, on the london label, m'f'c'd by ampex.

last time i played it i remember it sounding very clean, lots of air (dynamics?), pretty darn good!

 

[ShaneR2R]

thought i had a j. gleason tape of that era but it's sammy spears' (gleasons musical director) 'a little traveling music', 7 1/2 ips, on the london label, m'f'c'd by ampex.

last time i played it i remember it sounding very clean, lots of air (dynamics?), pretty darn good!

The Gleason reel tape is very dynamic!!!!!!

 

[jayk]

The Gleason reel tape is very dynamic!!!!!!

that's the bestest kind.

gotta love those dynamics!

on a side note, i recently 'won' a few 10" reels of basf tape, listened to the first one last night,

3 hours of nothing but...

john denver. at 3 3/4 ips :sigh:

i don't mind some denver once in a while, but 3 hours worth?

not!

gonna rerecord over that suckah! (no disrespect meant to j denver)

 

[Jonny Ramone]

Any of those old tapes sound great, depending on condition - I have my uncles' stash. Haven't had luck on ebay, though - they look good, but had no highs. You have to remember that the master tapes made then were much less processed than they are now, which will sound more natural.

 

[jayk]

Any of those old tapes sound great, depending on condition - I have my uncles' stash. Haven't had luck on ebay, though - they look good, but had no highs. You have to remember that the master tapes made then were much less processed than they are now, which will sound more natural.

in the last 2 years i've gotten a few dozen both factory and home recorded r2r tapes. mostly off of ebay.

it goes both ways. i've gotten quite a few really good sounding and good condition factory tapes and a cuppla dogs.
same with home recorded tapes.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Folks,

The early 7 1/2 IPS, 4 track Capitol tapes are superb quality. And they've been long underrated. But they're now respected for sound quality. I have several which sound superb. The 3 3/4 IPS, 2 albums to a reel tapes are lesser quality and haven't stood the test of time well. :tresbon:

 

[vinyldavid]

Some notable ones from my 7.5ips collection are:

Joan Baez-Debut
Dave Brubeck-Time Out
Beatles-Help
Judy Collins-The Fifth Album
Mahler-Symphony 7

All sound incredible. Even my 3.75ips prerecordeds sound pretty darn good.

 

[ShaneR2R]

Folks,

The early 7 1/2 IPS, 4 track Capitol tapes are superb quality. And they've been long underrated. But they're now respected for sound quality. I have several which sound superb. The 3 3/4 IPS, 2 albums to a reel tapes are lesser quality and haven't stood the test of time well. :tresbon:

So far all the Capital reels that I have purchased sound awesome!! Both are 7 1/2 ips. I try to avoid the 3 3/4 ips tapes. I have a few Gleason tapes that I am looking at right now that are 7 1/2 ips and look to be in good shape.

 

[ShaneR2R]

As I asked earlier anyone want to comment on the early RCA Victor reel tapes?

 

[icenine]

Some tapes are good some are bad...of course 3 3/4 does not sound as good as 7 1/2...but they do not cost as much $$. I have a nice Beatles White Album factory that sounds good to me at 3 3/4.....the two reel 7 1/2 ips version I am sure is great but cost 4 times as much $$. Do not let generalizations about speed and quality stop you from enjoying some good tapes and music. Factory reels are all a gamble...the newest ones are around 30 years old...

 

[jayk]

my filosofee is-

keep the heads and guides clean and almost everything sounds good. some (7.5/15 ips) more gooder than others!

works for me, anyway!

 

[KentTeffeteller]

15 IPS tapes are rare unless you work in the industry or do your own live recordings. Or have the money to swing the Tape Project and a deck which also has CCIR/DIN EQ.

 

[Matt Fisher]

As I asked earlier anyone want to comment on the early RCA Victor reel tapes?

Sorry to exhume this one, but no one responded yet. Are you talking 2 track or 4 track? I'll assume you're wondering about 4 tracks, so I will say that my RCAs sound superb. As a general rule, I'm talking 7 1/2 ips "Living Stereo" 4 tracks here, not 3 3/4 ips. (I will say, though, that one of my favorite tapes is a 3 3/4 copy of Charlie Pride in Person at Panther Hall on RCA, from about 1968. Great music, awesome steel guitar work by Lloyd Green, funny audience banter, it has it all and sounds as good as most of my 4 tracks.)

How do early 60s RCAs compare to early 60s Capitals? Can't really say for classical, but my couple of Sinatra 4 tracks, for example, sound good, comparable to similar RCAs. I also agree with a previous poster that Columbia tapes from the same era sound great, and I would also add Mercury to the discussion. I guess all of the major labels were more concerned about quality in those days...

In the end, though, I have not been disappointed with the SQ of any of the early 60s 4 tracks from the majors that I have heard, before they mostly went to high-speed duplication, 3 3/4 playing speed, etc. My experience is that you can buy with confidence. :thmbsp:

 

[ShaneR2R]

Sorry to exhume this one, but no one responded yet. Are you talking 2 track or 4 track? I'll assume you're wondering about 4 tracks, so I will say that my RCAs sound superb. As a general rule, I'm talking 7 1/2 ips "Living Stereo" 4 tracks here, not 3 3/4 ips. (I will say, though, that one of my favorite tapes is a 3 3/4 copy of Charlie Pride in Person at Panther Hall on RCA, from about 1968. Great music, awesome steel guitar work by Lloyd Green, funny audience banter, it has it all and sounds as good as most of my 4 tracks.)

How do early 60s RCAs compare to early 60s Capitals? Can't really say for classical, but my couple of Sinatra 4 tracks, for example, sound good, comparable to similar RCAs. I also agree with a previous poster that Columbia tapes from the same era sound great, and I would also add Mercury to the discussion. I guess all of the major labels were more concerned about quality in those days...

In the end, though, I have not been disappointed with the SQ of any of the early 60s 4 tracks from the majors that I have heard, before they mostly went to high-speed duplication, 3 3/4 playing speed, etc. My experience is that you can buy with confidence. :thmbsp:

Thank you that does answer my question about RCA. I just recently purchased a Frank Sinatra R2R on the Reprise label, 7 1/2ips, and I am quite impressed with the quality of the sound. Also today I purchased another Reprise tape (7 1/2ips) of Dean Martin. And finally this one from Ebay from Audio Fidelity http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380257057325
I have heard good things about this company and their early releases on R2R tape. It seems 1957 was the first year (consumer wise) for stereo sound and Audio Fidelity was there in the beginning releasing high quality R2R's and LP's. Anyone have any experience with Audio Fidelity tapes?