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ARSCLIST  February 2010

ARSCLIST February 2010

Subject:

Re: Radio Shack Concertape/-20db tape

From:

Dan Nelson <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:15:31 -0800

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (113 lines)

This was most likely Scotch #888 hi speed telemetry tape..  Back coated  hi sheen oxide  for  30-/60 ips recording from 14" reels. The tape didnt touch the heads there was an air gap at that speed on the Ampex half/one inch recorders.
dn

--- On Mon, 2/15/10, Shai Drori <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Shai Drori <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Radio Shack Concertape joke
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, February 15, 2010, 1:49 PM
> Hi Michael
> The story goes like this. I was 12 in Houston and was
> thrilled to find that that was so cheap, (I washed cars for
> 5$ for allowance). I bought a few tapes, that turned out to
> be shiny black with backcoating. All of them were the same.
> At that time RS offered only 1800' on concertape (1982). I
> had a Sony tc-355 and later on I bought a tc--755. The first
> time I tried to record on them from the classical fm radio
> station I thought my recorder was broken. An input hovering
> about 0dB vu turned out an output of -20dB. Cleaning the
> heads etc didn't help and since othertapes recorded well, I
> knew the tapes were crap. So I used them for spoken word
> comedy, where I coudlnt care less at the time. When I earned
> more money I discovered other tapes that were excellent,
> some I still use today. like that maxell XLI (the best non
> pro tape I have ever used IMO), the tdk lx, and the most
> surprising of all, the Memorex ATR, that made fantastic
> recordings for me. On the pro side I love the pem468.
> 
> RS also had the realistic line that had sizes from 3-7 "
> reels from 125-3600 feet, and Supertape, that when I was a
> kid was offered as 1200, 1800, and 3600 feet on 7" reels if
> I remember correctly. Does anyone know what tapes those
> were?
> 
> Cheers
> Shai
> 
> Michael Biel wrote:
> > [log in to unmask]
> wrote:
> >> Radio Shack bought whatever they could get their
> hands on, quality was never an issue. Some of it was
> rejected Ampex, even Grand Master at times, but whatever
> Ampex rejected could become RS. Or slit computer tape which
> was never intended for audio applications. You could even
> order it from certain suppliers, if you wanted white box,
> you specified that, or RS, you could specify that also. This
> is what we ordered when I was in school working at the
> recording studio. That's what a lotta student recitals got
> recorded on. Cheap for college student budgets.
> >> 
> > 
> > The original message about Concertape was not specific
> enough.  Joe shows a tip of the iceberg.  There is
> no one single Concertape.  First of all, there were
> three lengths offered, 1.5 mil was labeled 021, 1.0 mil was
> labeled 031, and 0.5 mil was labeled 041. These are all
> Ampex labels.  In each of these there were multiple
> varieties--brown oxide non-backcoated, backcoated with
> carbon, or backcoated with graphite; and blackoxide either
> un-backcoated or carbon backcoated.  So there were
> about a dozen different varieties.  I don't think that
> they used computer tapes at this point -- that was something
> we saw in other brands in the early to mid 1960s.
> > Concertape was shrinkwrapped, so you never knew which
> type you would get, only the length.  It was all
> assorted, so you could buy five reels together and get three
> different types.  This was the same stuff that was sold
> as Shamrock, Emerald, or even Irish.  It was also
> available in white boxes.  The green types and white
> boxes were not shrinkwrapped so you could see what you get
> and make a choice.  In the early 70s I used to go to
> the Burnstein-Applebee warehouse in Chicago and the let me
> choose which ones I wasted from their shipping boxes of 50
> is I would buy 50.  I selected the polished black oxide
> with carbon backcoating.  Who knew?
> > So, if you have found problems with concert tape,
> WHICH Concertape are you discussing?
> > 
> > Mike Biel  [log in to unmask]
> >> I also used Sony, Ampex, Maxell, and occasionally
> 3M but it was not optimized for my Sony recorders. I even
> had some of my mother's old 3M tape that I used for making
> recordings from the radio, late night broadcasts of the
> Houston Symphony on A M radio.
> >> 
> >> joe salerno
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Shai Drori wrote:
> >>>  From all the tapes that I have
> transfered none were as bad as the concertape series from
> radio shack. Does anyone have an idea who made them? They
> stick like crazy, have a frequency response of sanding
> paper, etc. I bought a few when I was a kid to record comedy
> from the radio Sunday nights. They were no good for anything
> else. I used a sony TC-755 that made great recordings on
> other media of the day (that I could afford) like tdk lx and
> maxell XLI. The were about 3$ a pop if I remember correctly.
> Follow this link to see how much people are paying for them
> now. LOL
> >>> Shai
> >>> http://cgi.ebay.com/QTY-5-SEALED-RADIOSHACK-CONCERTAPE-1800-CAT-44-1018_W0QQitemZ110485801176QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Electronics_R2?hash=item19b97788d8
> 
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> 
> > 
> 


      

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