Because the tape is wound oxide out and you're trying to record through
the backing? Just a guess...

Because it's very thinly coated instrumentation or logging tape? Just
another guess which I believe less than the first one...

Cheers,

Richard

On 2011-03-03 8:49 PM, Dan Nelson wrote:
> I found several dozen reels of 1/2 inch black oxide 1.5 mil tape in my storage shed from at least 20/30 years ago.
> They are 10" pancakes with cardboard seperators with scotch printed on the master carton of 12 but no type number where the paste on sticker was is missing.
> On my Ampex 440 with "0" in i get like -20/30 out. I tried re-biasing and altering the bias has no effect on the output level....
> Any one have a clue why tape would act this way if stored for 20 years bulk ???
> many thanks
> dnelson
>

--
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.