Ampex 407 tape.

j.harv

j.harv

@#$%
Hi all.I have recently located a few reels of NOS ampex 407 tape on ebay.Would this be good for a 388.It's 7" reel 1/4" tape.
Good Idea???
Its in the UK too.About $9 CAD a reel,$13 to ship.
Thanks.
jason.
 
You NEED to know the date code or at least how the box looks like before committing to the purchase. Many Ampex branded back-coated tapes are bad, whether used or not.
 
407 is a great tape if its late generation Ampex or Quantegy. It would be great for the 388 or about any other machine.

Unfortunately the ones your looking at are older and will have sticky shed problems... and they’re not new because they’re not sealed. It’s possible someone took the outer plastic wrap off of them and never used them, but you’d have to take their word for it. Doesn’t really matter though because these particular ones are high risk for shedding problems. You can tell by the box. The Ampex logo is in the middle rather than along the bottom of the box.
 

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Great.Thanks.Thats good to know.
What other kinds are good besides 407,457 or rmgi lpr35.Im always searching Ebay and seeing all kinds of 7"x1/4 tape with all these different numbers.Im new to reel recording and would like to know all the kinds that are good for the 388.
Thanks again.
Jason
 
NOS or gently-used Scotch 207 comes up for sale quite often. I believe that is quite close to Ampex 407.
 
Well I have located some LPR35 that I can go and pick up instore.It goes for $32.65 canadian a reel.Does this sound fair?
 
sweetbeats said:
Scotch 206/207 is even worse I believe for SSS. Best stuff for the 388 is 457 and LPR35.
Click to expand...

I'd heard 206 was OK, but 226 996 etc were bad. I have some NOS 206, but haven't recorded on it yet...I'll report back my findings...

You can still get NOS 457 directly from Quantegy for about US$28 /reel (1800 feet), also Maxell UD/XL-1 comes up occasionally, but as others have noted, for whatever reason, it has attained some kind of mythic status, and have inflated the price considerably.

I have good luck with UD, (bought in the 80s). You might also consider Quantegy 041 from ReelDealPA, its is white box stuff, meaning it is "factory seconds" and my understanding is it could be either seconds of 407 or 457. You'll find both pro and con opinions on using it and 031 (the 1.5 mil white box) here, but you can't beat the price. (about US$7/reel)

Depending on the sound you're after, there is also Ampex/Quantegy 642, which has slightly lower specs than Maxell. This and the Maxell is not backcoated though.
 
I'd heard 206 was OK, but 226 996 etc were bad. I have some NOS 206, but haven't recorded on it yet...I'll report back my findings...
Click to expand...

Thanks all for setting me straight on 206...I was getting confused with 226.

996 is considered among the non-sticky tapes though evm1024 has some that has started to go sticky. With the info I have it seems that 996 is SSS resistant...ANY tape could go bad given time and environmental considerations but it looks like we may need to be careful with 996. I understand 226 requires more than being careful, like maybe a good pair of sneakers to help your footing as you run away.

harv, though $30+ for a 7" reel of tape feels ugly, that seems to be the going rate for LPR35 new. Getting it from a local shop is nice too in case there are any problems. I'm partial to the route of getting a 3600' pancake and spooling it off onto two 7" empty reels. Save a few bucks that way, but you are probably wise to just get it locally since there's no shipping cost that way. I don't think you'd be ahead money-wise ordering it from anywhere, but check into the options Blue Jinn cited too.
 
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