I have donated at least 100 tapes to a local charity store. Most were recorded on a Harman Kardon deck with Dolby C and HX pro. They sounded wonderful. I have had many tapes squeal in the past. A tiny drop of silicone oil on the pressure pad fixes it every time. That will also fix a tape that drags. Good tips Aaron!
Man, this reminds me of my bad luck I had back in the end of June this year. I had to go down to Houston and grab what I could from the family house before it was sold. I didn't have a lot of time to look around and make sure I got everything. It's a long story but it was the only way I could get things done and I tried my hardest in the 100° plus heat. I had a dresser in the upstairs guest bedroom that had nine drawers on it and about 400 of my cassettes from the 1980s. I had to play the cassettes in my Chevelle because I only had a stereo with a tape deck in it installed. I don't even think they made CD players for cars back in the late eighties to early nineties? I was really looking forward to getting those tapes and bringing them back home and going through them. I had concerts I had bootlegged back in the 1980s and of course a ton of officially released tapes from every artist you could think of. This was a rock and roll collection of the 1970s and 1980s. I also had about 400 LPs that somehow disappeared through the years I was told. I honestly think my sister threw them out when she had lived in the house for a year about 10 years ago. Anyhow, I could not find the tapes when I went down there. I looked everywhere I could think of and the drawers were not even in the dresser anymore. I found some of the drawers that had been stacked in a pile but my tapes were not in them. It was like they had just disappeared and I don't know what happened to them. I found a few here and there but nothing to get excited about. It made me sick. Luckily, in my old bedroom with my Led Zeppelin posters hanging all over the walls still (I did bring those back), I found about 50 of my records. I was really glad to come across those but unfortunately they didn't sound any better than about VG in quality. And of course I already have replaced all of these through the years as I got back into vinyl collecting. I think these were the records that I had set apart from all of the other ones that I knew were in excellent condition 30 plus years ago. But of course, none of those excellent condition records could be found. I'm really glad I brought all of my CDs with me when I moved up to Fort Worth in 1991. I've still got all of my original CDs. But I hardly listen to those any more and pretty much just listen to LPs nowadays. It just makes me sick that all of those tapes and records that I grew up buying and getting and listening to are gone and I'll never know what really happened to them. I'll make this last part fast and quick. Here's the kicker. I finally got my dad's McIntosh receiver, preamp, and amp from him a few months before I went down to Houston to get anything important from the house. But he had left the wooden cases for the equipment down in Houston in his closet in the master bedroom. I'm legally blind so the friend that drove me and I searched everywhere for those McIntosh cabinets. They were not there. I don't know what my sister threw away back when she lived in the house for a year but I have a strange feeling she just looked at stuff and thought this isn't worth anything and nobody wants it and took it or put it on the street or something. She wasn't doing it to be mean. She was just ignorant of what she was fooling with. Either that or we just had a thief that stole only the things that I wanted out of the house. And I don't think the latter was the case. I'm sure you have seen what just one case or cabinet for the McIntosh equipment runs nowadays. Imagine needing to buy three of them now. Thankfully my dad had built a custom wood cabinet to put the equipment in. But I want the original cabinets so that I can set things up in my living room and have it look right. I'm just lucky he finally let me take it because it had been sitting around, not used, thankfully under blankets, and waiting for me for over 30 years. I'm not even going to get into the discussion about whether or not I'm going to need to have it recapped or anything like that. It cost money just to own the McIntosh equipment and not even using it yet haha. I'm just glad I was able to get some of my stuff back from my days of growing up and able to finally persuade my dad to pass on the McIntosh gear. So I'm definitely not complaining! Brian in Fort Worth 🎶
I can still buy used cassettes including the blank ones which was once recorded and it looks really cool, because of the retro designs, color schemes, etc. which is just for collector’s. If there is a pad missing, I use a foam pad as a replacement and it will sound better.
Very helpful and useful tips Aaron. The pressure pads will also slide to the side, a very easy fix with some patience. I also look for wrinkles or crinkles in the window view. I have a load of cassettes that no one seems to want to use anymore. Manchester Tennessee anyone? thanks 🍄
@@ForeverAnalog if interested in a bulk good deal, holler. These are Not junk and I want them gone reasonably inexpensive. Some cases too, I should have said storage cases, holds 60, 30 etc.
@@gavin.lannan awesome, I'm definitely interested. I'm near Murfreesboro so not far. My email is listed on my RUclips home page if you'd like to reach out that way!
I live in Brazil. And even when I find tapes in perfect condition, they are bad. Maybe it's because it's very humid here. Out of 6 tapes, usually 1 is good. Eventually I started buying blank tapes and making my own mixes, because it's easier to find a good tape... I've been very lucky with the TDK SA60 (Chrome), the sound is always very good...
Why do some tapes run slowly. I have fast forward it and reversed it… no difference. Sometimes it gets tight it will shut off the auto stop. Any suggestions
The magnetic tape itself may have become stretched and become sticky. This usually happens over time. I have had cassettes that have become like this and will no longer fit in the cassette housing itself.
The above comment is often true, but another possibility is the tape pack is uneven. Tapping it on a flat surface, both flat sides of the cassette, will sometimes loosen it.
Got news for you. Pre-Recorded tapes are put on the worst, cheapest tape that the duplicator could buy. They WILL ruin your tape heads because they are coarse and cause serious wear on your heads along with shedding ferric particles and jamming up your head gaps with garbage. Buy the LP, CD, or Digital File, then record on a quality NOS Blank like a Maxell XLII-S or TDK SA tape. Save your deck!
I came here to say basically the same thing, but if you have a good deck with Dolby C, Type I tapes can give the same performance as Type II and Type IV tapes. Dolby C was designed to combat the effects of tape saturation, especially at high frequencies, as well as providing excellent noise reduction. I have two hi-fi cassette decks here that can record and play back almost flat from 20Hz to 20kHz with a cheap TDK FE Type I tape when using Dolby C, and neither were particularly expensive decks.
I have donated at least 100 tapes to a local charity store. Most were recorded on a Harman Kardon deck with Dolby C and HX pro. They sounded wonderful. I have had many tapes squeal in the past. A tiny drop of silicone oil on the pressure pad fixes it every time. That will also fix a tape that drags. Good tips Aaron!
Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely have to remember that silicone oil trick.
😮 wow, very generous of u mate. Considering their worth these days, especially. Great tip also. Blessings
Man, this reminds me of my bad luck I had back in the end of June this year. I had to go down to Houston and grab what I could from the family house before it was sold. I didn't have a lot of time to look around and make sure I got everything. It's a long story but it was the only way I could get things done and I tried my hardest in the 100° plus heat.
I had a dresser in the upstairs guest bedroom that had nine drawers on it and about 400 of my cassettes from the 1980s. I had to play the cassettes in my Chevelle because I only had a stereo with a tape deck in it installed. I don't even think they made CD players for cars back in the late eighties to early nineties? I was really looking forward to getting those tapes and bringing them back home and going through them. I had concerts I had bootlegged back in the 1980s and of course a ton of officially released tapes from every artist you could think of. This was a rock and roll collection of the 1970s and 1980s. I also had about 400 LPs that somehow disappeared through the years I was told. I honestly think my sister threw them out when she had lived in the house for a year about 10 years ago.
Anyhow, I could not find the tapes when I went down there. I looked everywhere I could think of and the drawers were not even in the dresser anymore. I found some of the drawers that had been stacked in a pile but my tapes were not in them. It was like they had just disappeared and I don't know what happened to them. I found a few here and there but nothing to get excited about. It made me sick. Luckily, in my old bedroom with my Led Zeppelin posters hanging all over the walls still (I did bring those back), I found about 50 of my records. I was really glad to come across those but unfortunately they didn't sound any better than about VG in quality. And of course I already have replaced all of these through the years as I got back into vinyl collecting. I think these were the records that I had set apart from all of the other ones that I knew were in excellent condition 30 plus years ago. But of course, none of those excellent condition records could be found.
I'm really glad I brought all of my CDs with me when I moved up to Fort Worth in 1991. I've still got all of my original CDs. But I hardly listen to those any more and pretty much just listen to LPs nowadays. It just makes me sick that all of those tapes and records that I grew up buying and getting and listening to are gone and I'll never know what really happened to them.
I'll make this last part fast and quick. Here's the kicker. I finally got my dad's McIntosh receiver, preamp, and amp from him a few months before I went down to Houston to get anything important from the house. But he had left the wooden cases for the equipment down in Houston in his closet in the master bedroom. I'm legally blind so the friend that drove me and I searched everywhere for those McIntosh cabinets. They were not there. I don't know what my sister threw away back when she lived in the house for a year but I have a strange feeling she just looked at stuff and thought this isn't worth anything and nobody wants it and took it or put it on the street or something. She wasn't doing it to be mean. She was just ignorant of what she was fooling with. Either that or we just had a thief that stole only the things that I wanted out of the house. And I don't think the latter was the case. I'm sure you have seen what just one case or cabinet for the McIntosh equipment runs nowadays. Imagine needing to buy three of them now. Thankfully my dad had built a custom wood cabinet to put the equipment in. But I want the original cabinets so that I can set things up in my living room and have it look right. I'm just lucky he finally let me take it because it had been sitting around, not used, thankfully under blankets, and waiting for me for over 30 years. I'm not even going to get into the discussion about whether or not I'm going to need to have it recapped or anything like that. It cost money just to own the McIntosh equipment and not even using it yet haha. I'm just glad I was able to get some of my stuff back from my days of growing up and able to finally persuade my dad to pass on the McIntosh gear. So I'm definitely not complaining!
Brian in Fort Worth 🎶
Great story thank you for sharing!
Appreciate the tips. I still have cassettes from the 80's.
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
Replying to @adsph:
I will finish your sentence FOR you:
"that are still playable even right now"
Did I finish your sentence right?
@@Tombilicus yes they play good.
I can still buy used cassettes including the blank ones which was once recorded and it looks really cool, because of the retro designs, color schemes, etc. which is just for collector’s. If there is a pad missing, I use a foam pad as a replacement and it will sound better.
Awesome, thank you for watching and sharing!
Very helpful and useful tips Aaron. The pressure pads will also slide to the side, a very easy fix with some patience. I also look for wrinkles or crinkles in the window view. I have a load of cassettes that no one seems to want to use anymore. Manchester Tennessee anyone? thanks 🍄
I’m not far from you!!!
@@ForeverAnalog if interested in a bulk good deal, holler. These are Not junk and I want them gone reasonably inexpensive. Some cases too, I should have said storage cases, holds 60, 30 etc.
Memphis TN
@@gavin.lannan awesome, I'm definitely interested. I'm near Murfreesboro so not far. My email is listed on my RUclips home page if you'd like to reach out that way!
Actually you missed the most crucial 1 out if tape hasn't been re-wind the tape curls up causing dropouts
Thanks for the reminder!
I live in Brazil. And even when I find tapes in perfect condition, they are bad. Maybe it's because it's very humid here. Out of 6 tapes, usually 1 is good.
Eventually I started buying blank tapes and making my own mixes, because it's easier to find a good tape...
I've been very lucky with the TDK SA60 (Chrome), the sound is always very good...
I love TDK blanks too! Thanks for watching and sharing!
Why do some tapes run slowly. I have fast forward it and reversed it… no difference. Sometimes it gets tight it will shut off the auto stop. Any suggestions
The magnetic tape itself may have become stretched and become sticky. This usually happens over time. I have had cassettes that have become like this and will no longer fit in the cassette housing itself.
The above comment is often true, but another possibility is the tape pack is uneven. Tapping it on a flat surface, both flat sides of the cassette, will sometimes loosen it.
Also, it is best to store a tape in a played condition, not fast-wound. The tape pack is smoother and more even that way.
Got news for you. Pre-Recorded tapes are put on the worst, cheapest tape that the duplicator could buy. They WILL ruin your tape heads because they are coarse and cause serious wear on your heads along with shedding ferric particles and jamming up your head gaps with garbage. Buy the LP, CD, or Digital File, then record on a quality NOS Blank like a Maxell XLII-S or TDK SA tape. Save your deck!
Great advice, thank you!
I came here to say basically the same thing, but if you have a good deck with Dolby C, Type I tapes can give the same performance as Type II and Type IV tapes. Dolby C was designed to combat the effects of tape saturation, especially at high frequencies, as well as providing excellent noise reduction. I have two hi-fi cassette decks here that can record and play back almost flat from 20Hz to 20kHz with a cheap TDK FE Type I tape when using Dolby C, and neither were particularly expensive decks.
Does anyone still buy this ?????😂😂😂😂😂