Might not seem like much. TDK and Maxell tapes.

Elite-ist

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#22
I bought these tapes from Innovative Audio back in May. Lucky to get them set aside for me until I could get to the store. Lots of phone calls from people wanting to buy them, but I was fortunate to see the ad minutes after it was posted. 20210529_114456.jpg
Nando.
 

Wheel-right

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#25
What's a record store? Last one here closed up at the end of 2019, unfortunate for him since vinyl outsold CDs last year but I still do business with him out of his house. No tapes though.
 

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#26
Yeah... I was shocked. But then again it's Arkansas... so we are decades behind other parts :p

The record store north of the River is stuffed to ceiling with wooden shelving. The dude was telling me he just surpassed 38 years in the biz...
 
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Elite-ist

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#27
We have a number of local stores selling new and used records. One of the local stores, I deal with (Empire Of Dirt), sells out of good used records often.

Nando.
 

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#28
We have a store near my house (replay records I think it’s called) but I usually stock up on records at the hi fi museum. They have fewer to choose from but condition and pricing are both good.

I haven’t been in all summer because they haven’t been opening on Wednesday as they did in the spring. Hopefully soon.

They had a big ol’ silver tape deck in there too but it’s gone now. I never got to see what it was…
 

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#29
Have a 3 sealed (I think) of those TDK D, keeping memories. Would easily pay 5x that price for them. Don't have that model of UR, looking for that one and white Hitachi DL, but hard to find for the reasonable price.

Last tapes I have bought was 7 SA-X90 for about 20-25€, but didn't tested them yet. Lack of time is much bigger problem than lack of tapes :( If you see somewhere a time for the reasonable price, please tell me, I desperately need it.

1635534702542.png
 
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vince666

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#32
great ones at that age, Alex.
9 or 10 years old for me it was 1982-83 and i had just basic ferrics like TDK D, Sony CHF, maxell UL, Basf LH extra and some cheaper ones than these.
I believe first time i bought something better it was the last months of 1984 with a TDK AD-X (awesome superferric) and a Scotch Chrome.
Then, finally, in 1985 i found a shop near here who used to sell Sony UCX 90 at same price i used to find a TDK D 90 a couple years before, and he had lower prices in general, so i used to get Sony HF as 3xPacks (first version with transparent smoked shell) for everyday/unimportant recordings or for the software of my ZX Spectrum, and Sony HF-S (some HF-ES too) and UCX to record vinyl LPs.
But, not finding the TDK at that "cheaper" shop, a SA-X would have costed at least like 2 Sony UCX.
But, luckily, on second half of the 80s prices of blanks here started to finally drop by a noticeable bit then i could buy the better models more easily.
But, here, Sony were the ones with a bit lower prices (compared to TDK and maxell) and, being just as good quality, i automatically became mostly a Sony user.... and also a few by That's which had a good market here as well.
And around 1988-89 and on, also the prices of TDK here became good, so i finally used to also get a few SA and several SF, AD and AR.... but maybe the single type 2 model i bought the most back in the old days was just Sony UX.
 
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Alex SE

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#33
Well from begining I told my father to by me some tapes and he bought me 10-pack Hitachi DL60. I had a boom box and didn't know anything about tape brands. Little later, som older guy told me that SA-X are best so I told to father to buy them instead (as recording would be better on a boom-box :rolleyes:). He bought me 5 or 10 SA-X... Anyway, first tapes I have bought by myself was golden SA90. I remember that a first recording was Duran Duran on a side A, but don't remember what was on a side B. Those were times! You have latest MAX MIX, Italo boot mix and Espana mix and you don't need anything else.
I used to buy even BRAVO which was in German which I don't speak, but hey, there was lot of pictures and even stickers sometimes :)
 

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#34
Golden SA-90… 1987 vintage!

1985 “large”SA on silver
1986 “small SA on silver.

These (mainly 85/86) were the tapes I used the most, and still prefer. Although I have messed with SAs up to the last sketchy blue wrapper flavor, and they are VERY consistent regarding bias.

Earlier, 1982 and before, with a more milk-chocolate brown color tape, are not the same and they don’t bias the same. If the tape is a dark chocolate black/brown, you are good.

The early tape is also fine, but does not “drop in” like all the later ones do. These early ones are Nando’s favorite flavor. We also did a “crazy eights” mix tape at that other place and it came out decent.
 

vince666

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#35
milk chocolate, dark chocolate.... why you named chocolate?
hey, don't have any sweets at home right now and it's saturday (late) night here and shops are closed.
and now i am drooling. o_O:p
 

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#40
interesting... and, regarding the evolution of tape particles (ferric ones, in particular), I remember Wilhelm mentioning the new ferric oxide developed by Pfizer being a nice improvement over the past.

and i found this at vintagecassettes website here: http://vintagecassettes.com/_history/history.htm

1973 - MO 2228 pigment of Pfizer. Produces new generation of Ferric tapes (AGFA, AMPEX, BASF, MEMOREX). Japanese companies did not follow that path and that created chaos - we have "normal bias" and "high bias" setting for type I tapes.
I wonder if, later, also the japanese companies finally switched to the Pfizer oxide or not, though.
 
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