My faith in the then new RMGI LPR-35 tape was shattered when after just a few years, the tape literally began to disintegrate. I became disillusioned with it and became highly averse to it for a few years. I was initially very impressed with this tape and had very high hopes for it. But those hopes were dashed following the defects and subsequent denial from RMGI that a problem existed despite the mountains of evidence I presented. By the time they finally admitted in private that there was in fact a problem, the damage was done. I wanted nothing to do with this stuff.
Meanwhile, RMGI went belly up and was bought out by PYRAL. The RMGI brand exists now as an in name only outfit representing the distribution network but no longer makes tape.
I had since bought a couple of follow up rolls and tried one and have been cautiously optimistic.
So after some time, I was willing to give it another chance. I invested in nine rolls of the new production PYRAL stock. I was excited to get it.
Because I don't really care for the RMGI/PYRAL style reels, I decided that I would use the tape to fill empty reels and boxes that I have. For pride of place here, I elected to go with this empty Denon reel and a black plastic tape care box.
After hauling out the Quantegy 407 empty reel that I call 'the whore', which I use for staging pancakes and loaded it, one thing I immediately noticed was the overall diameter of the tape. Or rather, the lack of it. Considering this is supposedly a high end back coated tape, there was sure a lot of room left in the reel. I did a side by side comparison of two other 3600' back coated tapes.
How does it stack up? Quantegy #457 (top), Maxell XLI (middle), and the PYRAL (bottom).
Moving on, had to attach the tail end leader. This tape is thin and it was evident by the tape coiling up like a spring as soon as I removed the tag. It was quite a challenge to hogtie and hold it down. It put up a fight but I was able to get the leader on.
And ready to do the "first pass" to get it unwound and to access the head end for that leader. Loaded it up on the Teac X-2000R, spooled it up, and did a no play, no record play speed transfer.
One pleasant surprise: this tape has a minute and a half of "extra" time, as do most other tapes. It can definitely be a life saver when doing a dub or a tight mix. Previously, I had used a few rolls and they didn't have any extra. You hit 1:36:00 and that was it. One roll actually stopped just short at about 1:35:40. For those of us who have been using 3600 footers for all our lives have come to count on that extra that runs anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes over. I have one TDK AUDUA and one Quantegy 457 that do just breach the 1:38 mark without adding any extra.
And yes.....as you can see. This stuff is thin and promptly curled up on the head end as well. I hope that the missing back coating on those last few inches doesn't portend future problems as had bedeviled its earlier incarnation.
And putting on the head end leader. Note how the snipped end is coiled like a rattlesnake at the upper right corner of my little tray. It did that on its own. No other tapes I've worked with have ever done that.
Time to give it a test recording......
This deck is biased for Quantegy 457, so it didn't quite sound flat and true at the neutral settings. But upping the bias by a percent or two, setting my input right at a steady 0dB with the occasional peak to +3, and we have a winner of a tape. Almost identical to the venerable Maxell XLI. It also needs to be stated that I do not technically own or use any sophisticated test equipment such as sonic readouts and oscilloscopes, so I rely on empirical evidence to report my findings such as doing A/B comparison between 'Source/Monitor'.
So on its own, it sounds great and is easy to use. My only concern being how thin it is. So I will be doing a follow up at some point in the future to check for print through. See and hear a brief video of a portion of the test recording.
Assuming that it's not a concern and that the issue that proved ruinous to the 2008 batches, this is a good tape to stock up on.
Thanks for reading.
Meanwhile, RMGI went belly up and was bought out by PYRAL. The RMGI brand exists now as an in name only outfit representing the distribution network but no longer makes tape.
I had since bought a couple of follow up rolls and tried one and have been cautiously optimistic.
So after some time, I was willing to give it another chance. I invested in nine rolls of the new production PYRAL stock. I was excited to get it.
Because I don't really care for the RMGI/PYRAL style reels, I decided that I would use the tape to fill empty reels and boxes that I have. For pride of place here, I elected to go with this empty Denon reel and a black plastic tape care box.
After hauling out the Quantegy 407 empty reel that I call 'the whore', which I use for staging pancakes and loaded it, one thing I immediately noticed was the overall diameter of the tape. Or rather, the lack of it. Considering this is supposedly a high end back coated tape, there was sure a lot of room left in the reel. I did a side by side comparison of two other 3600' back coated tapes.
How does it stack up? Quantegy #457 (top), Maxell XLI (middle), and the PYRAL (bottom).
Moving on, had to attach the tail end leader. This tape is thin and it was evident by the tape coiling up like a spring as soon as I removed the tag. It was quite a challenge to hogtie and hold it down. It put up a fight but I was able to get the leader on.
And ready to do the "first pass" to get it unwound and to access the head end for that leader. Loaded it up on the Teac X-2000R, spooled it up, and did a no play, no record play speed transfer.
One pleasant surprise: this tape has a minute and a half of "extra" time, as do most other tapes. It can definitely be a life saver when doing a dub or a tight mix. Previously, I had used a few rolls and they didn't have any extra. You hit 1:36:00 and that was it. One roll actually stopped just short at about 1:35:40. For those of us who have been using 3600 footers for all our lives have come to count on that extra that runs anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes over. I have one TDK AUDUA and one Quantegy 457 that do just breach the 1:38 mark without adding any extra.
And yes.....as you can see. This stuff is thin and promptly curled up on the head end as well. I hope that the missing back coating on those last few inches doesn't portend future problems as had bedeviled its earlier incarnation.
And putting on the head end leader. Note how the snipped end is coiled like a rattlesnake at the upper right corner of my little tray. It did that on its own. No other tapes I've worked with have ever done that.
Time to give it a test recording......
This deck is biased for Quantegy 457, so it didn't quite sound flat and true at the neutral settings. But upping the bias by a percent or two, setting my input right at a steady 0dB with the occasional peak to +3, and we have a winner of a tape. Almost identical to the venerable Maxell XLI. It also needs to be stated that I do not technically own or use any sophisticated test equipment such as sonic readouts and oscilloscopes, so I rely on empirical evidence to report my findings such as doing A/B comparison between 'Source/Monitor'.
So on its own, it sounds great and is easy to use. My only concern being how thin it is. So I will be doing a follow up at some point in the future to check for print through. See and hear a brief video of a portion of the test recording.
Assuming that it's not a concern and that the issue that proved ruinous to the 2008 batches, this is a good tape to stock up on.
Thanks for reading.
