Re: [ARSCLIST] SSS Agfa [WAS: Ampex 456 and Shamrock 041 Manufacturing Specs?]

["Marie O'Connell" <azile50@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have worked on several hundred hours worth of Agfa PEM 469 which was some
of the worst examples of shedding I have encountered.  Ampex 456 is a given
SSS and I would have to say that it is on an individual basis as to how much
this tape sheds.  I have hundreds of tapes that for each 20 reels per box
they came out of all display completely different degrees of the dreaded
SSS.  They are all stored in the same environment and so I used to assume
that if each batch of 20 each came out of the same box then they would be
from the same batch and therefore display similar characteristics.
Unfortunately, in my experience, this has not been the case at all!  There
seems to be no rhyme or reason for this so it makes the task that more
fickle!  I now take nothing for granted and try not to assume anything!

I recall so called boxes of EMTEC 911 I purchased whilst in the US that had
the EMTEC 911 label stuck over BASF tape reels, and then shrink wrapped.  I
haven't encountered any real problems with this thus far.

I can say I do recall an MRL tape that did shed, as per Richard's question a
while back, but as I am no longer able to access this tape I can not age it
or what brand it was.

Recently we have been working through accessions that have come into the
archive and I have been preserving a 10% sample of these.  I have noticed
that some of the Agfa 525 and 526 have been leaving a fine dusting of oxide
around the guides & playback head (on a remodelled, low friction Studer
B67).

We have Zonal in our collection and I've never had a problem with it thus
far.  Fingers crossed!

We also have a lot on EMITAPE 4 which appears to have been a preferred Radio
New Zealand tape brand back in the 1950's.  Apart from really horrible
splices and glues that were used back then they all seem to play rather
nicely after restoration techniques with the glue and splices.  On the whole
all of these are acetate and have that radioactive look when held up to the
light!  You know what I mean!

Just a few observations from down under, the bigger Down Under :-)

Cheers
Marie




On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:06 AM, Prentice, Will <Will.Prentice@xxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Goran
>
> Thanks for the info. Re. Agfa, we've had several examples of PE 49
> (double play, 7") which have proven sticky. According to the numbers in
> the green leader tape there were two manufactured bad batches at least,
> both seemingly bought by us at the same time, circa mid-1988. The
> numbers to beware of are 01041 and 15383. All other PE 49 batches thus
> far have been fine.
>
> Regards
>
> Will
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Goran Finnberg
> Sent: 25 February 2009 12:38
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Ampex 456 and Shamrock 041 Manufacturing Specs?
>
> Will Prentice:
>
> > Responding to Richard's comment that "all tape
> > manufacturers seemed to have created batches of
> > tape which suffered from this [i.e., SSS]"
>
> I have never ever seen any BASF tape ever go sticky shed.
>
> BASF is one of the worlds biggest chemical companies.
>
> They have always claimed that they had all the knowldedge in house
> together with making all the ingredients in house.
>
> So their position is that due to the above none of their tapes will
> exhibit sticky shed as they knew how to avoid it.
>
> AGFA, it is the same except for some batches of Agfa 468 during half a
> year or so.
>
> I have only seen one real of 468 go sticky despite having transferred
> several hundred such reals over the years.
>
> In contrast it is almost a given that any reel of Ampex 456 will go
> sticky for sure.
>
> And that is true over here since so far they all need baking.
>
>
> --
> Best,
>
> Goran Finnberg
> The Mastering Room AB
> Goteborg
> Sweden
>
> E-mail: mastering@xxxxxxxxx
>
> Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to
> make them all yourself.    -   John Luther
>
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