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

[Goran Finnberg <mastering@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tommy Sjöberg:

> I worked on a digitizing project for Universal 
> music some years ago, doing several thousand 
> tapes. I totally agree about Ampex 456 - the few 
> we didn't bake sure smelled like they would need 
> baking, but weren't shedding, just yet.

I have seen it stated that Ampex/Quantegy 456 is good after 1994 and
stock made before that year needs baking and stock after that is fine.

If what I have experienced this is not correct.

I have had 456 tapes bought new in 2001 transferred cleanly by me from a
Studer A820 the same year to be SSS when trying to transfer again the
exact same tapes in 2008.

> We never encountered a Basf tape that needed 
> baking, 

That agrees with my own experience and my sources within Swedish Radio
who used tons of BASF and AGFA tapes agrees so far.

> and the same for Agfa with one, big 
> exception and that is PEM 469, until they changed 
> the formulation sometime around 1990. All earlier 
> 469's were baked. 

The AGFA 469 tape has been so rare for me that I simply have not enough
experience to have any opinon but what I have had so far is OK.

The official info from AGFA sources in Sweden was that production during
about half a year for AGFA 468 would go SSS.

469 was not mentioned at all.

> A few 468's were also a bit 
> sticky and were baked and then played fine, but 
> if that was SSS I don't know.

I do believe that this is SSS as that is what I have heard from AGFA
Sweden and they claimed that it was from certain batches during half a
year or so.

A long time friend since the early 70´s who passed away some time ago,
Mats Hellberg, producer/engineer/drummer/record label owner/ used AGFA
468 almost his whole career and we never saw SSS from his use of AGFA
468.

Mats Hellberg and I noted some shedding from the matt backing, sometimes
a lot, for certain lots of production, but this occured only during part
of the 80´s and this never went sticky shed so I see it as no big deal
since after tape cleaning it played just fine.

The AGFA 468 coming from RMGI was felt by Mats Hellberg to be a clone
for AGFA 468, based on a few hundred reels bought, and I personally saw
no problems at all when trensferring his tapes to digital to make the CD
master.

The actual shed on tape guides, heads etc, was so insignificant that
even using a magnifying glass at 8X, almost nothing could be seen after
having transferred 10 reels in a row.

-- 
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