Type 4 cassettes?

Discussion in 'Cassettes' started by Louzzaro, Oct 25, 2018.

  1. Louzzaro

    Louzzaro New Member

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    Ive purchased two Walkman’s in the last week and they both have a Metal setting. I haven’t come across too many metal tapes and I’m wondering if there is a place that mostly handles type 4 tapes. I’d like to get my music on higher quality tapes, especially considering I have to equipment to play them.
    Thanks for the help,
    Lou
     
  2. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    You are not going to find a lot of pre-recorded metal cassettes. You will need to record your own, do you have a good deck to record metal cassettes with? Also a good source to record from, you know what they say rubbish in, rubbish out.
     
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  3. Louzzaro

    Louzzaro New Member

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    Not at the moment. That’ll have to be a future project. I have my fathers old stereo, double tape deck, 5 cd changer, separate equalizer (i think) but need to set it up and see what I can get out of it.
    Thanks for the info.
     
  4. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Spend your money on something you can actually get benefit from, metal cassettes are expensive and if you are going to spend the money it’s also nice to get the best out of it.
     
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  5. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I don't think I've ever seen a pre-recorded metal tape but used to run into home taped versions at the thrifts (and buy most of them). You'll probably have to look at the usual sites to find something similar, good luck, they were hard to find a few years ago, now they are nearly impossible to find locally.
     
  6. Analogtape

    Analogtape Member

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    I can understand that you would like to use type 4 cassettes if you have the equipment to play them. As mentioned above the equipment to record them is as much as important. Considering that chromdioxide cassettes are less hard to find and they provide also very good sound (on the appropriate equipment), they are possibly an alternative?
     
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  7. nickelindimer

    nickelindimer Active Member

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    Metal tapes... Boy, is that a subject for over-inflated prices on eBay!
     
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  8. Silverera

    Silverera Active Member

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    Good advice here on metal tapes. Budget items that I have found recently are the Sony XR metal range. Still they go back to 1998 but I've bought 6 recently for around $20 USD ea. I record everything on a Rev 2.0 WM-D6C and it does a great job from either vinyl or CD source.
    Prerecorded tapes are mostly terrible bulk loaded tape and high speed duplicated with predictable results.
    There is a good YouTube video on new tape manufacture which also discusses some of the high end specialist prerecorded audiophile tapes. The prices are totally over the top however.
    Sadly, many prerecorded tapes that state they're type II CRO2 are still in type 1 shells which makes you suspicious that they are not type II at all.
    B
     
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  9. walkman archive

    walkman archive Administrator Staff Member

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    Finding type IV prerecorded cassettes is almost impossible, but there are a few units made by Nakamichi. Though the price is about 200$ each...

    Finding good recordings in chrome is much more easy. You can find many with XDR or DIGalog logos on them. Those can sound pretty good. For excellent sound, its best that you get a good single 3-head deck instead of that double deck. That would make a big difference, specially when recording.
     
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  10. Silverera

    Silverera Active Member

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    I found this one in a thrift store. It's better than earlier tapes and it has the XDR logo but the cassette is still in a typical type 1 shell so I wonder if it really is Chromium Dioxide.
    15409853173582921944238462188584.jpg
     
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  11. ianthepostie

    ianthepostie Active Member

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    The Church - awesome band!
     
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  12. Silverera

    Silverera Active Member

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    Ah. Another fan. Good to see. Most people think of "Under the Milky Way" when the band is mentioned but this album Heyday is very underrated. If you're a fan of the Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar this album is for you.
     
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  13. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    Me too... One of my "guilty pleasures" band :oops:

    Re TypeIV cassettes I choose to believe the nonsense that these damage tapeheads by being more abrasive (total bull!) so I do not worry about them! It also helps that none of my bboxes has TypeIV option, and all my MetalMasters stay safe and unplayed for years!!!

    @TooCooL4 I like your talking! Are you one of us, Linnies? As always, I have to check with Google, but I first got this concept of "shit in- same out" from Linn/Naim crowd.... and it changed my life forever!!
    A huge +1 to what @walkman archive said, but be warned: you will need another $500+ to restore and calibrate it professionally! Two-head Nak is still within the skills of self-rebelt/calibration. To get the best from 3-headers you will spend A Lot on calibration/tension tapes, plus "pain and suffering" of recap/mechanism resto...
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2018
  14. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Jorge sorry not a Linnie, I did own a Linn Axis a very very long time ago.
    It’s just common sense, if you put in lead you are not going to get gold out. The old way it was put is GIGO = Garbage In Garbage Out.

    I never believed the metal bull before anyway, you only have to look at my cassette collection to see I have more metal cassettes than anything else and i have never had any problems.
     
  15. ianthepostie

    ianthepostie Active Member

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    Yes very underrated band. I've seem them live a few times in london. I met Marty wilson piper at the bar when I was buying a drink and had a nice chat with him. Very nice down to earth guy! I told him that I borrowed a few church albums from a friend and put them on tape and he was mightily impressed and not at all bothered that I'd "stole" his music! They then went on stage an did a cover of "hounds of love" which was awesome!
     

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