HISTORY:
My "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
I ran an audio post production facility for many years and our world was analog tape (all sizes) shellac, vinyl and even 1940's cardboard records from WWII!
I am working through an amount of 1/4" magnetic audio tape which has been well looked after (temperature controlled environment in the dark!) and now it is time to find new owners for this gear.
At this stage, most of the tape is 1/4" up to 7 inch reel size and a wide range of manufacturers
This AMPEX audio recording tape is BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED excess stock which is no longer required, with ALL my beautiful Studer and Revox machines having "left home" and now living in European studios because I am out of the professional audio business these days.
AMPEX is extremely well known for their great tape recording media, suitable for all speeds. Perhaps most important of all is the fact that these 641 tapes from AMPEX are NOT known for their tape shed issues, unlike many other tapes, including other AMPEX formulations. If you would like to read other users opinions about AMPEX 641 tape, there are many discussion groups which discuss the AMPEX 641 tape.
I have been astounded at some online sellers who call this a "Professional" recording tape, IT IS NOT! It was never intended for the professional recording user and AMPEX marketing should be ashamed of themselves! It is simply "not up to scratch" with regards to the tape formulation and a 1 mil thick tape is at higher risk of breakage when run at high speeds (15ips +)
In a nutshell, it is an old 1960's "consumer grade" tape formulation from AMPEX and perfectly fine for "non-demanding" music or voice type recordings, bias should be set to "normal" (Type I tape, DO NOT USE a high bias setting) and don't expect super wonderful noise figures (hiss), modern recording tapes will be much quieter than these but for general "run-of-the-mill" recordings, they will be fine.
Never heard of tape shedding? It is an absolute nightmare for the R2R professional or enthusiast because not only will the tape run very noisily, it deposits masses of oxide on the heads and transport path - Urghhh, a big cleanup job is often required if a tape has shed when being played.
HERE is some more detailed information about the dreaded tape shedding issue
So here we go ...
AMPEX - Audio Recording Tape
Manufactured in USA
Circa Late 1980's (It was about this time period when we last purchased these 641's)
Formulation: Standard
Format: 1/4"
1.0 mil thickness
Recommended bias 185nWb/m (Consumer grade NOT Professional or "Mastering")
Size: 7 Inch Reel
Length: 549 Metres
COSMETIC CONDITION:
NEW SEALED
Comes in an all cardboard outer casing (Light Grey stiple finish) which is factory machine shrink sealed
NO damage to the box or the graphics
NO nasties such as mildew spots or "smells"
As these are our ex audio production business stock, used for client "domestic" recordings of a non-critical nature and there will NOT be any ongoing supply once this tape has been sold
