I met an older collector at a swap meet in Portland back in March who insisted I keep all my cassettes standing upright like books. I ignored him for a few months and stacked a bunch of my classic rock mixtapes flat instead. Now half of them have warbly playback and I'm kicking myself - does storing them flat really mess up the tape tension for good?
I see everyone in this group hyping up those chrome and metal tapes. Always saying they sound better. But I picked up a 10-pack of TDK D ferrics at a garage sale for 3 bucks last month. Decided to test them against my old Sony UX-S chromes. Recorded the same Fleetwood Mac album on both. Honestly? The ferrics sound warmer. Less harsh on the highs. My deck even seems to bias them better. The noise floor is a little higher but it gives it that lo-fi feel I actually want. Anyone else ever go back to basic ferrics on purpose?
Bought a set of those pricey wooden storage boxes online for $45 and they warped within a month, then my tapes started sliding out. Anyone else have bad luck with those wooden cases versus the basic plastic ones?
Ngl I always thought the TDK SA90s were overhyped and just a waste of money compared to my usual Maxell UR90s. But last week I grabbed a sealed 3-pack at a thrift store in Portland for $5 and recorded a live set from a local punk show. Honestly the clarity on the high end blew my mind, no hiss at all. Anyone else change their mind on a specific tape brand after trying it yourself?
Back in the 80s I would spend an hour getting the lettering just right on each cassette shell. I'd use a Pilot Precise V5 rolling ball pen and write the track list in tiny neat print on the J-card. Then about five years ago my hands started shaking a little from getting older and I could not keep the lines straight. Now I just scribble the artist name on a yellow sticky note and slap it on the case. It looks terrible but at least I know what I put on there. Funny how something that used to matter so much just does not matter anymore. Does anyone else have a tape habit they changed because of age or circumstance?
I was at the Austin Record Convention last month digging through a box of beat-up tapes when this guy in his 70s saw me struggling with a snapped cassette. He pulled out a tiny pair of scissors and a piece of splicing tape from his wallet, fixed it in 30 seconds, and said "never use Scotch tape, it'll eat your player heads." Has anyone else picked up a repair tip from a stranger that actually saved your gear?
Ngl, I used to just toss my cassettes in a cardboard box sideways. Some older dude at the Brimfield Flea Market saw me flipping through them and told me I was warping the tape reels by storing them flat. He showed me his whole setup with cases upright and everything. Now I keep all 60 of my tapes standing on end in a milk crate and I swear the sound quality feels cleaner on my old deck. Anyone else get called out for bad storage habits?
So I was playing a sealed early 80s Maxell XLII-S that I found at a flea market for $4. About 30 seconds into side B, the mechanism just groaned and stopped. I opened it up and the pinch roller was stiff as a rock, basically a dried out hockey puck. I got the tape out carefully with a pencil but it's wrinkled about 15 seconds of the recording. Now I'm debating between trying to fix the deck with a new roller kit or just buying a used one off eBay for around $100. Has anyone else had a late model Nakamichi suddenly fail on them like this, or is it just my luck?
I picked up an old Nakamichi BX-2 at a thrift store in Dayton last month. It played fine for about a week, but then the pitch started wobbling on every tape I put in. I thought it was just a belt issue, so I replaced those in an afternoon. That didn't fix it, so I spent another week cleaning the capstan and pinch roller. Turns out the motor capacitor was bad, and swapping a $3 part took me near 15 hours of troubleshooting total. Has anyone else dealt with a similar issue where the fix was way smaller than the time you spent finding it?
I kept my cassettes flat stacked in a plastic bin in my basement and wondered why some of them started sounding warpy after a couple years. Turns out storing them flat on top of each other can mess with the tape reels over time, especially if the bin gets any heat or humidity. I switched to standing them upright like books on a shelf and it took me forever to find that out because I just assumed flat was fine. Anyone else make this mistake and have to replace a favorite tape?
I was sitting in my Toyota at a Sonic Drive-In in Tulsa last summer, trying to respool a chewed-up Duran Duran mixtape with a Bic pen, and the tape just snapped clean in half right at the splice point - I ended up having to tape it back together with a band-aid from my glovebox that barely held for two more plays before it gave out completely, has anyone else had to resort to seriously janky fixes to save a sentimental tape?
I always figured leaving cassettes in the car during summer was just asking for trouble... warped tapes, stretched out reels, all that. But last July I forgot a mix I made in my glovebox for a whole week. When I popped it in, I expected this warbly mess, but it actually sounded fine. The low humidity maybe helped? Or my car just doesn't get hot enough back there. Now I keep a couple tapes in the car all the time, it's just way more convenient. Anyone else had tapes survive a heatwave that should have ruined them?
Pulled out a box of old tapes from my parents' basement last month. Put on a mix I made in high school and everything sounded weird. Slow and low. Thought the player was dying. Took me three days to realize I'd recorded the whole thing on a deck that was running slow. Checked it with a 60 Hz test tone I found online. The deck was off by about 4%. Has anyone else ever gone back and realized their old recordings were completely off speed?
I picked the Technics over the Sony because it was $25 and had a working counter, but now the belt is slipping after three plays. Has anyone else dealt with finding replacement belts for old Technics decks?
Pulled out a dusty Maxell XLII with a hand-labeled tracklist that includes a song called "Raccoons in the Ceiling" and I am dying to know what that sounds like, anyone ever find tapes with weird homemade titles?
Last Saturday I took my mint copy of The Replacements' "Let It Be" over to a friend's place in Austin for a listening hang. Four songs in, someone spilled a whole modelo on my deck lid and the J-card got completely soaked... I tried to dry it with a paper towel but the ink started bleeding everywhere. The tape itself still plays okay but the artwork is wrecked and it's worth way less now. I should have known better than to bring something that valuable into a crowd of drunk people. Now I only take dupes or cheap thrift finds to gatherings like that. Has anyone else had a tape ruined at a social thing?
Picked up about 30 used Maxell XL-II's for $5 at a flea market outside Akron last Saturday. The guy said they were his son's from the 80s, all recorded over like three times. I've always used cheap ferric tapes for my mixes, but these sound way clearer even after being beat up. Is it worth hunting down NOS Type II's for recording or do you guys think the difference is mostly placebo? I'm torn between sticking with what works or switching over.
I've been swapping tapes online for about 6 years now and everyone says Type II is the gold standard. But in my experience, if you're playing stuff on a Walkman from the 80s or a cheap boombox from the thrift store, Type I actually sounds fuller. Those old decks don't have the circuitry to properly handle the high bias on Type II, so it comes out harsh and tinny. I tested this last month with a Sony TPS-L2 and a 1984 Panasonic boombox. Put on a Boston bootleg I have on both types and the Type I had way more bottom end. Your mileage may vary depending on your gear though. Anybody else find the same thing or am I just lucky with my tapes?
Saw someone selling a live Nirvana show from '93 on eBay, paid up quick, and when it arrived it was just a hissy Maxell XLII with "NIRVANA 93" scratched on the label with a pen. Anyone else get tricked by a fake "rare" tape before?
Was just organizing a box I picked up at a garage sale in Dayton and decided to count everything. Thought I was maybe at 150. Nope. 202 total now. Most are classic rock and 80s pop but I got some weird local band demos mixed in. When did I cross that line from hobby to hoarder? Half of these I probably haven't played in 5 years. Anyone else wake up one day with way more tapes than you planned on?
I swear, half the posts in this community are people "thrilled" to find a beat up Columbia House copy of Sports at a thrift store for $2. That's NOT rare. I define rare as something that sold maybe 500 copies at a local indie shop in 1987, not something that was pressed in the MILLIONS. I just saw someone post a generic Billy Joel tape and call it a "holy grail" - come on! If you want real rare, look for stuff from tiny DIY punk labels or local bands that only did one run of 100 tapes. Does anyone else get annoyed by this, or am I just a snob about my collection?
I swapped a rare Kill 'Em All original pressing for a used TDK SA90 at a meetup last month because the guy insisted his mix had a "perfect side A". The tape sounds great but now I'm wondering if I just got played by nostalgia or if trading rarity for sound quality actually makes sense. Has anyone else done a lopsided swap like this and regretted it or was it worth it?
I found an old Sony WM-FX290 at a yard sale in Springfield last Saturday for five bucks and thought I struck gold. Got it home, put in my carefully recorded 90-minute TDK tape, and within 30 seconds the player just started chewing the ribbon. Is there a way to salvage the tape or am I out that whole mix for good?
I had two tapes from a guy on here I was trading with. One was a TDK SA, the other was a Sony Metal SR. Both were in great shape. I grabbed the TDK SA instead because I figured metal tapes are overkill for my old car deck. Recorded a mix on it last night and it sounds clean with no hiss. Anyone else think the hype around metal tapes is a little much for regular listening?