'nuther fulltone TTE demo

[jzucker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iOTt9M3pjY

[spm]

Sounds great ... and playing is nice too!

[todd richman]

Amazing sounds Jack. I loved the last 1/4 of the demo when you upped the echo volume and played with the delays-great stuff.

[fullerplast]

Have you gotten the erase head/bias oscillator issues worked out? I'm not hearing pre-recorded artifacts on this clip, although it's hard to hear the noise floor and low level artifacts with a backing track........

[jzucker]

Originally Posted by fullerplast

Have you gotten the erase head/bias oscillator issues worked out? I'm not hearing pre-recorded artifacts on this clip, although it's hard to hear the noise floor and low level artifacts with a backing track........

Yes, after demagnetizing the heads and swapping cartridges it's working good now. I'll probably start another thread about this but do you load your own cartridges? I'm thinking about buying some tape and some splicing tools.

[fullerplast]

Originally Posted by jzucker

Yes, after demagnetizing the heads and swapping cartridges it's working good now. I'll probably start another thread about this but do you load your own cartridges? I'm thinking about buying some tape and some splicing tools.

That's good news, glad it was something simple.

No, I don't load my own although the process should be fairly simple. At $18 for a third party reload, including tape, it hasn't reached my threshold of cost pain. I don't go through them that quickly at all to make it worthwhile to buy a reel of high quality mastering tape, splice kit, and take the time to load them.

[jzucker]

Originally Posted by fullerplast

That's good news, glad it was something simple.

No, I don't load my own although the process should be fairly simple. At $18 for a third party reload, including tape, it hasn't reached my threshold of cost pain. I don't go through them that quickly at all to make it worthwhile to buy a reel of high quality mastering tape, splice kit, and take the time to load them.

I'm a little paranoid about the continuing availability of tape. Also, when I went to order some replacement cartridges from fulltone, there was a mention on the site of him checking serial numbers against registrations and since I bought mine 2nd hand, I wasn't sure if I could order tape from him.

[fullerplast]

Originally Posted by jzucker

I'm a little paranoid about the continuing availability of tape. Also, when I went to order some replacement cartridges from fulltone, there was a mention on the site of him checking serial numbers against registrations and since I bought mine 2nd hand, I wasn't sure if I could order tape from him.

Yeah, I hear you on that.

I got my TTE second hand and had no trouble getting a couple of extra tapes from Mike. Not sure if he has tightened up things lately though.....

Might not be a bad idea to at least buy a spare reel of mastering tape. It's actually much cheaper than I thought it would be right now.

[jzucker]

I thought you weren't supposed to use mastering tape?

[fullerplast]

Originally Posted by jzucker

I thought you weren't supposed to use mastering tape?

AFAIK both Fuller and Orbit use mastering tape. I don't think the originals did, but it's simply a cost/quality tradeoff. IIRC, Fuller suggests that the better tape both sounds better and lasts longer. Not sure if Orbit and Fuller use the same mastering tape though.....

[jzucker]

according to regiscoynes site, you shouldn't use mastering tape:

You should NOT use mastering tape such as Ampex/Quantegy 456, even if you can find it, which is doubtful. Mastering tape is the highest fidelity tape formulation there is, but it is also the most abrasive. Some recording engineers have dubbed it "Sandpaper tape". In a master tape that is ok because it doesn't pass the heads that much during recording, but in an endless loop device like the Echoplex that is A Bad Thing.
Since I have no life, I did some calculations: The Echoplex runs at 3.75 inches per second. A two minute tape contains 37.5 feet. Running about an hour, the length of the average bar set, the tape will travel 1125 feet, almost a quarter of a mile. That means during the average three or four set gig about a mile of tape will have traveled along the tape path. That's a lot of contact between tape and head, and obviously proves that the least amount of abrasion is the most desirable, and that lubricated tape designed for endless loops is what you want.

[fullerplast]

Originally Posted by jzucker

according to regiscoynes site, you shouldn't use mastering tape:

Interesting division of opinion there......somebody should tell those guys doing the reloads! That was the first I'd heard about the abrasiveness of mastering tape.

Maybe there is a brand/type that is sonically master grade but less abrasive/lubricated......

[jzucker]

here's what regiscoynes recommends:

http://www.cartguys.com/ctr_prices.htm#anchor973579

(look for echoplex)

[fullerplast]

Originally Posted by jzucker

here's what regiscoynes recommends:

http://www.cartguys.com/ctr_prices.htm#anchor973579

(look for echoplex)

Now that's more in line pricewise with what I expected......$60. That other tape someone suggested at $6/reel seemed way low.

So add the cost of splicing equipment and tape and you are about $100. That makes your break-even point, just on materials, about 5 reloads. More, if you want to consider your time of course.

Here's another slightly cheaper solution, at $37.50 (albeit for only 10 reloads):

cart tape

....or any old broadcasting cart tape or even old 8 track tapes will work for the ultimate cheap solution.

But what you've uncovered here with this thread is that some of the reloaders may be using tape that is not the best choice for head longevity......and that's good to know!

[jzucker]

too bad joa doesn't carry the splicer blocks anymore...