"Old" Capitol vs. "Crapitol"

Hmmm...seems there is a pronounced difference in quality between the
older "Audiopak" Capitol offerings and the newer "Pretty Fruit"
things. I've yet to run across a later Crapitol that isn't
mechancally noisey, and most seem to yield wow and flutter readings
into the multiple percetage range...unacceptable for any musical
usage. However, the older, solid Audiopaks seem to give great
performance as to speed. The oxide looks familiar, also...from that
old-time RTR supplier, Audio Devices, Inc., sellers of the popular
Audiotape line of the '50s-'60s.

This is old stuff, probably handling 200 nWb/M, max, and was a
mainstay of some studios, many broadcasters and all home recordists in
the late '50s. My dad must've had 50 reels of it at one time, along
with tons of Scotch 111. It's similar in performance to some of
Irish's offerings of the era...noise being the biggest problem. Audio
Devices was another outfit that offered .5 mil tape (2400 ft/7" reel)
before Scotch did. Even after Audiotape and Irish started offering
the super thin stuff, Scotch steadfastly refused, fearing injury to
their reputation, which had been made on the back of the superior
performance of 111 and later, 211, both of which were 1.5 mil
professional tapes. Of course, such thin tape as .5 mil won't last
long on real 3 motor machines; hitting the brakes on any Ampex
immediately turns .5 mil Mylar tape into "cassette" width, and snaps
acetate in half right away. 2400'/.5 mil tape was targeted at home
recordists, whose single motor machines were kinder to such weak
backings. Who knew that it'd be so successful in cartridge format in
just a few years.

The later Capitol oxide is decidedly different, but where it came
from, I do not yet know...3M? The carts are garbage, as someone
pointed out. The soft plastic reel looks to be very susceptable to
heat damage, and the carts seem "cheesy" overall. The solution? If
the tape's good, dump the Audiotape out of the "old Capitol" AudioPaks
and put the "new" Capitol tape in there...best of both! I've had some
prerecorded releases on Audiopaks, and they sigularly seem to be free
of the speed problems found in so many others. Of course, they're
still inferior to the stellar performance of the TDK carts (minus the
D series)...those seem to be the best overall for critical speed
performance.

dB

DeserTBoB wrote in message . ..
Hmmm...seems there is a pronounced difference in quality between the
older "Audiopak" Capitol offerings and the newer "Pretty Fruit"
things. I've yet to run across a later Crapitol that isn't
mechancally noisey, and most seem to yield wow and flutter readings
into the multiple percetage range...unacceptable for any musical
usage. However, the older, solid Audiopaks seem to give great
performance as to speed. The oxide looks familiar, also...from that
old-time RTR supplier, Audio Devices, Inc., sellers of the popular
Audiotape line of the '50s-'60s.

This is old stuff, probably handling 200 nWb/M, max, and was a
mainstay of some studios, many broadcasters and all home recordists in
the late '50s. My dad must've had 50 reels of it at one time, along
with tons of Scotch 111. It's similar in performance to some of
Irish's offerings of the era...noise being the biggest problem. Audio
Devices was another outfit that offered .5 mil tape (2400 ft/7" reel)
before Scotch did. Even after Audiotape and Irish started offering
the super thin stuff, Scotch steadfastly refused, fearing injury to
their reputation, which had been made on the back of the superior
performance of 111 and later, 211, both of which were 1.5 mil
professional tapes. Of course, such thin tape as .5 mil won't last
long on real 3 motor machines; hitting the brakes on any Ampex
immediately turns .5 mil Mylar tape into "cassette" width, and snaps
acetate in half right away. 2400'/.5 mil tape was targeted at home
recordists, whose single motor machines were kinder to such weak
backings. Who knew that it'd be so successful in cartridge format in
just a few years.

The later Capitol oxide is decidedly different, but where it came
from, I do not yet know...3M? The carts are garbage, as someone
pointed out. The soft plastic reel looks to be very susceptable to
heat damage, and the carts seem "cheesy" overall. The solution? If
the tape's good, dump the Audiotape out of the "old Capitol" AudioPaks
and put the "new" Capitol tape in there...best of both! I've had some
prerecorded releases on Audiopaks, and they sigularly seem to be free
of the speed problems found in so many others. Of course, they're
still inferior to the stellar performance of the TDK carts (minus the
D series)...those seem to be the best overall for critical speed
performance.

dB



I had chicken soup this week for dinner.

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 18:47:42 -0800, DeserTBoB
wrote:

The later Capitol oxide is decidedly different, but where it came
from, I do not yet know...3M? snip

Nope...I've been told this is also an Audio Devices product,
considerably cheapened to bolster Capitol's profit margins.

dB

Subject: "Old" Capitol vs. "Crapitol"
From: (trippin28track)
Date: 11/19/2004 7:24 AM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

DeserTBoB wrote in message
...
Hmmm...seems there is a pronounced difference in quality between the
older "Audiopak" Capitol offerings and the newer "Pretty Fruit"
things. I've yet to run across a later Crapitol that isn't
mechancally noisey, and most seem to yield wow and flutter readings
into the multiple percetage range...unacceptable for any musical
usage. However, the older, solid Audiopaks seem to give great
performance as to speed. The oxide looks familiar, also...from that
old-time RTR supplier, Audio Devices, Inc., sellers of the popular
Audiotape line of the '50s-'60s.

This is old stuff, probably handling 200 nWb/M, max, and was a
mainstay of some studios, many broadcasters and all home recordists in
the late '50s. My dad must've had 50 reels of it at one time, along
with tons of Scotch 111. It's similar in performance to some of
Irish's offerings of the era...noise being the biggest problem. Audio
Devices was another outfit that offered .5 mil tape (2400 ft/7" reel)
before Scotch did. Even after Audiotape and Irish started offering
the super thin stuff, Scotch steadfastly refused, fearing injury to
their reputation, which had been made on the back of the superior
performance of 111 and later, 211, both of which were 1.5 mil
professional tapes. Of course, such thin tape as .5 mil won't last
long on real 3 motor machines; hitting the brakes on any Ampex
immediately turns .5 mil Mylar tape into "cassette" width, and snaps
acetate in half right away. 2400'/.5 mil tape was targeted at home
recordists, whose single motor machines were kinder to such weak
backings. Who knew that it'd be so successful in cartridge format in
just a few years.

The later Capitol oxide is decidedly different, but where it came
from, I do not yet know...3M? The carts are garbage, as someone
pointed out. The soft plastic reel looks to be very susceptable to
heat damage, and the carts seem "cheesy" overall. The solution? If
the tape's good, dump the Audiotape out of the "old Capitol" AudioPaks
and put the "new" Capitol tape in there...best of both! I've had some
prerecorded releases on Audiopaks, and they sigularly seem to be free
of the speed problems found in so many others. Of course, they're
still inferior to the stellar performance of the TDK carts (minus the
D series)...those seem to be the best overall for critical speed
performance.

dB



I had chicken soup this week for dinner.


Come on you guys, just talk 8-tracks and forget the personal stuff.
How about this, after the new year, let's see how long we can go before getting
off-topic and inflammatory?