On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:04:47 GMT, Marc Wielage
wrote:

I used quite a bit of Scotch Classic tape in the early-to-mid-1970s, and
corresponded with a 3M rep about some problems I had with it. Their tape
slitting wasn't too consistent, and wreaked havoc with a Tandberg reel deck I
was using at the time. snip

Yes...Scotch of that era must've been slit with a broomstick with a
bunch of razor blades stuck on it...you could watch it squirm and skew
through the head stack, it was so bad! Dorsey complains about modern
Quantegy's slitting...they've got NOTHING on Scotch back in those
days!

As I
remember, Classic was a fairly high-bias tape, and the EQ was pretty much
identical to 250, at least on the Technics and Revox decks I used in the
1980s. snip

Similar, and smelled just about the same, too.

Classic's big selling point (as a consumer reel tape) was that it came in a
very spiffy black padded shipping container. Unfortunately, it also sold at
a very high price. I had much better success -- and more consistency -- with
TDK Audua and 3M 226/227. I haven't checked to see how any of those
particular reels held up over the years, but I wouldn't doubt that they might
have suffered from sticky-shed or stiction. God knows, the Ampex Grand
Master stuff sure did. snip

I'd lean in favor of 456 over Scotch 226 anyday. 226 was junk, and
would start shedding brand new out of the box. At least I could get a
few passes on 456 before it'd start to go south!

dB