edge ripple

[Gkar]

a quick question, once a tape has edge ripple, is it defective for good?  thanks!

[ironbut]

Yes. This curling is a permanent deformation of the tape backing. It usually takes years and years to form.
If a tape with this problem is important enough, restoration/archivists have machines or headblocks that are designed to get the most out of curled tapes so a decent transfer of it can be made.
Of course, this isn't free so that's why I say,.. important.

[Tim]

I wonder what would happen if you took a servo tape-tension deck (one that maintains constant tension throughout the reel) and temporarily cranked up the play-mode back-tension (say, from 40 grams to 80).  Might help flatten the tape for transferring to another medium.  Also, a temporary pressure pad made from hard felt might also help.

[U47]

I bet if you played it back on a Crown or another deck with pressure pads your tape would play back just fine.

Rich Brown
Acoustic Arts
Portland, Oregon

[Gkar]

Thanks, all, about what I though, and U47, I believe you are correct with a pressure pad on the tape playback head I would be fine, I did try holding the ripple edge down on the head with a Q-tip and that helped, but getting a good tape is better I'm sure, finding a Crown may be a bit of an undertaking...

[Gkar]

I tried one of my tapes that has some nasty edge ripple on my Pioneer RT-909 that I restored, it played that tape fine even with the edge ripple.  The 909 is a dual capstan machine, it also runs the tape tension around 30-40% higher than most decks, I guess that extra tension was enough to "pull" the ripple out...

[Gkar]

while not a ripple response, I have some tapes where the sound in the tutti passage can, and often, gets very strained, congested, and downright shrill, what causes this phenomenon?

[astrotoy]

If it is an older prerecorded tape, it may well be that the tape itself was oversaturated when it was originally recorded. It could also be that you have the gain set too high and that is overloading your preamp or other part of your system.  You can check this first by seeing whether the VU meter is being pinned when playing back. If you reduce the gain so the VU meter is not pinned at the highest volume, and the distortion is still there, then it is most probably in the tape. If it is a dolby B tape, then the overload could be happening in the dolby B decoder.   Hope this helps.  Larry

[Gkar]

astrotoy, I'll give that a try, but I don't believe the needles were pinned...thanks