cassettes with little 'reels' inside

[MajorFubar69]

Back in the day, every cassette-recorder manufacturer (be it HiFi deck or tracker) used to show pictures of their decks with cassettes which looked to have little 'spools' inside, like this Tascam:

http://site.streamlineaudiovideo.com/graphics/Porta02top_SP.jpg

...and this technics...

http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/Stereo_Tape_Decks/Technics_Cassette_Deck_RS-B78R_Web_10.5.jpg

...and a whole host of others. But certainly here in the UK I never saw any such cassettes for sale? Did they really exist?

[Shreddie]

I'm sure I remember seeing them once at a specialist hi-fi store... They looked cool but they were really expensive IIRC!

[Daniel Drummond]

Yes, they did exist, at least here in Brazil. I have one from brand 'Gradiente' and it is a metal tape (type IV) exactly like these:

http://img1.mlapps.com/jm/img?s=MLB&f=86135411_497.jpg

http://img.mercadolivre.com.br/jm/img?s=MLB&f=76618047_9895.jpg&v=P

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes, they definitely existed -- I remember using them because they looked so cool. Maxell or TDK had their own versions, I think.

hugh

[MajorFubar69]

I remember TDK housing early Type IV cassettes in heavy metal shells, but I never saw any with the little spools inside. Would love to get some for the 'cool factor'. It wouldn't matter if the tape was knackered, I don't think I'd use them much!

[Dave Gate]

I'll go with Hugh's memories of Maxell - I used to sell TDX, Memorex and Maxell cassettes in my first job and I have a vision of some Maxells with reels in. Definitely not TDK as I used to use those myself and still have a few!

[Guest]

Somewhere, I have (or had) a bunch of TEAC metal reel cassettes and a few BASF and Technics versions. Of the ones I've got, iirr, the TEACs have silver, black, gold or red(!) 'reels', the BASF black or silver and the Technics silver. I think I had an AMPEX one too but I haven't seen that for a ages I had a mate at school who collected these and he had loads of them from pretty much every tape manufacturer I could think of (except Memorex!) and a lot of different cassette deck makers. (The long winter evenings must've just flown by ) Some of them were production items for general sale but many more were limited run or promo items branded by companies as giveaways at shows, or supplied with equipment when sold, or as display things for hi-fi dealers, etc.. I remember seeing TDK, AGFA, and Maxell types where the reels were, in shape and colours, minitures of their reel-reel tape spools, and some Scotch and 3M types with different coloured reel flanges on the A and B sides.

The TDK cassettes with the die-cast metal shells were a full production item, the MA-R "Reference" versions of their "MA" Type IV formulation cassettes. They were TDK's top of the range cassette and the metal shell did actually improve the tape's performance - at a price! I've also got some of those somewhere - and very good they are too if you have a deck than can take advantage of the tape formulation and extra mechanical stability of the shell. I see them quite a lot on eBay but they're usually quite expensive.

[Daniel Drummond]

Those 'reel' cassette tapes became something of a collector's item here in Brazil and I've seen them being sold at local ebay for around $50-70, used!!!

[vinyl_junkie]

Those 'reel' cassette tapes became something of a collector's item here in Brazil and I've seen them being sold at local ebay for around 0-70, used!!!

There is a whole sad comunity out there and has been for a bit on the net and these tapes go for mad money or any good quality NOS metal tape...
I do like good quality cassete and do miss it but there is normal and there is obsessive lol thats some mad money and a lot of time hunting

[ken long]

Indeed!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pack-of-10-NOS-TEAC-Metal-Reel-Cassette-Tapes-CRC-90-NR_W0QQitemZ310160318609QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Blank_Media?hash=item4836fee091&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

ken

[Shreddie]

Indeed!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pack-of-10-NOS-TEAC-Metal-Reel-Cassette-Tapes-CRC-90-NR_W0QQitemZ310160318609QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Blank_Media?hash=item4836fee091&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

Jeez!

[Richie Royale]

Wow. $69 of obsolete tapes for how much!?! I guess anything can become collectable.

[Zukan]

Somewhere, I have (or had) a bunch of TEAC metal reel cassettes and a few BASF and Technics versions. Of the ones I've got, iirr, the TEACs have silver, black, gold or red(!) 'reels', the BASF black or silver and the Technics silver.

Oh man, does that bring back memories?
Never had red but countless silver and gold.

Red would have been so cool.
0VU, that means you're cooler than me.......not a hard feat but I thought I was a tad 'with it'?

[Dynamic Mike]

I remember having a couple of Maxell's with mock reels, but then I can also remember when these were the height of cool!

http://soundhog.moonfruit.com/#/blanks/4533414916

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Philips_EL3302.jpg

[James Perrett]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Philips_EL3302.jpg

My first tape recorder - I also had my first Radio 1 airplay with something recorded on it.

Cheers

James.

[Dynamic Mike]

My first tape recorder - I also had my first Radio 1 airplay with something recorded on it.

Cheers

James.

Now that the late great Les Paul is no longer with us I feel compelled to put the record straight & reveal that multitrack recording was actually invented in my dads garage using two of these, by myself and a lad called Stewy whose garden backed onto ours.

Not content with this, using only my Kay acoustic carefully sourced over 38 weeks from Grattans catalogue (which mysteriously opened automatically at the lingerie section) & his sisters Bontempi organ, we went on to invent flanging, phasing, varispeed, and many of the other effects people take forgranted today. We sampled liberally from a Brittram 57 radio occasionally using the Fidelity with the big speaker when we knew my mum wouldn't be back for a while.

Mercifully, given our playing skills, the effects we used most commonly were compounded hiss, tape drop-outs & traffic noise. To prove we were serious engineers we even took off the leatherette cases for mastering & duplication. Unfortunately the technological advances we undoubtedly would have given the world suffered a serious set back when I wrote a song with 'bloody' in the lyrics & Stewy's dad (being a police officer) stopped him coming round to play.

[Rave On]

Love the TASCAM cassette. I'd pay a bit if I saw it somewhere. Very cool and retro. Like me!

PS: I only by raw CDs that look like vinyl. Also very cool.

[DragonLogos]

The MC 202 came with a Demo tape that had little reels inside it, had an audio recording on the one side and program to load the songs on the other side.... off hand I think the two numbers were Starwars Cantina and Popcorn

[recordo]

haha this is a great little thread I remember tascams trying to think what happened to mine

[ken long]

If those are the Verbatim, I would advise you to back them up if you haven't already! I bought a few of these a few years ago and they are unusable now.

They do look cool though...

ken