For every awesome Walkman- calls for a great cassette to play back. 

Years back, when i was in HS and making little more than minimum wage, I took my blank cassette purchases pretty seriously. Time spent making a really quality mix- you wanted it on a nice weighty FeO2 or MeTaL tape. 

I knew my Van Halen and Led Zep mixes were on my Maxell XLII-S and my ultimate YES mix was on my Sony UX-Pro. Etc Etc... Something minor might go on a Sony UX or Maxell XL. Some earlier mixes i had on TDK Ds, which i grew to love. 

I found an old notebook where I logged my cassette purchases. Back then I could only afford so many with minimum wage job. So if i wanted a nice metal tape, that was an hour's wages. Today if I want a brand new metal type it'd cost at least $15 on ebay (and up to $150). That's well below half my hourly wage... doing a comparison it's almost easier to buy new metal tapes in this day in age than it was then. Anyway, I digress.

I no longer logged my cassettes in college. Working in radio cassettes were how you recorded your show. I rarely bought normal bias. Only in a pinch. 

Faves:

Maxell XLII-S, Metal

Sony UX-Pro, Metal-ES

Denon HD8

Sure as heck wish these tapes were still this cheap!!

  its funny when you look back at old prices ,  if today was only as cheap i saw a sony blank tape sealed go for £70 not long ago !   

i still have the first tape i ever bought in 1983,

its a sony bhf,still has eighties hiphop on it taped off the radio.

not the best tape but it holds good memories,

might see about getting a couple off ebay

Like a trip down memory lane...thanks for this Bonzo!

I too used Maxell XL's exclusively for my A-list music (Floyd, U2, Rush, Zepp) but in a pinch I'd roll out some cheap Memorex normal bias blanks for the radio mix or general swapping material (Napster's begginings I'm sure)

At the extreme end though were the Maxell metal tapes used ONLY for borrowed almbums I didn't own but want a "near perfect" copy of....and YES was one of them..

I can still hear Roundabout in my head...

The only reason I had Memorex normal bias' kicking about was I used to have a part time job at a hardware store and sometimes a few 3packs would "fall" off the truck into my pockets. They never ordered Chrome or Metal tapes...I wonder why??

I was pretty much (and still am) strictly TDK

using AD's when I was younger - moving on to SA's when I had a job

Still get them now in 5 packs on ebay - but i doubt they're made in japan or germany anymore.

I got a free maxell tape on a hifi mag - a UR and I was impressed by that

I tried all the That's tapes VX's and souno - but they were humdrum

Also all TDK MA, MA-X and MA-XG - but I always recorded loud on them - and got the most horrendous drop outs on them

so SA's were the tape of choice for me - and at 79p each from Richer Sounds a bargain

I have so many D,AD and SA90's with original material still on them - that sound as crisp as the day I made them.

Esp my Guns & Roses (home recorded) tape from 1987 - eek!

i have a john peel session on led zep on radio one from august 72

"Maxell Cologne"... what a name for a blank cassette. 

not my link, but:

http://mycassettetape.com/wp/m...ne-50-minutes-cc-50/

Maxell was the shit- look at the classic ads from the day:

you CAN ONLY WANT that. with all due respect to TDK and FUJI... this did it for me.

But in my early days all we had were Radio Shack blacks. I 'stole' a bunch of my folks dubs of 'prarie home companion' and NPR to tape stuff off the radio. 

We all know how that goes "why is the intro cut off and either the outro cut off or some DJ talking?". I must have listened to "some like it hot" by power station for years where the end was ruined by the DJ saying "OOOOH, i like it hot" (that douche). 

NOW- can i quantify how much better a Maxell XLII compared to an XLII-S OR a Sony UX-PRO? No. It was all about that tactile feeling of putting it in the stereo and hitting 'PLAY'.

I too used Maxell XL's exclusively for my A-list music (Floyd, U2, Rush, Zepp) but in a pinch I'd roll out some cheap Memorex normal bias blanks for the radio mix or general swapping material (Napster's begginings I'm sure)

 

At the extreme end though were the Maxell metal tapes used ONLY for borrowed almbums I didn't own but want a "near perfect" copy of....and YES was one of them..

 

I can still hear Roundabout in my head...

 

The only reason I had Memorex normal bias' kicking about was I used to have a part time job at a hardware store and sometimes a few 3packs would "fall" off the truck into my pockets. They never ordered Chrome or Metal tapes...I wonder why??

AWESOME!

'found' blank cassettes, even if NORMAL, still do the trick. 

recently i was auditing my unmarked blank cassettes, and found 3 partial mixes of my "ultimate YES" mix attempts.

And who out there, raise a hand, doesn't have a mix tape that, for some reason or other, you heard a song on the radio and just HAD to record it, thus screwing up the mix tape, but getting the song. 

Someone should have said, "wait dude... when hard drives get bigger and the there is this thing called the "interwebs"... all will be well".

I'm a TDK guy through & through, as were most of my mates. Back then a healthy supply of 'blanks' was essential... New album out, everyone wants a copy, mixtape for a new girlfriend, etc. Shabby brand cassettes? No fear     

We got our TDKs from TopTape in New Malden, Surrey, which was part of a camera shop (I think), situated on the High St, by the entrance to Unilet HiFi (which is still going strong today). This was back when Richer Sounds only had one shop, in London Bridge - I'm that old!

TopTape were *miles* cheaper than anyone else & we experimented with all the different TDKs. As soon as funds permitted, we avoided ferrics (D, AD, etc.) because they made the tape heads dirty more quicky. I did get the odd AD-X for boombox/walkman use when there was no playback chrome switch (like on the Hitachi 3D7 - where, wierdly, the CrO2 switch only works when recording...).

Performance from the chrome TDKs was so good we found the Metal tapes a bit extravagant, although some of us had to get at least one MA-XG, with the alloy/clear plastic case:

We experimented & found the TDK SF (which was blue rather than black, for some reason):

...was a really good balance between performance & value. We were using decent hifi decks to make the tapes by then (such as the What HiFi award winning Kenwood KX550HX with Dolby B, C & HXPro at around £150).

So, you were talking around a quid for a C90, which could carry 2 LPs, costing over a tenner. When CD came along the savings were even better (damn rip-off record companies charging £12-£13 for a single album - I had NO sympathy for 'em when the mp3 revolution happened), however a CD often wouldn't fit on one side of a '90' - even when the TDKs were actually 47 minutes per side 

...happy, happy days.

although having over 12,000 songs on something no bigger than a single cassette case is progress (especially if you have decent quality mp3s & never touch the awful iPod EQ - Sony SEQ50 for me!). Also, & I *really* don't miss the woes of tape head alignment, poorly set recording levels, which Dolby, CrO2 tape recorded in ferric mode, etc.

Ah yes the SF was nice - I have a few

my first deck was the Kenwood KX 660hx

awesome had it from 88-94

then went through a couple of Sony's and Technics - all were RUBBISH

Now have a Kenwood KX5010 (and a spare in a box) - also I bought a KX880hx

the Kenwood dual capstan models are superb - and the LED's on the 5010 go on FOREVER!

Here's a 5010 atop a 880
Not  mine - but I have both - best "mid budget" decks period!

CB, that's oh so close to my 'twin-tape' setup!

Mine was the Kenwood KX550HX (I mentioned earlier), one down the range from your 660 & a KX4520 - looking similar to your 5010. I loved it's 3 head dual capstan system, but most of all its *remote control*. I got mine as a close-out deal from Hyperfi for around £100: bargain