okay, so ive bought myself a nice sony tc-k6619 3 head tapedeck, it all seems in perfect working condition but im not sure how best to look after it.

do i need to get this cleaning tape things. how often do i need to keep playing stuff on it. what are the best sort of tapes i can use on it / record on it. ive basically given up on ipods etc and want to get the best i can out of tapes. sound quality is basically the most important thing for me. can anyone give me some advice please .

also i just bought a load of cheap tapes of ebay, but some sound better than others. they're mostly tdk d60 type i normal tapes. should i be looking for new ones / or diff type of tapes and where do i buy them??

(sorry for all the questions, just really new to this). thanks in advance for any answers!

cantbearsed

I use denatured alcohol with a q-tip to clean tape heads, maybe once or twice a month.

I've found "hi-bias" tapes work best for most needs. Use some deoxit on rca's once in awhile, and on sticky buttons when needed. Other than that, you're good.

Here's a link to a great tape resource, blank media:

Blank Media

In the U.S., I can go into my local Walgreens drug store and buy high bias tapes for 50 cents each. Don't overlook the obvious.

The obvious isn't so obvious. Most, if not all, the tape sold today is made in either Korea (Saehan or SKC) or China is of low grade stock, even in TDK or Maxell shells.

they don't make their own tape.

With such a nice 3-head Sony, go on eBay and look for Maxell XLII-S or MX or TDK SA-X or MA or Sony UCX-S or SR-Metal. they will sound great on that deck.

thanks for the advice guys and yeah, wombat actually looked in my local richer sounds store and found lots of tdk sa90 (type ii) tapes for 50p each. so bargain.

but now ive got a nice walkman (finally) and a box (vz-2000) and some nice tapes! i can finally get recording set up, and ive got a lot of music to get through.

but i was wondering if there were any guides for tape bias settings etc? does the bias setting just matter for the type of tape being used? on my tape deck (sony tc-k661s) it has a tape bias knob but its just like a balance knob that can go left or right, it doesn't have any values or numbers round it.... so im not really sure what i want to do with that. anyone know?

also for diff types of music are different tapes better? like drumnbass versus folk? thanks again

Well, cantbear, first of all plan your recordings before you even prepare the recorder.
That way, you're into the easy part when you've already got the deck ready to go. You then rewind the tape, new or otherwise, at least twice to make sure the recordings don't have "dropouts" or loss of high frequencies or a "doppler" effect when the cymbals appear to be inaudible half the time, for example, in a piece that has an "andante" high frequency instrument such AS a cymbal (it can also be a "hi-hat or "triangle" you get the point...
If your deck can calibrate to the particular tape you are using it is best to initiate the process after you've rewound the tape. This ensures the most accurate tape calibration. Also, if you can rewind and re-rewind the tape while the head is making "contact" (some decks are capable of track search and for this the head has to be making contact, thereby helping line up an otherwise badly wound tape & it allows you to negotiate excellent recordings even with tape you recorded onto already. By this time you may think, "gee, that sounds like a lot of work" but it's better to make a quality recording once than to have to redo it and forget what you did the FIRST time. Needless to say, the head has to be in the cleanest situation for every recording, and rechecked when recording the flip side, and if it's an auto-reverse deck well, make sure the return capstan is just as clean (that's the little black rubber wheel. You may clean this wheel with alcohol but you have to be sure it is bone dry to avoid tape snarls. The capstan
motor which makes its connection to the transport at the "pin" must also be clean and dry. Once you've got the entire tape path clean in both directions, & the tape inside the casing looks like a smooth surface as you look at the finely wound tape in it thru the little window, you're ready to make quality tapes with just about any old tape out there. Make sure you keep the head demagged, do that at least every 10 hours of playback or recording, it is a quick & simple operation and most Radio Shack and specialty stores have them for a reasonable price. If not, any old magnet will do the trick but what works for me is a demag cassette made by audiovox which I bought about 7 years ago, and it works with a tiny watch battery coin
available almost anywhere. Weel, good luck & let us know how you do!

Oh! BTW, cantbear, make sure you use only the best prerecorded tapes in your library to align the rec/PB head, as you may or not know, the gap of a recording head is not as wide as that of a PB head and so it's important that you use the following parameter: If aligning the tape in its left-right movement, the screw will be the one on the right of the head's base, if aligning the tape when moving right-to-left then adjust the screw on the right side. It is also important that if you were to remove the tape and played the same signal in the opposite direction that there is equal signal quality in both directions when it's an auto-reverse deck (of course, auto-reverse 3head decks are a true rarity despite the huge popularity of the cassette medium.) At any rate, take this advice with the same care I give it, I've been lucky enough to learn from my own errors for the last 40 years! Needless to say I find myself too lazy lately to take my own advice, lol!

...umm, correction, the right to left movement requires algning with the LEFT side screw, my bad!