What blank tape? (TDK SA90 / Maxwell 90SQ / Fuji DRII 90 / Maxwell UDII CD74)

Hi MtothaJ,

From my own experience, TDK SA90s produce some great recordings. If you come across them, also try Maxell XLii and XLii-s tapes as these were just as good as the TDK SA.

Also, you will get best results if you are using a good quality deck to make the recordings, and to play the recordings back on. What sort of machine were you thinking of making the recordings on?

the MAXELL SQ is a newer, later kind of tape and still available f.ex. through ebay, the housing is not as good as the older MAXELL's but equivalent to those today available (new) TDK's and Fuji's, tape is fine and will give you good results, BUT:

for my opinion try to get some well cared (even pre-recorded) TDK SA's or MAXELL XL II's from 80'ies/90'ies for your recordings because as more as cd's and mini-disc-recording came, tape-recorders and tapes suffered lack of interest in developement - there's a reason why the best tape-decks were made mid/late 80'ies and with them disappearing from standard-hifi' there was no need for high-quality cassettes...

Many thanks guys for your replies.

For my recordings I am using a Kenwood M-450 stack system from the early '90s, with the tape deck upgraded to the higher X-85 model. Its by no means a top of the range deck but does offer respectable features (Dolby B / C / HX Pro, Amorphous heads, bias and recording level adjustment) but the real advantage is how well it is integrated with the CD player in terms of editing / recording options (automatically adjusts bias and recording level, various options of e.g. erasing / fading out / continuing tracks which don't fit on one side of the tape, various options of maximising the use of space on a tape (rearange tracks, fade out the endings of each track etc.). Also offers good range of features for tape dubbing. At some point I will be looking at a higher end full size single well tape deck but for the moment I am enjoying the convinience and integration of the Kenwood system.

As for used tapes and reusing old tapes to record new stuff on I have to say that my experience in this regard are not the best. Just yesterday when making a recording on an old Maxwell chrome tape, the tape got chewed up and jammed up my deck - took me some time to remove the offending cassette and this has never happened with any of the newer tapes. Also made recordings with some old Sony normal type tapes and these where fine, but found that the tapes where pretty dirty, with the sponge tape runner part showing signs of deterioration / moulding.

Therefore I am really concentrating on those tapes which one can still buy new. The best new tapes I recently bought were Sony Metal XR 60 and these have great built quality and an amazing deep bass sound. However they are pretty pricy (about 2x the cost of Maxwell UDII CD74) and the ones I have been able to obtain are only 60 min long which is not really enough for most CD's.

With regard to new tapes, the one I would not recommend is one of the cheapest ones still available - the Maxwell UR 90 (Normal type tape). WIth all things being equal (same equipment / music etc.) I have consistently had a problem with the Right audio recording at a lower level than the Left audio on this cassette. Maybe it was a one time dodgy cassette but for everyday recordings I much prefer the TDK FE90 tapes, which are still available today and which I recall I often used back in the nintees when dubbing stuff on a two cassette Sony radio casette player.

PS. Just a quick question - do you use Dolby B or C while making recordings? I primarily use B as this is what most walkmans have, however sometimes I find that tapes sound better with no nr used, at the expense of slightly more hiss.

Your kenwood does sound like it has some cool features! You may find, that when you do upgrade to a higher end deck that you may be able to get your recordings to sound even better, doing it by ear.

I found it very convenient and much easier to dub cassettes, once I got a 3 head cassette deck; mine is an aiwa. Having 3 heads enables you to be able to moniter the signal which is being recorded onto the tape while recording, which makes it a lot easier to get exactly the right recording level preferable to you! Hope that makes sense!

I have rarely had bad experiences when using pre-owned cassettes to record, but obviously it does depend on where the tapes have been storred over the past 20 years! I have found that old BASF tapes do tend to have developed sticky shed, meaning that they are really impossible to re-use. But I have never had a problem as far as I remember with 80s mmaxell or tdk tapes.

I agree that the maxell ur tapes that are still available are awful! I've never experienced the particular problem that you had with them, but I have found that after a while, the cassette becomes stiff and won't rewind and forward propperly, and the housing feels very flimsy and not good quality at all! I have found the fe90s to be a little better, but not as good as the tdk d90s and maxell ur90s from the 80s and early 90s.

Everyone seams to have different oppinions about dolby, but personally I don't use it. Mainly just because I actually don't like the sound of it when it's on, and also, if you are going to play your cassette in a different deck, the dolby circuit is likely to be different, meaning that your tape won't sound right. Also, in cheeper machines, I believe that the dolby circuit is of inferior quality.

Maxell UDII CD74 and TDK SA90 is better than the others tapes.

Maxwell is fake cassette!

Like this:

And i don't recomend to use for recording Maxell SQ.

Maxwell is a fake or replica form of MAXELL

Maxwell always remind me of replica cheap watches

Thanks for the clarification - it was a misspelling on my part since the tapes I was looking at were the original Maxell's. In any case should I ever come across them in the future I will avoid the fake Maxwell's and probably pick up the TDK SA90 cassettes.

The only one of the tapes I have used in your list is the TDK SA, they are okay but they are overrated.

Like you I don’t use Dolby, I prefer the sound without. Once the music get’s going you don’t notice the hiss anyway. 

Of these cassettes the obvious choice would be a TDK SA.

The Maxell SQ are pretty awful in my opinion; poor mechanics allied to a below average case with only average sound. Avoid!

The Maxell UD2 cassettes are better, but again suffer from average build,noisy mechanics but certainly a better sound than SQ,although that's not too difficult to achieve!

The Fuji DR2 tapes are a much better alternative to use. They have a similar smooth sound to the TDK SA. Mechanically they are slightly noisier but the shell feels more sturdy. 

Overall then my ratings are:-

1-TDK SA

2-FUJI DR2

3-MAXELL UD2

4-MAXELL SQ

I have used/own all of the above so I speak with first hand experience. I would suggest that for more treasured recordings use SA or DR2 and for recordings where fidelity is not very important the UD2 or SQ will suffice.

p.s just a quick note, please remember upon first use, fast forward and then rewind the tape to even it out. This applies to old tapes that haven't been used for a while.

Hope this helps!