[ARSCLIST] Do these tapes need to be baked or not?

[Rob Sevier <roughrob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Esteemed Archivists,
I have ten or so AMPEX DBX 406 tapes, the latest of which was recorded on in
mid-1975. I've gotten several different reports as to whether or not these
tapes need to be baked before playing them back. Is there a reliable
resource that can tell me whether or not this specific model has problems?
Does anyone on the list have an answer based on experience? I've played
phone tag with someone over at QUantegy (who I understand bought AMPEX.)

One possibility, if there is any doubt, is that I have one or two tapes that
contain no music that I need at all (everything is contained on a quarter
inch mix.) These unnecessary tapes were stored under identical circumstances
as the tapes that I need to dump down. Would it make sense to experiment
first with the unnecessary tapes? How would I know if the process is
failing?

Thanks in advance for the advice.
Rob Sevier