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

["Richard L. Hess" <ArcLists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Probably not, but it's on the cusp, I think.

Take one of the tapes you don't care about. Put it up on a machine. If it
plays through and you don't need to clean the heads/guides after two
minutes, it's probably OK.

But, still monitor the situation. At the first sign of stiction or
excessive deposits on the heads/guides, BAKE!

You _may_ have as much headache from the dbx noise reduction as the baking
<sigh>.

I honestly don't think that there is a specific formula except perhaps
"almost all 456 has to be baked"

Cheers,

Richard

At 04:54 PM 12/12/2004 -0600, you wrote:
> 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.)