Hey guys,

I asked yesterday about the TDK SM line, and didn't get any responses, but read here, and on other sites that it was along the lines of the SA tape in a more durable shell. I looked around online and Guitar center carries the tape! So I called my local GC and they had one brick available. I ran down and bought it for $2.29/tape (they had 2.99 listed, but their website shows $2.29 so they honored it), and brought it home. As I had a full brick, I was tempted to just keep it in my stash of tape, but figured since I had never used this tape, I would give one a try.

I cued up one of my perfect Classic Records LSC re-releases (Mussoursky-Pictures...a perfect tape trial), and within the first 20 seconds knew something was wrong. The lead in solo trumpet (which is steady clean notes) sounded like it was under water!:no: Then the highs started breaking up around +3 and the sound totally garbled when the kettle drums hit.:sigh:

The intermittent garbled sound persisted for the next two minutes when I finally stopped the tape. I looked at it and it looks fine. I popped in a NOS Maxell XL-II, didn't even touch the levels, and it was perfection right from the get-go.

Did I get a bad batch of this stuff (I've only, opened 1 tape but am hesitant to open any others as I can get my $23 back) or is the QC shady with this current run of SM60. It's the green packaged stuff that is made in Korea.

James R.

I have no experience with the Korean stuff. But the Taiwanese made shells (welded) are crap regardless of tape designation. As best I can tell the Japanese made tape inside is still good, but the shells destroy the tape.

The last of the good ones seem to be the Japanese tape, with American made shells.