This is one topic that I do hope one of the mods actually make 'sticky'. This is because among us 'tapheads', there is a lot of confusion over what type of tape to use. Also, the RMGI tapes are rather new. And many folks have not tested it yet. So I am hoping they may find my report somewhat useful in terms of steering them in the right direction for their taping needs.
Anyway, my wife and I did our Christmas a few days early. We both agreed to do so that way we wouldn't have to wait another few days to begin enjoying our gifts to each other. One of the items on my list was five boxes of the RMGI/EMTEC LPR-35 tape (1.0 mil quarter inch 10" X 3600') from USR. (PLUG: The items arrived here promptly, and well packed. So their well-earned reputation remains intact).
Well sure enough, I got them. And today, I decided to test that tape. It is new to me and I wanted to see how it performed.
I asked that she buy the plastic reel version. This is because 1) they are cheaper, 2) I don't like the styling of the metal reels that are available with this tape, and 3) I have plenty of empty reels that I DO like.
So I started out with one tape as shown here.
.
And after looking at my stash of unused metal reels, I decided on a Scotch/3M twelve screw 'precision' reel to transfer it on for eventual use in rotation and play.
These tapes (as did the Quantegy's, with the mysterious exception of 7" X 1800' #457) come leaderless. So I had to put my own on. So I rolled out one spool of each color to decide what I thought would look best.
After mulling it over, I decided on blue for the head end and yellow for the tail end.
Because the tape was going to be transfered into a metal reel before using, I had to attach the 'back', or 'tail' end leader first. So before going any further, I put the yellow on while still in the original plastic reel. I should point out that the enclosed directions from USR recommend snipping the first 8-10 feet (!!! not a typo) from each end. I feel that's a bit much, so I only snipped the first layer or so (approx 18") from the end before splicing on the leader.
After doing this, I proceeded to clean and demag the deck. I'll have more on this below.
Now, I was ready to do a dead-head transfer. I loaded both reels onto my X-2000R and simply ran it. This served the dual purpose of loosening up the pack as well as smoothing out any possible outcrops of oxide on the tape. Because I did not want to possibly skew my testing, I ran it without the record feature on. I would like to hope that it isn't needed on a virgin tape anyway.
...and here we are while the transfer was in progress, just before the halfway point. If anyone wants clarification the looks of metal versus plastic reels, see for yourself.
And at the end, the usable length clocked in at 1:36:25, as per the meter on the deck.
I stated above that before doing this, I cleaned and demagged the heads first. Here is the headstack just after cleaning:
This tape had an unusual effect on my pinch rollers that left me baffled. After looking around for excess oxide shed, I looked at the rollers. The amount of oxide found was negligible and basically insignificant and nothing to be worried about. The rollers on the other hand, had developed a strange cloudy band in the tape path with the little bit of oxide. It makes for a rather unusual color combination.
The difference between the above two pictures is indeed just one pass of a virgin tape.
Now that the tape was transferred, I had to put the front (head) end leader on. Remember, I chose blue. And so here it is. If you look carefully at the center of the windage hole facing the camera, you can just barely see the yellow 'tail' end.
Finally, as a last crowning touch, I peeled the RMGI label off of the original plastic reel and affixed it to the metal reel. It shows a little class. Although I found out that the ink used on that label is very fragile and some of it crumbled and flaked off because of the peel and transfer. It still looks better than the plain empty reel.
.
Now I was ready to get down to business. Now that the transfer was complete and leaders attached, I re-loaded the tape onto the Teac and used a nominal Maxell "double-M" reel as the takeup.
To evaluate the tape, I chose three songs that represent a large cross section of what I typically like to listen to. They also encompass a number of different vocal and instrumentation ranges.
They were:
1. "Learning To Fly" by Tom Petty (videos of all three songs playing on the same deck)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3aVsdXTq28
2. "Fable" by Robert Miles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zy_N0Y4ufQ
3. "Rennaissance Man" by The Ocean Blue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_vjjdCstpY
The testing process was the same and repeated for each song.
The first step was to determine where a flat bias lies. Because the X-2000R has both adjustible bias and live monitoring, I was able to set it in real time while doing an A/B comparison. To further validate it, I would often A/B only one channel at a time. The short but noticable time delay between the two sides unfortunately creates a nonbalanced reverb effect. But I do it anyway just to try all parameters. Note the meters are not in synch because of the slight aforementioned time delay.
Much to my surprise, this tape is incredibly high bias. Playback with a flat bias was somewhat dull. The best sound was with the bias on this deck turned down almost as far as it can go (about -5%). At that point a flat , perfectly matched sound was heard. I should point out that the base noise was extremely low. There was virtually no hiss to speak of. Had I been using the DBX, it would've been as silent as a CD.
Next was to see how much input the tape could handle before saturating. This is where I was really surprised.
Here is what I found. On above song #1, I was able to turn the input gain to the maximum. VU needles were pegged. No audible distortion. That song has a very pronounced accoustic guitar line and only mid level vocals and weak percussion.
Song #2 was able to carry about a sustained +4 with peaks pegging before there was noticable saturation. Song has emphasis on high note piano and heavy electronic beat. Some secondary female background vocals and substantial backing synthesizers.
Song #3: The weakest performer. Was barely able to hit peaks of +4 without noticable distortion. Very heavy drums, bass, and percussion tracks along with electric guitar.
CONCLUSIONS:
Overall a very good tape. It's high bias not doubt contributes to the eye-opening headroom. Unfortunately, if you are using a deck without bias controls, you will almost certainly need to compensate with EQ treble controls turned up. Otherwise the very high bias needed will result in a dull (but rich) sound.
For vocals and high notes (such as keyboards and accoustic guitars), this has to be one of the cleanest tapes I've ever heard. For those kind of sources, I recommend it highly. Unfortunately, this tape seems to struggle with the deep lows (drums, electric guitars, and percusssion tracks). For material that has heavy emphasis on those lows, you will likely be disappointed. In which case I would say go with another tape.
These results were based on biasing with a sound as close to neutral and indistinguishable from the source as I could do. Had the bias parameters been set differently, very likely, the sound outcome would be different.
Thanks for reading.
Anyway, my wife and I did our Christmas a few days early. We both agreed to do so that way we wouldn't have to wait another few days to begin enjoying our gifts to each other. One of the items on my list was five boxes of the RMGI/EMTEC LPR-35 tape (1.0 mil quarter inch 10" X 3600') from USR. (PLUG: The items arrived here promptly, and well packed. So their well-earned reputation remains intact).
Well sure enough, I got them. And today, I decided to test that tape. It is new to me and I wanted to see how it performed.
I asked that she buy the plastic reel version. This is because 1) they are cheaper, 2) I don't like the styling of the metal reels that are available with this tape, and 3) I have plenty of empty reels that I DO like.
So I started out with one tape as shown here.
And after looking at my stash of unused metal reels, I decided on a Scotch/3M twelve screw 'precision' reel to transfer it on for eventual use in rotation and play.
These tapes (as did the Quantegy's, with the mysterious exception of 7" X 1800' #457) come leaderless. So I had to put my own on. So I rolled out one spool of each color to decide what I thought would look best.
After mulling it over, I decided on blue for the head end and yellow for the tail end.
Because the tape was going to be transfered into a metal reel before using, I had to attach the 'back', or 'tail' end leader first. So before going any further, I put the yellow on while still in the original plastic reel. I should point out that the enclosed directions from USR recommend snipping the first 8-10 feet (!!! not a typo) from each end. I feel that's a bit much, so I only snipped the first layer or so (approx 18") from the end before splicing on the leader.
After doing this, I proceeded to clean and demag the deck. I'll have more on this below.
Now, I was ready to do a dead-head transfer. I loaded both reels onto my X-2000R and simply ran it. This served the dual purpose of loosening up the pack as well as smoothing out any possible outcrops of oxide on the tape. Because I did not want to possibly skew my testing, I ran it without the record feature on. I would like to hope that it isn't needed on a virgin tape anyway.
...and here we are while the transfer was in progress, just before the halfway point. If anyone wants clarification the looks of metal versus plastic reels, see for yourself.
And at the end, the usable length clocked in at 1:36:25, as per the meter on the deck.
I stated above that before doing this, I cleaned and demagged the heads first. Here is the headstack just after cleaning:
This tape had an unusual effect on my pinch rollers that left me baffled. After looking around for excess oxide shed, I looked at the rollers. The amount of oxide found was negligible and basically insignificant and nothing to be worried about. The rollers on the other hand, had developed a strange cloudy band in the tape path with the little bit of oxide. It makes for a rather unusual color combination.
The difference between the above two pictures is indeed just one pass of a virgin tape.
Now that the tape was transferred, I had to put the front (head) end leader on. Remember, I chose blue. And so here it is. If you look carefully at the center of the windage hole facing the camera, you can just barely see the yellow 'tail' end.
Finally, as a last crowning touch, I peeled the RMGI label off of the original plastic reel and affixed it to the metal reel. It shows a little class. Although I found out that the ink used on that label is very fragile and some of it crumbled and flaked off because of the peel and transfer. It still looks better than the plain empty reel.
Now I was ready to get down to business. Now that the transfer was complete and leaders attached, I re-loaded the tape onto the Teac and used a nominal Maxell "double-M" reel as the takeup.
To evaluate the tape, I chose three songs that represent a large cross section of what I typically like to listen to. They also encompass a number of different vocal and instrumentation ranges.
They were:
1. "Learning To Fly" by Tom Petty (videos of all three songs playing on the same deck)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3aVsdXTq28
2. "Fable" by Robert Miles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zy_N0Y4ufQ
3. "Rennaissance Man" by The Ocean Blue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_vjjdCstpY
The testing process was the same and repeated for each song.
The first step was to determine where a flat bias lies. Because the X-2000R has both adjustible bias and live monitoring, I was able to set it in real time while doing an A/B comparison. To further validate it, I would often A/B only one channel at a time. The short but noticable time delay between the two sides unfortunately creates a nonbalanced reverb effect. But I do it anyway just to try all parameters. Note the meters are not in synch because of the slight aforementioned time delay.
Much to my surprise, this tape is incredibly high bias. Playback with a flat bias was somewhat dull. The best sound was with the bias on this deck turned down almost as far as it can go (about -5%). At that point a flat , perfectly matched sound was heard. I should point out that the base noise was extremely low. There was virtually no hiss to speak of. Had I been using the DBX, it would've been as silent as a CD.
Next was to see how much input the tape could handle before saturating. This is where I was really surprised.
Here is what I found. On above song #1, I was able to turn the input gain to the maximum. VU needles were pegged. No audible distortion. That song has a very pronounced accoustic guitar line and only mid level vocals and weak percussion.
Song #2 was able to carry about a sustained +4 with peaks pegging before there was noticable saturation. Song has emphasis on high note piano and heavy electronic beat. Some secondary female background vocals and substantial backing synthesizers.
Song #3: The weakest performer. Was barely able to hit peaks of +4 without noticable distortion. Very heavy drums, bass, and percussion tracks along with electric guitar.
CONCLUSIONS:
Overall a very good tape. It's high bias not doubt contributes to the eye-opening headroom. Unfortunately, if you are using a deck without bias controls, you will almost certainly need to compensate with EQ treble controls turned up. Otherwise the very high bias needed will result in a dull (but rich) sound.
For vocals and high notes (such as keyboards and accoustic guitars), this has to be one of the cleanest tapes I've ever heard. For those kind of sources, I recommend it highly. Unfortunately, this tape seems to struggle with the deep lows (drums, electric guitars, and percusssion tracks). For material that has heavy emphasis on those lows, you will likely be disappointed. In which case I would say go with another tape.
These results were based on biasing with a sound as close to neutral and indistinguishable from the source as I could do. Had the bias parameters been set differently, very likely, the sound outcome would be different.
Thanks for reading.
:thmbsp: 
:yippy: 
ara:
