What could cause my deck to not calibrate a specific tape?

[Keith H]

I have a Teac V8030S 3 head deck with calibration facilities (Test Tones)so i can set Bias and sensitivity to any tape,My problem is i bought 10 Maxell XL-II tapes made in 1985 still brand new in the wrappers off of ebay and my deck refuses to calibrate to them,i can get the sensitivity level right but the bias level does not even get close (Very dull high end) can't get the bias level meter even 1/4 of the way were it should be.I also have some TDK SA tapes made in 1984 still in the wrappers that calbrate fine so i don't think age is the cause?Does anyone know what could be the cause or could i have just gotten some bad tapes?Any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks very much..Keith H. P.S. All my other tapes calibrate fine,just the 1985 Maxell XL-II tapes are giving me a problem..

[michael w]

Is it the entire batch that fails to calibrate ?

I've had a few funny tapes that required max bias but none that have failed to be completely calibratable on my Nak ZX-7.


cheerio

[Keith H]

Even with the bias level meter turned to the max which is supposed to make the tapes high end the highest the bias level's meter barely moves.So even with the bias at it's highest (Actually i think it's the lower the bias the crisper the high end and the higher the bias the duller the high end,i think that's how it goes)anyway i can't get any high end out of these tapes so i'm assuming it's the tape,must be a bad batch cause these are the only tapes it does it with, besides if it were the deck i would imagine it would do it with any tape..Peace,Keith H.

[dcfly]

Keith:

Just like you said, I would chalk it up to bad tapes and move on. As you know, cassette tapes are often susceptible to things such as the environment in which they are stored and so forth. They can be a "bitch," but they're fun too.

[michael w]

How did you end up with 1985 tapes ?
Did you specifically hunt out these vintage formulations ?


cheerio

[Keith H]

I found them on ebay,they were still in the unopened wrappers.I did'nt think that the age would be a factor cause i have bought many older tapes with no problems.I have some TDK SA tapes that are 1984 vintage that are perfect that i just purchased not to long ago from a place called Bluz Broz www.adelcom.net so i guess i'll just have to chalk it up to bad tapes,maybe they just were'nt stored good enough (Too hot or humid)and that ruined the tape.It's a shame because they are really nice tapes.Peace..Keith H.

[danj]

Originally posted by Keith H
I found them on ebay,they were still in the unopened wrappers.I did'nt think that the age would be a factor cause i have bought many older tapes with no problems.I have some TDK SA tapes that are 1984 vintage that are perfect that i just purchased not to long ago from a place called Bluz Broz www.adelcom.net so i guess i'll just have to chalk it up to bad tapes,maybe they just were'nt stored good enough (Too hot or humid)and that ruined the tape.It's a shame because they are really nice tapes.Peace..Keith H.

Quality blank cassettes are cheap. Why would you even bother with almost 20 year old tapes? I would think such a purchase would be too risky to throw money at. Personally, I would stay away from "NOS" cassettes unless I knew they had always been properly stored AND would never buy without return privileges.