7 Cassettes In 7 Days - Day 5 - Excel Studio Ferric

In this video I unwrap an Excel Studio Ferric, have a look inside and put it through it's paces.
Deck Used : Nakamichi CR-7
For your North American cassette needs, go to:
www.cassettecomeback.com

[@keironstoneman6938]

"Try and do a copyright claim on that in 5 years you bastard..." Had me in stitches.

[@glagolitic]

"Bing, bong, scoobiddy doo bee bee dee dee bing bong, scoobidy doo bee bee dee dee..." is now my ringtone.

[@CassetteComeback]

😆

[@letsallbe-friends1120]

*The new astronaut theme is a banger! Please release a full length version.* 😁👍

[@CassetteComeback]

😆

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

@@CassetteComeback "Hello and welcome to Slaggers. I'm Tony and I'll be your vocal artiste tonight. . I'd like to do you a little number now. It's one of my favourites and I hope it's one of yours.....bob bop bob ba dum dum....shooby dooby....da da da la la laaaaa"

[@CassetteComeback]

😆

[@S7EVE_P]

I must say I've really enjoyed this "7 cassettes in 7 days" series. Really good....and I will be on the lookout for this cassette now!👍👍

[@vinyljunkie1979]

These were sold in Richer Sounds in the very late 90s… I made a compilation to use in my first car (a 10 year old Nova bought in August 1999)… very durable as well, it was in that car for years and still plays perfectly. Funny that you keep saying there’s no nostalgia in it because it brought back major late 90s nostalgia for me! These were probably the last (new) blank tapes I bought apart from SAs… I got a Minidisc deck in 2001 (and Walkman and car changer!)

[@MatthewBrannigan]

I often think of the Thats tapes that Richer Sounds were virtually giving away back then. What a lost opportunity to have such good metal tapes for peanuts! I wonder if Excel tapes were made from leftover Taiyo Yuden tape!? That would account for the amazing quality.

[@uliw6605]

Lada Nova?

[@vinyljunkie1979]

@@uliw6605 that would be a Niva? It was a Vauxhall Nova (ie what the Mk 1 Opel Corsa was called in the UK)

[@ralphreinhardt6020]

Very enjoyable video as usual Tony. I dug the sound of this tape on both settings too. 😎👍

[@passatb6break]

I have a few unmarked tapes that look exactly like this, except they have big hub clips. They were used in Romania between 2000-2002, for duplicating small label tapes, pirate or promo tapes. Even I was surprised with the recording quality

[@kiirunavaara]

It's the Kolormagnetics ICM style shell; they were used by many tape makers, and also sold as C-zero to be loaded from pancakes by smaller companies. So you can find quite any tape in these shells...

[@EZ647]

Hi I don't have this cassette, but the shell is Kolormagnetics China/Asia, but in our country it is mainly known by audio cassettes Made in Germany, Dessauer, for example under Philips, or as you had a video about Virgin a year ago. I have only reservations about the hubs used, which are light, no reinforcement, prone to deformation. The tape in these cassettes can come from a variety of sources, from the common German Ferro Basf to various Chinese tapes, or tapes from small manufacturers. I don't always trust dark Type-I tapes, as I'm only familiar with Maxell BlackMagnetite-I (Cobalt/SpintechSigma), or unknown tapes from China that can play well, but I've had bad experiences with binder decomposition and bonding. This one in your video plays very decently indeed, I agree it would deserve a better shell, but maybe a small unknown local manufacturer (maybe the Excell Magnetics just mentioned on the packaging) bought Shell C-0 and filled it. I like very much if you use tape decks with manual calibration, very good to see the quality and condition of the tape compared to the default position of your setup, of course tape decks with automatic will also play beautifully, but we don't get any of that the optical pleasure :D Funny solution to the Astronaut sound, my friend thinks it's "not youtube that's giving you a problem", but AI boots trying to feed off free music because youtube doesn't treat it well enough. Regards EZ

[@kiirunavaara]

I am also wondering who assembled this cassette, and where they found that really good tape stock. I guess it's not from Dessau, because DMB never used these slimline boxes and sophisticated j-cards. DMB also used to print a code on the spine, which is missing here. The inlay design and style of printing on the shell remind me of Sansui CR cassettes from the same era. Some of them are marked Made in China.

[@christopherrigby2798]

My god what an amazing AR-X/XL1-S worthy peforrmer that 99% of us never knew existed and proof that class prejudice certainly clouded the "Mr. Hifi Bores" who said it had to be at least a type II or it was pants. It's not about the Bais/Eq slot it runs with, Its all about the pigmentation!

[@FunzieOne]

this was a great one! being born in 97, I didnt experience much of cassettes at their peak. I remember having them though and that was enough to spark some nostalgia. Its hard to explain or defend cassettes these days, and honestly iv stopped trying. I just like em. Show me another physical media with as much variation as cassettes. ill wait!

[@CassetteComeback]

Imperfections create character. Cassettes have a lot of character.

[@uliw6605]

Respekt!!!👍👍👍

[@Narayan_1996]

I definetely wasn't expecting such amazing quality, this tape really surprised me the whole time, and this video turns out to be the most exciting one so far, I'm looking forward to the next one ♥

[@Mouse2113]

Certainly a big surprise, sounded very very good

[@CBitsTech]

Love the 'do be do'. Keep that 😁 Loving this series, thanks.

[@JamesE707]

You do have a good eye for the shells Tony. This is very good tape, I bought one of these at Richer Sounds (I think?) around 2000-2003. I've still got it.

[@xxxsale007xxx]

When i saw this shell , it reminded me immediatly at the "Tyrolis Chromic Cobalt SHX " made in Austria, and now as i compared them, i was right! This is the same shell, the same hubs probably the same tape, cobald doped ferric. The SHX runs as a type II, but can also be calibrated and recorded as type I. I'm pretty sure both are made from the same company. I think also, this tapes were used for recording original prerecorded tapes (I knowTyrolis did that, because they are still selling prerecorded cassettes cd's and vinyl records ) which were marked as chrome tapes but recordet at 120µs and playback was also only possible as type I because of the holes on the top of the cassette to provide the best possible playback quality even on cheap cassette player bacause they dont have a tape selector. Thats why i think this tape is some sort of hybrid tape recordable as type I or type II.

[@voldemarvaglaots6690]

I remember seeing VHS tapes of this brand name in Estonia. Somewhere in a mid 90's , I think... I was able to use more recognisable brands of such products at that time. Audio cassettes in use were TDK D in early 90's and mostly chrome or metal tapes in a mid of this decade. TDK, Sony and That's! Later MD came to use and burning CD's...

[@paulb4uk]

This really did sound superb a great discovery .

[@Rompler_Rocco]

Wow! I'm a sucker for "Studio" cassettes, but this is the first outstanding Studio Type 1 I've heard! Just in my personal experience, I was still going home with cassettes from studios in '98/'99, but by 2000 it was all CD-R.

[@ubtrippin9980]

Amazing video. Thanks Tony!

[@950kid]

Surprisingly Amazing Cassette Tape👍🏾

[@Ale.K7]

Souns so good!

[@tweakerman]

I have a few of these in chrome, great video👍

[@Mihail_K.]

That tape is beyond remarkable. You know what's better though? The new transition.

[@CassetteComeback]

😆

[@felipecucciardi8201]

Great scat man!!!!

[@jhschmidMD4]

Nice tape. Records like a good Type 2

[@426hemicuda1090]

wow that's actually really good... wish I could find one to try on my TEAC V-7000

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Superb sound for an off brand type 1. Or could it have been the factory was manufacturing the last of the line tapes & were just using up spare type 2 tape & putting it in type 1 packaging, maybe? Back in the day, when you first opened a new cassette, you could often tell the type of tape it was just by the smell!

[@CassetteComeback]

Who knows. Consistency wasn't a real concern towards the end...

[@user-fy6sz8cy8u]

Nice cassette

[@vwestlife]

You could say the performance of this one excels! And I was wondering what happened to your "The Truth" music.

[@CassetteComeback]

The perils of the creator. Be careful what music you use going forward, even snippets. The astronaut music was literally 10 seconds...

[@tnor90]

I was watching this video while having my supper, but at 15:00 I've almost fall out of my chair... :D

[@LJW1912]

The shell reminds me of a memorex type 2 I have

[@wrestletube1]

Is this a new go to favourite out of the Cheapo Cassettes with not such a Cheapo build quality?!!!!?

[@nicksmith4507]

You reminded me of Propaganda's A Secret Wish that I bought on tape. It used Type II tape but recorded at 120us for compatibility with cheap players I assume. Of course the actual EQ used is not very important (just as long as rec/pb is the same) and presumably your auto-cal ended up with the same bias on each test.

[@jvanb231]

I come here to watch the Nakamichi decks and dream mostly :)

[@yanks1fan09]

It’s seems it does Excel in performance after all!

[@jasejj]

The shell, and the tape both look like Sky/late Memorex. But the hubs are different (pins holding the tape in are the old fashioned round type).

[@andykrikkit]

Not much to find when googling these. I found a page called 45spaces, I have no idea if it is a reputable site or source. Anyway, in what seems to be some kind of tape database the entry was: Excel Studio Grade C - 90 UK Type I and type II 1998 I guess that matches up nicely with people here remembering them from Richer sounds in the late 90s.

[@bletheringfool]

I like the look of the shell and even the case on this one. The J Card is a bit boring as is the font etc. but by god what a tape. The Scooby Da Doo song must stay and feel free to whisper 'The Truth' in there somewhere

[@amazinganimallearningandfu3842]

like to see if your NAKS can handle the Philips UCII / MCII that you did a while back, with the Technics 501 which could not handle the calibration but the DR10 just about did. I think something went on with them where you recorded as a type 2 and played back as a type1? Anyway, another AWESOME video....

[@m80116]

It seems a Maxell kind of Black Magnetite, no blue shade to it. I am not suggesting it is... just the color shade bears some resemblance.

[@pavlegasic819]

Tony, did you ever try out the Nak bx 300? It has excellent playback quality. What about the recording?

[@stevengagnon4777]

Studio grade indeed.Was the bias close to defult setting. Sure would like these because my JVC DD-7 probably will too as it's only lacking feature is bias is fixed. Not a problem with the maim Japanese brands. Speaking of Professional grade tapes have you ever come a any of the TDK studio grade tapes. I have come across some type I such as the AM studio master.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, they're just the regular formulations rebranded.

[@highpath4776]

@@CassetteComeback maybe they used stronger glue ( so the tape is less likely to break ) or it is easier to splice / cut / join ( did anyone do that with cassettes compared with open reel ? )

[@tvelektron]

So nice Design, so good sound. I want to buy a complete factory box with 100pcs or so 😇

[@CassetteComeback]

Snap!

[@wrestletube1]

You gotta wonder as tapes are made out of PVA if you brought some premium Polyester fabric sheets for sports/dance wear some massive magnets, using your oven for baking the oxcide compounds of 60% Ferric, 20% Chrome, 10% Metal and Cobalt Metal into your premium thickness PVA Leggings fabric and be the best ever tape in modern times having mostly type 1 compounds but a bit of Type 2 and Type IV compounds in it so it has that all types recordabilty based on shells or if you have manual tape types and the thickness of PVA Leggings sheets for PVA fabric it's gotta have more wear if it's got any recordabilty on that type of polyester that a tape made by binding magnetic powers with it would sound amazing. It would also be fun to do some other PVA fabric experiments if you could record on that to see if you can record on old Shirts or old Addias and Umbro maybe even old work and school uniform but they are mixed fabric with the PVA. Somebody would be mad trying to find out what is the best PVA ever for tapes now that the secret is out that they did use polyester sheets, burn it with compound on it until they melt together and your PVA is melted to a film thickness after first before that using a massive powered magnet to magnetic the compound on the non melted PVA before the oven and after it too. No tape head is mad enough to go full on weird science of can I record on an old premium footy kit especially on a team I don't like to convert them into something you love. Lol

[@wrestletube1]

It would be even weirder if you find out doing weird science to build a tape making buisness if you find out you can also record on Thicker Nylon PVA and Stretchier Lycra PVA as well as Polyester PVA.

[@solct]

+6-7dB peaking? Wooow!

[@volodymyrk4064]

Hi Tony. Thanks for your videos. I found a cassette in the same case. It was made in Ukraine in 1993 under mark "Foton" under BASF license and with BASF Ferro Extra I tape. Where to send photos of this cassette?

[@Voyager_2]

Maybe the same factory that did the maxell SQ / Raks tapes? The shell is not the same but the tape looks spot on.

[@CassetteComeback]

I think these might be PDM...

[@mikestackhouse9001]

Holy crap Tony, what a stunner that was! I think that is the blackest type one tape I've ever seen. Was this tape only released in the UK? I don't remember seeing it anywhere in the late nineties. As you mentioned, everyone was knocking on the digital door to get error free music. I am going to look for some.

[@CassetteComeback]

I don't know. This is the only one I've seen.

[@kiirunavaara]

The EAN code starting with 50... suggests it was made for the UK market, or at least the company who distributed it was located in the UK.

[@thejoojooman6538]

The new 'in conclusion' part.....😂😂😂. Where can we find these cassettes? Wouldn't mind a few.

[@karensingh2020]

type1 calibration sounds best. playback in type 1 sounds good!

[@connorm955]

The shell kind of looks like the TDK CDing II, but it's not exactly the same.

[@BilisNegra]

Actually Not really, the best know cassettes with this shell are BASF or AGFA ones.

[@mbvideoselection]

Shall we list the frequency responses and bias settings on a spreadsheet?

[@CassetteComeback]

I'd rather shit in my hands, then clap 😆

[@BilisNegra]

@@CassetteComeback Do you think the Excel pun was that bad? 🤣🤣

[@ElectoneGuy]

There's a modicum of information about this cassette on the net, but nothing that gives any real insight into it's manufacture. I did enjoy the third line on the back of the wrapper: "Enhanced formulation matching many 'metal' tape types in sonic detail". That's a pretty ballsy claim which may have actually been proven in your recording.

[@thisisnev]

The shell reminds me of the 'MACH' tapes of the 80s, which came from Hong Kong. Don't know if that's a clue.

[@CassetteComeback]

I have a Mach, but never opened it.

[@BilisNegra]

Other than the obvious BASF, this shell brings me memories via being used for AGFA tapes (Type I HR and Type II SR ones) in the very early 90s, after which I never heard about Agfa in the cassette realm anymore.

[@danniielle]

Love your copyright claim doodeedoo comment!! 🤣🤣🤣 That cassette ..... what can I say that you haven't already said? I think that might be a type 1.5. 😎

[@jameslaidler2152]

Wonder if he's angry at that musician, lol. Better not turn into another bloody Alex Mauer situation.

[@montynorth3009]

The tape is so black, I wonder if it is a Ferro-chrome in disguise? Ferro-chromes were set for recording with type 1 bias and type 2 equalisation. If this were the case, recorded as a type 1, the treble would have the boost as advertised, because the higher 70us HF filtering would not be utilised.

[@CassetteComeback]

I have a feeling this is a PDM cassette, and since they invented chrome...

[@martijnappeldoorn8686]

If it’s a fe-cr, then it should be brown at the backside of the tape, the very few i’ve seen all looked like that, black at the topside, brown on the backside.

[@disienna]

Love to be shocked this late in the game!

[@user-qw8ds7nt5f]

Pdm

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah. Good shout.

[@previousslayer]

uhhh close but no cigar I'm afraid, this type of shell from Kolormagnetics copycats the ICM one used on some late PDMs a bit

[@user-qw8ds7nt5f]

I have the PDM CD 90 with same shell but with different hubs ))

[@nicksubmit76]

but it's looking chips