1974 Memorex MRX2 Cassette - The "Bad Boy" You've Been Warned Not To Bother With

Many have had bad experiences with 1970s Memorex cassettes deteriorating on them.
Here I look at a newly unsealed one, to see if it's universal that they break down or, if stored right, some are still worth having.
CASSETTE DECK USED: Nakamichi Dragon
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[@everkief8650]

"In the town where I was born..." This was the cassette I first recorded music too. I discovered The Beatles, as a preteen, in the late 70s and filled this tape up with happy Beatles tunes to listen to on the bus to and from school. My friend who gave me the music to record, had a laugh and teased me for several decades because I labeled the tape "BEETLES." Hahahahahahaaa... live and learn. I have recently bought a few of these tapes and I took out my Sharpie same as I had done over 40 years ago, and boldly wrote "BEETLES" on it, just for a sentimental journey. At that age I had no good equipment. I placed my speakers close together on the floor and covered them with a blanket, placing a shoe-box recorder in the speaker tent I constructed, for optimum fidelity. Hahahahahahahaaa... Well, it was at least mono and just loud enough for a bus of screaming kids singing "We all live in a yellow summer bus, a yellow summer bus, a yellow summer bus..." Ahhhhh... memories...

[@clemmteetonball11]

Now THAT'S what taping is all about !

[@FreeKraps]

I love that packaging, it has a very ominous 70's look to it.

[@totalrandomtechnolog]

Watching these videos lately made me enjoy cassettes again. I decided to fix my tape decks (replacing belts and pinch rollers). Also I just received an order from your site and I'm quite pleased. I'm amazed on how well preserved you have these 20, 30, 40 years old tapes. Kudos for that. You're also preserving history in a way, there shouldn't be much more of these around and it will only get worse.

[@ElectroPotato]

This case reminds me to the DCC, especially with the card.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, it did to me too.

[@Mikeman-kt4nr]

"Is it live or is it Memorex?"

[@johnmichaelrichards]

It was most certainly Memorex, no matter what Ella Fitzgerald was singing.

[@birdscds47]

I will have to have a look.

[@CeeStyleDj]

@@johnmichaelrichards When that ad campaign was popular, the Memorex cassettes were very good. Just ask Tony.

[@ianz9916]

@@CeeStyleDj I had some back then and they were terrible. A TDK D outperformed it massively and Curry's own brand tapes, made by Philips, were better. The Memorex used to leave so much crap on the heads that you were constantly cleaning them. I didn't buy a second batch, TDK, Maxell, Sony and Philips entry level tapes were about the same price but so much better. The only thing Memorex had going for them was that case and the advert.

[@donk1822]

I have about 250 cassettes recorded on a variety of decks that went into storage about 25 years ago when my Sony TCK611S seized solid a month out of warranty. All the tapes have been kept under the same conditions. A year ago I decided to buy one of those 'bucket list' items of HiFi from my youth and acquired an Akai GX95 mk2, in tip top condition, I figured I would be recording a whole new generation as I didn't think any of them would have survived, what with print through etc. To my amazement nearly all of them sound as if I recorded them yesterday, even the humble TDK D90's etc. There is however one tape that has not survived, yup, every single Memorex ferric is useless. Perhaps if they are from a sealed pack they will give a few years service but don't expect to be listening to them in your old age.

[@CassetteComeback]

The amount of people who echo your experience says that this is the truth. I'll enjoy them while the can be enjoyed. You did check that the foam pads haven't decintegrated yeah? If they have, that's the problem and the tape might still be good...

[@donk1822]

@@CassetteComeback Hi CC. They all spooled erratically and shed oxide like dandruff, fortunately I didn't have more than 20, the pressure pads may well have perished also. Your videos are very interesting, a mine of information for those considering using tape. Your Dragon looks lovely BTW.

[@powerslave5497]

Muchas gracias por subir este tipo de videos y crear este canal para nosotros los amantes de la buena música, y de los formatos como éste que esperamos que vuelvan a regresar con nuevas tecnologías aplicadas a las ya clásicas marcas, o inclusive nuevas; y que le han dado un significado muy especial a la música de nuestras vidas.

[@Bassotronics]

I prefer an original recording cassette from the 80s over any current mp3 any day!

[@CassetteComeback]

Hence the "comeback" as you're not alone.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

Well... It's not too much difficult to prefer anything in a lossless format (vinyl is the exception: it's a "de facto" lacking dynamics and noisy format), if the original has been well recorded. This condition is neccesary, yet not sufficient.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

@@CassetteComeback I seriously think mp3 is condemned to dissapear in the mid/long term. Lossless compression formats will become more effective than today and storage capacity increases by the minute. MP3 can be useful for streaming services and Internet radio. But 5G speed is rising in the near horizon.

[@Malkmusianful]

well, uh, considering cassettes have their problems with wow and flutter (not to mention that to most consumers like me who can't bulk-order a bunch of type II and type IV cassettes and are limited in their decks due to not having a lot of disposable income in general have to stick to type I cassettes) and mp3s are really only bad at 128 and 160 kbps (192 and above is considered acceptable, 320 is ideal), i'd rather have a digital archival format. I personally use WAV, FLAC and 320 kbps mp3 backups.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

@@Malkmusianful One question: Have your smartphone a good built-in DAC? If it is the case, most probably it can manage FLAC files, with which you can store a lot of good recorded music. I'm assuming yours have the minijack output so many manufacturers are absurdly eliminating from their devices. If you have such connector, you can enjoy good sound on the go and, better of all, you can connect your smartphone output to your home sound system in the simplest way: just a stereo cable fom male minijack to two RCA plugs in any "line" input of your amp, and you'rer done. Cheers.

[@franciscomartingutierrez951]

During the 70's, and when I was still a small child, we were living in Central America (Honduras) and before we moved back to South America my dad bought several of those tapes and until now I might have between 3 or 5 of those left in my warehouse... I remember my friends were all impressed when I showed them the case... and also some years later I used a couple of those tapes to record the, then, newcomers bands Metallica and Trouble ;)

[@agegroot5666]

The housing looks so much better than the one we know. The Pink Floyd cassette looks like a record in a L-shaped recordholder. My brother bought an old George Harrison cassette from 1974 with a cardboard cover around the housing, that looks good but this looks more classy..... but when you open the housing it's average what you see but i think most tapes from that era looked simple.

[@erwintimmerman6466]

Apart from the sense of smell which makes it 4, there's also a "sense" of deliberateness with using cassettes. You're deliberate when recording them, especially mixtapes. You're deliberate when playing them, because you only get 30 or 45 mins before you need to get up again. You can't change the order of the songs, let alone shuffle them. What you put on is what you're stuck with. That whole cumbersome approach is exactly what makes the music more valuable. The effort you've put in. It's the difference between music as wallpaper and music as an experience. I listen to digital 90% of the time, because of the choice and convenience. But the few times I put on a cassette, there's this warm fuzzy feeling that's just not matched by anything else.

[@Musicradio77Network]

In addition to these MRX2 cassettes, I have a few cassettes recorded on my Memorex MRX2 tapes, including 4 cassettes of the short-lived “Stan Freberg Show” as it was heard back in 1957, with a bonus on cassette #4 which were on 120-minute cassettes with 4 episodes each, and 2 episodes of “Nightmare Theater” with Peter Lorre on a 45 MRX2 cassette. Two classic Old Time Radio shows on Memorex MRX2 cassettes.

[@redrobbosworkshop]

Really enjoyable video. Ah I remember these......happy days in the 70s recording the Top 20 with Tom Brown on Radio 1 using my Pye radiocassette recorder. Still have that machine, serviced and it works. I collect those mono 70s radiocassette machines which pre date the later flashy boomboxes. Agree with you on the cases - love those and great work with the J card

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

I always had issues with Memorex. My aunt, who had top end Luxman gear back then (@1977-1983) and made many copies for me, and I owned decent Pioneer and Technics gear, as I saved up all my money then, started to crap out within a year or so, of moderate use. Once we switched to TDK, etc. and even Denon (!) we never had issues, even years later, lol.

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

We always knew if was live or Memorex.....

[@josepha5885]

Those Memorex tapes bring back memories. My mom bought plenty of them in the 70s. She worked at a military hospital and she had access to the military store on the base. They sold those tapes at a discount.

[@nick_vee]

These were my go to tapes as a kid except they were MRX3 Oxide which was written in a white font inside a black box on the label along with the word Memorex. These cases were virtually indestructible compared to those crappy Norelcos which could crack and break if you dropped them on carpet, and I always had those white plugs in my pockets. Never had one shed on me but those damn foam pads. I wish back then I knew that they could be refoamed because all of my MRX3’s were eventually cracked open and transferred to Radio Shack repair shells with spring pads when the foams rotted and mushed down. BTW, love the new intro and segment transitions.

[@nick_vee]

Another little tidbit about these: Memorex advertised that white leader tape as being a head cleaner which mimicked the material in the dry type head cleaner tapes at the time. They claimed that you would always start your recordings with a clean head. 👍🏼

[@HammyTechnoid]

My experience with the Memorex tapes involved alot of the tapes being reinstalled into different cases, ones with screws and proper pressure pads. Then they would work just as well as any other.

[@DuckGWR]

Ah, I remember those cases well. Such a cool case. Came into possession of several of them as castoffs from my grandparents. I'll never forget knowing very little about tapes but knowing that MRX2 was not any actual chemical formula, unlike the markings on the type II tapes I knew

[@sub-jec-tiv]

70s tape, to be expected the highs get killed a little, and it compresses quite a lot. Personally i like tape compression so that doesn’t bug me.

[@pbsa1979]

Just found one of these Bad Boys outside a house clearance in south east London- knew I'd find a bit of info about it on your channel. Sadly no Dragon in sight, and Bush retro LoFi from the 70's laying beside it isn't much to my taste, so will have to try it on few decks from the 90's. Tapes are amazing, no matter how bad they are...

[@pyotyrprepka1875]

These were available in three packs and were available in 46,60,90 and 120 minute lengths. Bought six of the 120 minute ones as they were discounted then to the same price as the 90 minute ones and they work fine also. I found that the 120's are recorded best at -2 peak setting to avoid saturation on loud passages

[@Felix-lr3tk]

Can you make an Hifi Setup video where you Show us all of you cassettedeck‘s please

[@wisteela]

I love that retro intro and mid video. I'd forgotten about those cases.

[@platterjockey]

This brings back memories! I still have some mrx 2s from the 70s and they sound great. But, those are the ones where the pressure pad hasn't slipped off.

[@joeclayton2875]

As well as touch, sight and sound, you also get smell. I loved the aroma of a mid 80s Maxell UL or TDKAD j card when you first took the outer packaging off

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah. I forgot about that. Smell, the most nostalgic of sense. I sniff a Bush SF and I'm transported back to the mid 90s. www.cassettecomeback.com/products/pure-chrome-t-shirt

[@olaniyi570]

In my experience dolby b almost always kills the high frequency extension. Not sure why you use B instead of C for testing.

[@CassetteComeback]

I don't usually use NR at all, but when I do I use B as it's universal. No modern decks have C or S, but can handle a B recorded cassette.

[@demonufo]

Dolby C is essentially Dolby B doubled up. If you're having trouble with B, ghen it's internal calibration time. Even at 100% optimal, there are slightly more artifacts with C than B.

[@disappointednep-nep2430]

Dolby C from what I’ve heard is rather...odd. If you don’t have a deck with the same exact azimuth alignment as the same deck the tape was recorded on, it’ll sound weird, and not using Dolby C at all on a Dolby C tape causes distortion, which is why most prerecorded tapes only used Dolby B

[@hawkfumodee5364]

I pulled my cassette collection out after 25 years in storage a few years back when I got myself an Akai GX95/2 for reasonable money. So far every TDK, Maxell, Thats, BASF I have played back has been fine, every single Memorex, Scotch and Goldstar has required junking.

[@CassetteComeback]

That's a shame.

[@tombest3562]

Will always love the tangible. There's some irony in that the Nakamichi pushes any built-in pressure pad out of the way! Love my CR-7A, 591, 480 and 550 "portable"!

[@Audiophilus]

Csooómmm en

[@crucie75]

You managed to get way more out of it than i would have expected, magic machine that dragon :)

[@v-g-z3689]

Hi Tony! Thank you for all these videos, I really like watching them. Just half an hour ago, i went into an electronics store in Vienna and bought 2 cassettes, Memorex 90 MRX3 Oxide. The don´t have that special shell, and the wrapper is clear. It say´s 1978 on the J-card, so would that be the follow-up type? Do you know what the differences are or do you have any other information about the tape? Thanks a lot in advance and greetings from Austria

[@SmoothEmJay]

Even that case sends my brain back in time, not quite as far as the 70s (wasn't here then) but back all the same. Recording sounded excellent.

[@CassetteComeback]

Nostalgia is a major part of its appeal.

[@ChronoTango]

Just nabbed a few of these from a friend’s house. Good to know that pad is probably the problem I’m having with the tape!

[@grizzlyaddams3606]

Picked up a MRX-3 today. Will keep for the collection. Seems to be in good condition. Pad and all. Might try a play in the eek deck. The case is sweet but a bit tough to open. Which actually might be a strong point. As they're less prone to just flying open while driving down the road or jumping up and down.

[@pcallas66]

Cool! I do like those cases better. Thank you for sharing.

[@phantom62]

I grew up with those tapes in the 70's :)

[@MacXpert74]

Sounded surprisingly good actually, no drop outs and reasonable low noise level.

[@CassetteComeback]

It did. I was expecting it to explode in the deck 😂

[@MacXpert74]

Cassette Comeback Lol, I’m happy it behaved 😬😂

[@RussWWFC]

Enjoying yoiur vids, even though I've not used a casette in around 20 years and have no desire to do so. Love the old designs though, this one is a beauty. Only thing I miss about tapes is the one click operation of recording radio - can do it digitally, but it's a lot more fiddly

[@Musicradio77Network]

Cool! I have plenty of Memorex MRX2 cassettes including a couple of 120’s, one 90, one 60, two 45’s and two 30’s. Many of these have Old Time Radio shows that I recorded off of the site. There was also an MRX3 which was much of the same as the MRX2 with a different label. The felt pad used on older Memorex cassettes are not as good as it was. They did that on later Memorex cassettes like MRX3, Chromium, MRX1, HBII and dB Series cassettes right up until the mid 1980’s when it was replaced by a spring felt pad and clear shells for MRX1, HBII, and dBS cassettes, as well as the cheaper dB cassette. In addition, there was a TV commercial from 1977 featuring Melissa Manchester and jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald where she was a spokesperson for Memorex at the time where she talks about MRX2. Ella was scatting during the commercial if you have not seen it. It also has a famous tagline at the end with the iconic shattering wine glass. Here it is. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXiTl6N3gpmfprc

[@BILL-2002hst]

2:45 that is a gorgeous cassette case why the heck philips was so cheap for cases like CDs or DVDs (because DVD Rs or RWs were distributed on cd like cases)

[@tobymummert3035]

I bought about six of these Memorex MRX 2 and I believe one MRX 3 oxide sealed cassettes on eBay a little while back and the only reason why I bought them was because the packaging is the coolest I have ever seen on any cassette tape ever! I open one and try it out and yes it wasn't the best sounding cassette tape but like Tony says they're 45 years old and they were sealed really well and presumably stored really well and proper. At this point I have no interest in opening any of the other ones because I really got a great deal on a bid on eBay for the 6 I bought. I think I got them for like about $12 to USD free shipping. I just love the look of the rapping on these cassette tapes! I mean, that's solid black rapping with the Memorex printed at the top with a 90 representing 90 minutes and yellow right beside it and then those white tabs that kept the Hub from turning. Just the coolest Packaging I have ever seen and I've been collecting cassettes for a long, long time. I just wish the tape there in would be a better one. But like Tony said I must agree, not that bad just not that great and I didn't notice any shredding on my Nakamichi CR-2A cassette deck heads after I was done recording onto the tape and praying it back a few times. It does sound pretty much the best to me with using Dolby C while recording and playing it back also in Dolby C. But then again that is why standard for recording any tape and playing back the same tape in the same tape deck. Once again to conclude, you got to just love the quaint, solid look of the packaging of the these cassette tapes! Thanks for the video Tony and keep them coming!

[@slowpawstevet3676]

Used a lot of these baddies back in the day! loved them (-:

[@johnmichaelrichards]

I had a few of these in the late 70s and early 80s - mixed quality control. Some were good, others suffered lots of dropouts. The hub retainers were good but they had sealed shells so a pain to open. Of course, they had a great TV, radio and print campaign with Ella Fitzgerald - "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" Most definitely the latter as most were dreadful. I never could get the glass to shatter either, no matter how loud and lomg the 'C' was played.

[@kennynvake4hve584]

I have a few of these and all have one problem...the felt pad has fallen apart on all of them...do you know what I can use to replace this...there is no spring like 99% of all other tapes have...

[@VIDSTORAGE]

Hey those old Memorex tapes were not bad and the cases ,,BRING THEM BACK,they are the best ones. ..The card insert is too awesome dude... A mid 70s Pink Floyd label in that mid 70s tape case just fits like a taylor made glove ..

[@mahoot81]

I got a few that are older than me(Pre 1981) and they were stored properly and treated properly and they still sound fresh as if they were just gently used.

[@johnstark5324]

All the early 80"s Memorex tapes I have had need of new foam/felt pads. Other then that there fine. I recommend changing out the felt on foam pads because some NOS ones I had contaminated the tape as the foam turned to goo.

[@CassetteComeback]

Good tip.

[@2574mcu]

Back when they came out, they sounded good. I used them all the time. I also like Maxell UDXL1 and UDXL2. TDK Sa was another favorite.

[@scotthullinger4684]

That Memorex tape is pretty damn ordinary overall, but not all that bad. Maybe the worst thing about it is just the basic construction of the cassette. This was the sort of tape I always bought until I discovered the virtues of TDK tapes, and so on, to include Maxwell tapes, and maybe a few others.

[@stephan5925]

That Pink Floyd Case looks awesome! Well done.

[@CassetteComeback]

Looks Like a DCC 😀

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

@@CassetteComeback Indeed!

[@marblesmike]

@@CassetteComeback would you be able to share a template or sorts for what you made? They look great!

[@Ale.K7]

I really, really like that case style. An I didn't know of it until I found some old Memorex tapes with them near a trash container a couple of years ago.

[@grzegorzcichybiala1361]

thanks for the answer I like your videos a lot remind me my youth I hope to see your videos many years greetings

[@2574mcu]

I used them all the time in the 70s and had no problems. I was 11 or 12 years old when I started using them. I liked the chrome ones as well. I came across one a had and it still worked fine. I believe it was from 1975 or 1976. I like the card you made for that case. It looks like it was factory made.

[@Defensive_Wounds]

I have a few Metal and Chrome Memorex tapes, they sounded fine and I never had any issues with them at all, they did look cool in their design too! Overall, I preferred (in no particular order, yet I do have a soft spot for Goldstar Chrome tapes) TDK, BASF(Emtec), Maxell, Fuji, Goldstar (LG), Memorex among others. I preferred Goldstar as they were VERY cheap in price, ALWAYS had perfect fidelity and quality in the tape and casing, looked very dated in design, the tapes sometimes had those ridges like corrugate iron roofing but that somehow did not hinder the audio fidelity on these chrome tapes at all. They were discontinued once Golstar merged with a brand called 'Lucky' - they became LG!!! Lucky Goldstar = LG.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, Goldstar are decent and they also made Cassettes for other brands.

[@65CJ5]

I still have one of those Memorex cases. Not sure where the tape itself went to, it has a different brand in it now.

[@pilpelyarok4600]

I still play recordings from the late 70s on Memorex cassettes with my Akai GXC- 710D Cassette deck ,Great sound .

[@Spudcore]

That case is really nifty. Sound is definitely a bit dull, but not unacceptably so.

[@HelmutWFanck]

Great channel✌I'm happy with my Tapedeck to. Have a nice day! Abo👍

[@ET3Roberts]

LOVE the new intro!

[@markusziman1675]

Great video great review! I love these cassettes too. Do u know how 2 fix the cases when the little pieces of plastic break?

[@wrestletube1]

Now that might actualy be the Grey one I really had shows that sometimes you can't even remember if it's the Type 1 or 2 you had when it's a Memorex. Maybe I had both and one had a stuck on pad the other didn't too but the one that didn't now has no pad because of what I did as a kid. I bloody love the shells though it's one of those replace the tape inside as well as splice in the metel head from the same tape as the tape you put in it in there custom made jobbys.

[@wildbilltexas]

I think Memorex didn't want to pay for the Compact Cassette rights from Philips so they created their own shell and case design. And in the 1970's they were considered cool and very different. You can get new felt cassette pads at: www.8trackavenue.com/cassette-tape-repair-supplies . The Memorex tapes I had problems with shedding oxide were the later HB II tapes from the early 80's, but most were played many times. Memorex's quality got better when they were bought by Radio Shack in 1985 and switched to regular screw shells.

[@mrk131324]

Are the cases available on their own?

[@craignehring]

Subbed... Because I fully embraced cassettes in the early seventies

[@DavidMorley]

I used mostly tdk sa or ad back in the day. I got some memorex. Must have been early 80’s. honestly, I didn’t get on with them! Straight back to tdk.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, when Memorex made them themselves they were dubious. They got much better when they outsourced in the late 80s.

[@DavidMorley]

@@CassetteComeback one of the rare cases of getting better over time?

[@nigelbarrett4936]

I remember buying two of these in 1979 and the next week having to take one back after it disintegrated mid-playback and shed tiny rectangular pieces of oxide all over my machine. The remaining section of tape was completely clear, no oxide left on it! Hated those cases, the plastic bungs kept getting lost :)

[@CassetteComeback]

I won't be looking forward to your order then 😂

[@James-hb6ee]

I have one of these that someone gave me that had music on it and I wanted the music so I never have recorded over it on my Dragon. I also like the flip housing, very cool. One thing I noticed, it looked to me as if you had 70us EQ on the Dragon instead of 120, although it is hard to tell with the black on black. Since this is a ferric tape, might not it record a bit better with the EQ it was optimized for? My Dragon is currently down but maybe I will try recording on it with my Luxman K-03, it also has variable bias and EQ and sounds as good as the Dragon.

[@CassetteComeback]

I'd like a good Luxman but they make Dragons look common 😀

[@averageenthusiast5689]

I like the new intro, that was cool. Wow, the cassette case was a blast from the past. I had one of those cases. Were they exclusive to Memorex? If so, i guess I had a few Memorex tapes back in the early 80s when I got my first legit stereo system.

[@TerryJonesPrinterRepairs]

For 40 years Ive always wondered why dolby was touted as the best sound improving thing when all it does is makes things sound shit. As a 10 year old I remember hearing it and going that is just crap id rather hear hiss.

[@CassetteComeback]

My thoughts are it only really works well on the deck it was recorded on and for quiet music. I can only hear his when music's not playing...

[@sisu6310]

Nakamichi deck,,very nice. i saved for years and treated myself to one,others are available,but Naki was the rolls,imho.

[@CassetteComeback]

Same here. Others may argue others are better, but to me they were always No1...and I buy my decks for me, not others.

[@svenschwingel8632]

Only one deck was ever able to beat the mighty Dragon. The Pioneer CT-95. More than ten years after the Dragon hit the market, that is. Ironically, the CT-95 also marked the end for mainstream cassette recording.

[@allstar930]

Damn, a Dragon’ll make any tape sound good, lol. My dad gave me his tapes from the 70s when he was an avid concert taper and many of them have those cool cases, too. I like that style as well.

[@showstopperrob1097]

Wish only those cases were somewhere for sale. It's like you said they look great.

[@ttheone3518]

What kind of amplifier do you got there? Looks like a teac to me

[@CassetteComeback]

It is a Teac 😀

[@scaleop4]

i did have a deck that chewed up a tape but that was because a belt had snapped, but after fixing it, it never chewed a tape after that. and i still use tapes to this day. ( most people seem to think tape sounds like crap, i disagree lol)

[@Jim_2E0HKM]

Love that case, shame they never became mainstream.

[@producer73]

Hmmmmmmm I have many cassettes going all the way back to 1975-76. Some pre-recorded and others recorded from vinyl. They play just fine for being that age I also have VHS tapes from the same tyme frame, as we've had a VCR in our house beginning in 1977. I still have many among many VHS tapes of cool, long forgotten stuff recorded from the television and they all play perfectly well. No audio issues, nor picture issue. I still use a VCR. A nice professional model. I LOVE TAPE!!!!! Reel to Reel, Cassettes, VHS.....I prefer recording onto cassette over digital.....I find digital is more bloody work.

[@connorm955]

My parents had some Rush cassettes that had a similar pad.

[@A0111.]

Wow, Pink Floyd J-card looks terrific in this case 👍

[@connorm955]

I got a few from a cassette lot about a year ago, and one had a high quality recording of a lecture, i recorded over it and it didn't sound good, and the leader looked scaly but it sounded better when i put the tape in a different shell. Unfortunately i had to do that to all 3 of them. So i bought a NOS MRX3 Oxide 60 min, was shedding a tiny bit and the levels were under 0 db. I'm glad i got a refund.

[@jonsymmonds1120]

I never liked the high end response from Memorex tapes, especially the MRX2. Back in the day I had a high end Aiwa cassette deck (don't recall the model number), it did have an adjustable bias control and I always has to under bias these to get any decent high end out of them....but along with that some of the spacial image was lost...in my opinion. I preferred the Maxell LN series to these almost any day of the week. I have found that the MRX2s tend to sound better than I remember in my newer Nakamichi decks, either that our my hearing is shot!

[@berndp3426]

Maxell still sells their "UR" (Type I) cassettes in tech and drug stores here. But the sellers only keep small stocks in their shells. If I am asking about cassettes, they look at me somehow "strangely" :-)

[@CassetteComeback]

And the people who look at you "strangely" may be in to things that you would find strange. If you look for pretty much anything on the internet, you will find a group of people who are "in to" it.

[@flyby2300]

What is the cassette tape deck used in this video?

[@CassetteComeback]

Nakamichi Dragon

[@JacobFrey]

Ahh, I believe I could argue that cassettes can even excite your sense of smell! Hah, I love that smell. That's 4 senses.

[@CassetteComeback]

Your right. Can't believe that I missed that...

[@franciscomartingutierrez951]

Man, I used to spend hours smelling cassettes, my favorite was the Metaxial of Maxell... am I a weirdo??? :'(

[@harisnezirevic520]

@@franciscomartingutierrez951You're not a weirdo, the smell is one of the best things about cassettes. I still remember buying my first Maxell MX tape all those years ago, and being blown away by that sweet, powerful yet incredibly complex, metallic smell. Actually, the smell is one of the first things you notice about these tapes, It's that overpowering and beautiful. Most Maxell tapes smell great, but the MX really is second to none in that department.

[@CassetteComeback]

Smell. The most nostalgic of all the senses.

[@johnmontoya2398]

Where can I buy a decent portable tape player? Many thanks for the vid.

[@CassetteComeback]

Get one of the NOS Aiwa from Germany that Techmoan reviewed

[@luisalbertobrandan2397]

Nunca probó la cinta grabada, porque?

[@ngtaishek]

I have few of these and I still play then, yes I love the case too,

[@Lucrativecris]

That’s a bad ass Intro! 👏 I love your channel

[@adrianredodo]

The sellings are going well (euro lotto can be possible too)

[@Lucrativecris]

Adrián Redondo i got my own tape Collection I have a 60 min Type 2 memorex tape I dont trust it

[@CassetteComeback]

My star is rising 😂

[@adrianredodo]

Me too

[@Mouse2113]

Sounded pretty damn good!

[@CassetteComeback]

Not bad for a 45 year old. I've got 13 month old SD cards that were ready for the bin...

[@j.w2000]

@@CassetteComeback yes especially sandisk, but kingston is better quality than sandisk and dosnt corrupt and die like sandisk yet in my pearsonal experience, i prefer to store things on devices that won't corrupt and the uk still uses tapes to store achives. so therefor if i was doing pc backups i'd either use floppies or cassette if i needed a backup to last a very long time longer than cds /dvds which only have a 10 year recorded shelf life when floppies have alot more! when i was little all we had if we wanted decent quality film was good old tape! as digital cameras were crappy video quality vs tape being better!

[@markcovington8159]

Hey there. What would you do if you were to play a tape & you were to find a wrinkle on that tape? :) How do you get rid of that wrinkle on the tape itself? :) How do you get rid of any squealing noice on the tape itself? :) Thank you! :)

[@CassetteComeback]

I'd consign the tape to the "spares" pile personally, then give my decks a thorough cleaning.

[@markcovington8159]

@@CassetteComeback Would you still try to (1) iron out the wrinkle on the actual recording tape itself (2) Use some kind of lubricamt on the tape or maybe try loosening up the tape to help try & stop it from sqealing while it's playing? Please let me know either way ASAP. :) Thank you! :)

[@CassetteComeback]

You could splice out the winked tape, but then that would effect the recording. Don't use any lubricants inside a cassette. If it's squealing, then either the slipsheets need replacing or the guide rollers have had it.

[@ttheone3518]

Hey man congrats on 1k subs!

[@CassetteComeback]

I've heard that my videos are going to need something called "Production Values" going forwards 😂

[@scaleop4]

don't know were you got that nakamici dragon from but that one hell of a good deck

[@CassetteComeback]

eBay 😀

[@RWL2012]

or even Nakamichi...? :-P

[@scaleop4]

@@RWL2012 lol corrected

[@glpilpi6209]

1970s Boots Ferric tapes were the worst for shedding the magnetic coating . They were quite dreadful and should be avoided .

[@berndp3426]

was a common "sickness" from the point where tapes came into existence, And not only on the cassette tapes but everywhere where tapes were used these times. A problem with the binder and the initial smoothness of the surface was pretty bad. The particles were not as small as they were in the later era where special formulas and manufacturing techniques have been invented to minimize wear and achieving high reliable surfaces. Other tapes like the "pure metal" ones had also a problem...rust. (as long as making this material stable enough was not managed yet).

[@vitallylis867]

Mabe in Japan? USA?

[@mhmrules]

Wait, yer supposed to clean them there decks? But seriously, I clean and try to maintain my decks.

[@CharlesBridgTec]

I never had any issues with these or MRX or MRX3. These were made from 1974 to 1984 I believe and they slowly changed them over that time. These were affordable and did a good job. I even used one last month using HX Pro and was impressed even after all these years. No residue when playing or recording with these either. If you can find them get them for they do just fine in well maintained gear. Nice video.

[@TheFilwud]

I bought a couple of those back when they were new, they taught me not to buy Memorex, I still wish I had the original cases for curiosity but once the wee white stoppers were lost I went back to the usual cases, where you didn't have the faff of white stoppers and also had the luxury of index cards etc. They are still playable but not brilliant, listenable.

[@scottstrang1583]

The cases looked cool but the tapes were barely a notch above Certron.

[@Konstantin_Terletskiy]

Hello, Tony. As for me, I am experimenting the same way with Soviet-made cassettes. You know, their reputation among Russian cassette deck owners is bad, like "they sound dull", "squeezing", "lacking high frequences" etc. Especially Japanese deck owners of mediocre decks or limited capability autocalibration decks say so. There are several videos on KZbin about testing Soviet-made cassettes, for example, on Pioneer BLE system. But usually these testers test cassettes, which eihter were improperly stored, or were used too much, played too much on cheap recorders with dirty unlubricated tape transports. This kind of test is not fair. Actually, I had three-headed Kenwood KX-7060S before, which has autocalibration feature, and I could get decent results on my Soviet-made ferric tapes, such as 1989 Polimerfoto MK-60-5 I presonally bought in Moscow brand new in 1989 and used them on good decks. Well, it is not so good as Basf Ferro Extra or SONY HF, or TDK D, but I could get good recordings on them. Now I have Soviet-made 1988 RAPRI-102 Stereo two-headed deck with Japanese tape transport and Canon H-3331 sendust head in it, and using negative bias adjustment (compared to BASF Ferro Extra) I am still getting good results on these tapes. On the other hand, I got some similar tapes from other people, which I don't know how they were used, and results were not so good. Also there were some signs of improper storage in wet conditions, so on these tapes I got high frequency loss really. I have even 1982 SVEMA MK-60-2 ferric tape, and I could get decent result using my RAPRI deck on it, but only on some pert of the tape length, and I know why - this tape was used a lot on cheap recorders, including Commodore computer cassette drive, who knows, the tape was eaten by them several times, and I got dropouts on the damaged places of the tape. But some parts of the tape in this cassette is still undamaged, and I could get decent recording on it. Well, I would say not all Soviet-made cassettes are good, some issues could have factory defects in shell or tape, that happened also, but to tell that all Soviet-made cassettes are crap, bad boys and unusable is not a true statement. By the way, recently I bought one BASF Frrrochrom tape, sealed, but definitely stored in some improper environment, since when I tried to use it, first felt pad dropped off the spring, then I saw how it lost some of magnetic layer, so I had to clean the tape transport after it. So, to make fair test it is necessary to get the cassette in brand new or like new condition, ideally if not used before and properly stored.

[@Synthematix]

Whenever i see a memorex tape i get a nervous twitch, thing is years ago no one had a nak dragon

[@andythrasher5789]

I remember those tapes as a kid in the late 1970's, early 1980's shedding oxide like no tomorrow. Just be playing it, and oh.. muffled sound. Take tape out and entire transport well caked with oxide. No thanks. They didn't even lend well to recording. Anyways, some 3,000 years later this tape will inevitably do no better.

[@pyotyrprepka1875]

Wonder how your tapes were stored. I have quite a few and that has never happened

[@crash_test_dummy_1]

I totally agree mate, look and feel is a big part of the hobby!

[@CassetteComeback]

Like being teleported somewhere or driving there in a classic car. One way is more convenient and cheaper, but isn't as much fun.