Tony Tape - How can anything with such a fantastic name sound bad?

In this video I unwrap a Tony Cassette. Have a look inside and put it through it's paces.
Deck Used : Nakamichi ZX-9
For your North American cassette needs, go to:
www.cassettecomeback.com

[@HostiaRecords]

July 2023, Tony is still making great videos from cassettes 😁

[@farchmarch7043]

Indeed!!!😁

[@kforkrish]

Surprisingly sounds very good, i also wasn't expecting that at the beginning though 😅

[@BilisNegra]

I was thinking it might be decent after all at the GenMag section, but panicked at the squeaky fast-forward bit!

[@bentbilliard]

The hiss was cool. I consider myself a hiss connoisseur. Hiss is to music what grain is to film. A form of stylistic distortion that somehow makes it more natural. Maybe somebody could make an episode for different hisses on different tapes and what makes them sound cool. One can dream...

[@CassetteComeback]

I liked the way you think. That's why I don't use Dolby, the hiss is an intrinsic part of the tape "sound"

[@Nathriel]

Regarding hiss, if you used Dolby it could sounded pretty good, especially with Dolby S. Though, few if any of my family had audiophile tape decks like I sought out. These days I can make perfect tapes especially with my Sony TC 854-4 studio reel to reel and rare standalone Dolby encoding/decoding board which adds ability to record and playbook Dolby for units that can't even normally process it. For my home music studio, it's a blast.

[@Spudcore]

Too many suckers be trying to take the hiss.

[@z6100geek]

déjà vu kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIfShISGZ96Ij6M

[@jamespryor7358]

The recording sounded far better than I expected!

[@rdrgtreer]

You know I love those retro-futuristic watches just like this cassette. I would endorse anything retro pretty much.

[@FLH3official]

Maybe you don't want that, Tony, you would like to do something else and don't waste you time on YT with cassettes, but, yes you ARE the genuine cassette guy. And it's great to see you from time to time.

[@Seiskid]

Calibration limitation could be because the deck is trying to calibrate at 15khz rather than the more traditional 10khz and the type-1 tape is starting to roll off at those frequencies. Not that it matters. I liked how this tape sounded, and would be perfectly happy with it.

[@ralphreinhardt6020]

I thought it sounded pretty decent. A little hissy ,but what do you expect from a type 1 tape. Another very enjoyable video Tony. 😎👍

[@markphilpot8734]

Even though it squeaked, it didn’t sound bad. That isn’t a glowing review. Then again, it may not even be available. Well I am satisfied with the tapes I’ve gotten from you and there are no more in my book because, as you have stated in the previous video, tape prices have gone out of sight. I have enough to entertain myself with this most nostalgic hobby. It’s about fun anyway. It can get expensive if you chase the high end. I have enough now so I will just love what I have and take care of it. As long as I have breath, I will love this hobby and your devotion to it. You have been instrumental in my continued pursuit of it. Glad you still find it fun! Cheers Tony. Toss a few for us both! You’re gold sir!

[@phantom62]

I have a Tony EHF cassette which was one of my dad's tapes. He bought it in Australia around 1985/86 :)

[@johntammaro]

Nice video to watch whilst I wait for our dinner to cook. I love discovering new tapes and tape tech on your channel.

[@1MadGadget]

Keep up the great work Tony, I never miss an episode! That watch, well worth all of it's $21 AUD ;-)

[@jaitsme]

Great video Tony and I like the watch too. Keep up the great work.

[@anhed0niac]

Liked for the added bonus of the FoxBox watch reveal. 🙂

[@yanks1fan09]

In New York Tony is synonymous with great pizza! 😂

[@apislapis]

Nice video as ever Mr Villa, presumably it gets a Tony Award? Boom-tish! Many thanks, please keep them coming.

[@Micjoh]

Great to see more videos Tony. Love the watch. I bought a fake pulsar red led watch recently, just like my crappy one from 1978.

[@KamilPotocki84]

Again good episode Tony

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

Yep a nice tape good show ! I like the magenta offset color too and of course the check patter which invokes 1980s Vans shoes.

[@moco2802]

Good to see you back regularly Tony! I’m dying to see you do a video for Alpha Plus or Alpha Super to find out if it’s a type zero. These were Woolworths or winfield branded in the 70s and 80s, and were mainstream cassettes of the time, I still have one that is functional! Never heard you mention them as yet. Great video btw , I immediately thought type zero as soon as I saw that Tony tape!!

[@bletheringfool]

Great tape. Tony endorsed by Tony. The wat reminds me of a car dashboard.

[@macdaniel6029]

Nice tape and a good looking watch :)

[@nigelh4617]

I like the 2-Tony artwork.

[@Ale.K7]

Sounds and looks very good!

[@antonelrotaru20]

This tape sounded surprisingly good to my ears. My name is also Tony so right now, my main goal is to find a Tony tape for myself.😀😃😁 I'm joking, but I just want to make a remark about the shell. The Lucky C60 or LK-510 cassettes made in China have the same type of shell. And surprisingly, the tape in these tapes is a particularly good one. An excellent video Tony about the Tony tape.😅🙃😉

[@derekporter7658]

I was surprised that it was as good as it did. The EHF and UHF tapes looked a bit BASF to me. Yet again another fantastic forensic analysis! Good to see another video Tony!👍 That watch looked a bit retro!!

[@hughjanus6975]

Manager bit at the end had me laughing. Thanks.

[@jamescuttsmusicjcm5013]

I subscribed. I like this channel. It is like techmoan in a lot of ways who i have been subscribed to for years. I don't know who started it first, if either channel even. And who cares? Because i am happy there is just a cross over level of quality here that i can enjoy. Great vid. :D.

[@CassetteComeback]

It's not a competition. Techmoan has much more variety and better production values than me. I love his channel, and have also been watching it for years.

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Love that watch!

[@Daijyobanai]

A 2 for 1 Tony video, excellent.

[@analoguecity3454]

Not only did it sound good, you recorded it "hot" , and it "still" sounded good!😊

[@Fabiano_Americo]

These red stripes on the leader reminds me some JVC GI tapes that appeared here in Brazil on the late 80's.

[@jasejj]

Yes, the shell is similar as well (albeit the JVC GI ones I saw were black).

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

There are one of my favourite type looking cassettes.

[@Mouse2113]

Sounds good and looks cool also

[@Rivenworld]

Love the watch, very retro...

[@glpilpi6209]

Love the Nakamichi 👍👍

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

They sound very good.

[@tambarskelfir]

Sounds like a fine type 1, TONY TONY TONY, clearly a cassette with such a fantastic name cannot sound bad :D

[@JamesE707]

Sounded pretty good to me! I wonder sometimes about the roller guides on some cassette tapes, especially the cheap tapes, some do wobble about their axis more than they should making it more difficult for a single capstan machine to secure a stable line of tape. The shell on this looks quite solid?

[@S7EVE_P]

Am now the proud owner of a Foxbox in gold, super retro. I remember in school (in the 80s) kids walking around with gold watches on...mainly Casio and Lorus🤣

[@CassetteComeback]

I have the gold and black too. Wonderfully awful.

[@georgeprice4212]

It’s the ORIGINAL Tony Tony Tony! 😆

[@Algabatz]

Such a great name!

[@superbetahifi]

Reminded me of REALiTECH tapes I bought three for a dollar in the late 90s. Similar clear shell, screwed, but the pattern is like very small dots. Makes noise like a zipper when you run a fingernail across it. Rich, dark, smooth, uniform tape. Large, square pressure pad similar to high-quality tapes. Sound? I expected more given the appearance of the tape, but they sounded okay; I mostly recorded AM radio on them!

[@Astralify]

Ok, dat watch was unexpected. Now I want one as well.... xD

[@mattech9388]

I managed to find photos of the newer "EHF" tapes featured on the GenMag website and they have the same Tartan shell and they also have General Magnetics writtten all over them. I also found a newer revision of the LN and it openly admits that it was made in Singapore. So these could be pure GenMag.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are GenMag. Looking at the shells again, they do one with this pattern on them.

[@nimam81]

My mom had a Tony LN cassette from mid-70s. The label was exactly the same, but the shell was similar to Sony Low Noise A+B cassettes of the same era (darker and smoked clear plastic). The tape came from a legit duplicator in Iran with traditional Persian music recorded on it. Side A had an extra label attached to it with a list of songs and performer’s name. The sound quality seemed to be descent for the 1970s. The jewel case was the same as well. Sadly the tape went to landfill.

[@mrnmrn1]

Also looks similar to some Yashima UFO-I and UFO-I-S. Do you have any information about who made those and what tape stock they used? Have you tried them on the channel? Geez, I want that watch 😀 .

[@joelcarson4602]

The fact that there are so very many tape brands, sub- brands and various one-offs and mystery tapes that actually sound fairly decent out there speaks of the ubiquity and utility of cassettes as vehicles of music and popular culture during that time period. The ability to record and share music has created a fundamental set of expectations about the availability of culture, art and performance that have resulted in an explosion of creative output and distribution of the same. Pretty good for a plastic shell with a reel of polyester and rust inside. Who'd have thought.

[@CassetteComeback]

Well said. A lot just focus on the sound quality, when the cassette is more than the sum of the parts.

[@joelcarson4602]

@@CassetteComebackThe video cassette was a direct follow-up to the popularity of the Compact Cassette and just increased the momentum of make and share culture. For all of tapes warts and pimples there is still something magical about it. I should hate to see it vanish from the world.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

foxbox that is a cool looking watch !

[@peterzorlakki8199]

The tape itself looks just like 80s tdk D, even with the red lines on the leader.

[@danniielle]

The only thing that would've made this video even better would've been if that watch had Tony written on it too! Those tapes would be perfect for a decent boombox. Not a type zero at all and I quite like those shells.

[@dean6816]

If chrome cassettes on my decks sounded as good as that, I would be a happy man.

[@CassetteComeback]

The deck is more important than the cassette...

[@dean6816]

@@CassetteComeback Yeah I'm now starting to agree with you on that one. Teac V7000 is my top deck I own at the mo. Would love a ZX 9 if I could afford it!!

[@salimrajah5571]

ofcourse cassettes must comeback n deck also

[@Rick_Todd]

TonyTastic. Two Thumbs Up.

[@TheJRWH]

Tapes made by General Dynamics come with the Top Gun soundtrack recorded on them as standard 😂

[@koltinn]

A family friend gave me a lot of tapes to digitize, like 4 of em were Tony EHF-C90, they sounded good for Chinesium 80s tapes.

[@jasejj]

Sounds a lot better than those awful Memorex "discerning audioplihe" tapes that I think you identified as being GenMag!

[@user-fy6sz8cy8u]

Nice cassette

[@ningzhang2978]

I have used this exact type of TONY tape many, many years ago. I don’t think the sound quality was anything impressive (well I was using a SHARP boombox then, so nothing sophisticated), but the only one thing that left a lasting memory was the squeaking/noisy tape travel and I wasn’t happy about that ;-)

[@plan7a]

Wow, that tape is good - compared with what was expected from it! It might struggle if it was used at a faster dubbing (double) speed (maybe?); it might pick up a bit of the squeak when recording at that speed. However, that said, It didn't seem to have any noticeable drop-outs (if there were any at all)! It sounded good and decent enough!

[@cuoresportivo155]

I hear a bit more hiss (in the quieter parts) than I'd like but otherwise sounds just fine. I like the watch, it's a bit funky but it looks decently made

[@1975Loeven]

Surprising indeed! Just a drop of silicon oil in the small rollers and it'll stop squeeking too 🙂

[@LILM79847]

👍🏻

[@Fluteboy]

First Sonya - now Tony!

[@farchmarch7043]

« My own cassette »😜😁😂👏🏻👏🏻😉

[@Distorted-Vision]

Tony, just wondering if you were planning on release any new Villarosso tracks? Wish you would work with Megan McDuffee again.

[@CassetteComeback]

There will be some later in the year...

[@Distorted-Vision]

@@CassetteComeback Exciting news! Look forward to listening to them.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

cool Watch

[@chadergeist]

What kind of cassette deck is that?

[@chadergeist]

It says what type of cassette it is on the bottom part of the j card.

[@plan7a]

Additional Comment: Those last two tapes on the website gave me a kind of BASF feel, with the stripes/colours/designs, just saying!

[@Spudcore]

Schroedinger's Tape.

[@ciocanxxl]

Lucky tap have the same shell.

[@clemmteetonball11]

I've just checked out Ebay (Feb. 2024) and there's a Tony EHF C90 for sale (from Egypt) for £14.21 + £37.90 postage. Total £52.11 - Bargain !

[@jameschavez6400]

Looks like it’s not just Tony -it’s Tony,Tony,Tony- is it l n or bell snd😄

[@jameschavez6400]

Tony not all too balogna😆

[@martijnappeldoorn8686]

Hey tony you should d a channel about cheap chinese watches….no you already did Or what about toy cars!, that’ll be great! Oh no, nobody watches that, do they 😉 Finally a ‘tape with a name’ that is any good, the ‘sonya’ tape was really bad and so were the ‘mark 2’ tapes i had in the 80’s ,even as a kid back then in a cheap portable radio, i couldn’t believe how bad those were 👎

[@theaylesburycyclist8756]

First!!

[@Synthematix]

Tony is clearly a Sony rip off haha

[@Aaron-MackHartford]

Yeah, an off brand.