Mistake to buy second hand DCC Tapes?

Music, Cassettes, Recordings
6

These are the tapes I bought

Screenshot_2020-09-22 18 x Philips 90, 75 60 Min Used DCC Tapes Classical Music w Case Inlay eBay
Screenshot_2020-09-22 18 x Philips 90, 75 60 Min Used DCC Tapes Classical Music w Case Inlay eBay1583×825 275 KB

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7

Were they rewound?

Under these conditions, @david.desclos had success with an eraser, but I doubt it is worth it to get one for just one batch.

In any case, don’t throw them away, they may be of some use later.

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Most of them were not rewound

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I’m not sure what the return postage would cost, but your screenshot of the eBay listing says “30 days refund”, this may be worth a try.

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Thanks @Max, I’ve just sent a return request to the seller. I guess it would be best to stick with nos tapes. Can you or @drdcc recommend a good seller for tapes?

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No, we don’t have any recommendations and I don’t think there are sellers with a bigger stock and a decent price left, I had some luck with private purchases. I am not sure if @drdcc can sell you ones.

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We currently have 60 min SCOTCH NOS in stock only.

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@Richard_Symes Please read my (clumsy) attempt to make an instruction on how to handle second hand tapes for the first time here:
https://www.reeltoreel.nl/blog/?p=949
This information can be updated with the newly found felt-pad replacement, which will improve the situation considerably, as I can tell from 1st hand experience. See on the forum here:

-Philip

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Thanks @pvdm for all the information, makes very interesting reading.

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15

When the player stops, take the cassette out en expose the tape by opening the slider. rewind manually and you will see the spot which causes the stopping

Use IPA to clean the spot
I managed to fix quite some tapes this way
I believe DCC museum also has a video for this

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16

Thanks for the advice @Steve, I’ll give one a try and see how I get on. I have returned the batch in question for a refund but I have a few others here.

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We do have one, but this does not fix all issues especially not when recording:

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Also,

the 3rd generation and up always end up in a continuous reverse loop from A>B and vice versa. I use a 2nd generation player because it will just stop not reverse. Sometimes keep pressing play will move the problem area forward and will solve the issue. Once the problem area is moved across the head it sometimes solves the issue for good

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19

True, sometimes the only way out is to try if the tape will fast wind, or if that does not work take the tape out and wind manually …

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20

I believe buying used DCC tapes is a waste of money, three times i have bought really nice used tapes in bundles of like 10, all clean and all the J cards Un used virtually like new, seller always saying only used once!! How he would know this i have no idea anyway there fine playing what’s on them but as soon as i have tried to record over them ( even after a bulk erase) i find drop outs everywhere even a few that just will not record at all, the felt pads have been perfectly clean But i use NOS sealed and there perfect, i have three DCC machines all act the same, i have stopped buying used tapes !!

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21

I don’t buy used DCC tapes except prerecorded ones.
I got a couple of used BASF and Philips ones free when buying a DCC decks. All of them didn’t work properly. Sticky, squeeking and dropouts. And I only managed to refurbished only one of them, Philips.

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22

Hi, if you buy used dcc tapes there are risk of dropouts if the tape has not been wound to the clear leader.
Dcc tapes tend to oxidize and bubble if they are not wound and bare tape exposed to air.If you plan on making more recordings find tapes that have been wound to start. The dcc museum has made a video that indicates the root cause on dropouts due to dirt on tape surface. You can view the video and the cleaning process to fix that. Hope this helps, Albert.

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23

I don’t understand because the prerecorded DCC (that, I think, have a felt pad of 1st generation) don’t have, generally, mistake or dropouts, while blank DCC of 1st generation have them.

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The reason for that is that the slip stick affect, effects recording more then playback.

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25

My opinion of used tapes has changed now I am more aware of the issues. I have purchased more recently and the first thing I do is clean the pad and then (if its not rewound which most of them aren’t) look at the tape about a metre each side of the pad. I often find blenishes but they are easily cleaned. Then fast wind a couple of times and 90% of the time this leaves a useable tape. Well worth spending a little time on them before hitting play or record :slightly_smiling_face:

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