Reel to Reel two-track/four-track

I've picked up several pre-recorded tapes and they sound great ('60's stuff). These are recorded in the usual manner with side one of the LP on tracks one and three and side two on tracks two and four.
Side one plays left to right and side two of the LP plays right to left.

I just played an early tape (Taboo by Arthur Lyman released in 1958). This tape has twice as much tape as you normally see on a four track. It plays in stereo although the box has no mention of stereo. It sounds great and it plays the whole LP left to right. I stopped the tape and played a few seconds in reverse and the tape just played backwards.

So, this is a two-track tape. It seems there would be some sonicloss if the track on the tape is twice as wide as the track on the playback head.

OR...does it playback correctly because my deck has both a forward and reverse playback head.

I hope I'm being clear enough :-)

Thanks.

Let me see if I can clarify: For 4-Track

A Right ----->
<----- B Left
B Right ----->      
<---- A Left

For 1/2 (2) Track

A Right ---->

B Right ---->

Your 1/4-track machine will play the top half of the A track and the top half of the B track if the tape is recorded in 1/2 track.  Flipped, the same, but backwards.

Yes, there will be some losses - but with pre-recorded tapes, they were not all that great in the first place such that losses would hardly be noticed.

One nasty sideeffect with 4track is that very low frequency's will "bleed over" from the other direction, and as these are unrelated will be really disturbing.
I experienced this with braun TG504 ( 4 track). It ended by me rebuilding it to a 2 track ( TG502/4)
where the deck was 2 track but en extra 4 track playback head would enable old 4 track tapes to be
played.
Another difference is that the signal to noise ratio is 3 dB better with 2 track

This guy is excellent at describing this technology:

Thanks.
I was really surprised at how good the two-track sounded (at least LP quality).

I came close to purchasing a TEAC A-2300S off Craig's list until I watched that video and realized i don't know jack about this and better think about it a little more.

I knew I was kinda going down another rabbit hole when I bought the Pioneer RT 909.
Right now it's in a shop for calibration. The shop is about 65 miles away :-(

A buddy said he could do it but couldn't :-(

Sounded incredible in forward direction, though :-)

I used to record my albums on a Sony Super Betamax to throw on for parties for extended playing without messing with it. The sound quality in those recording were phenomenal. In some cases the tapes had a better sound than the records. To this day cannot explain this but my friends lsitened and agreed. Weird!

Beta or VHS Hi Fi was a superior format for audio recording. VERY close to digital but analog.
Unfortunately I don't think anyone makes decent blanks for the machines anymore.

Yes, those recorders were great for audio. Here is the one I had:

http://www.betamaxcollectors.com/sonysuperbetamaxmodelsl-hf900.html

CC1492
That's my machine. Love the B77 Mk II. At 7.5 ips (slow setting) it's so quiet you can hear a mouse-fart over top of it. NEVER goin' back to 4-track.

I may have to get a two track deck. The rabbit hole deepens.

And, with all this discussion on tape - is there a reasonable source these days for decent-quality 1/4" tape on 10" reels?

https://www.atrtape.com

They're in York, Pa. Their products are excellent.

Dave_in_Va wrote:https://www.atrtape.com

They're in York, Pa. Their products are excellent.

Practically next door!

Peter W. wrote:

Dave_in_Va wrote:https://www.atrtape.com

They're in York, Pa. Their products are excellent.

Practically next door!

I'll second Dave in Va on ATR tapes. Excellent. I use 1800-foot reels but apparently you lose nothing with their new 3600' mastertape. That's too thin for me; 1800' works just fine.
There are two others worthy of mention: Pyral, (https://www.splicit.com/RMGI-PYRAL-Recording-Tape-s/150.htm) which I believe is the old BASF magnetic tape works relocated to France; and Ampex, now known as Quantegy. All can be googled for price comparisons, etc.
Shouldn't have to tell the old-timers, but even the new tapes have a shelf-life of about 10 years. So pass on the great eBay deal for sealed, never opened TDK-Maxell etc. blank tape. They will be brittle and all the magic little magnetic pieces will scrape off on your heads first time through. Bad deal for heads and tape. Buy. New. Tape.
A surprising little artifact: ATR and Quantegy looked like they've wound on the reel inside-out. The deep dark brown surface now goes on the outside; the shiny lighter-brown side that looks like it should be the back is the one that touches the heads. Don't screw things up and get your spool twisted cuz the wrap looks backwards.
If you can get a good deal on empty metal reels, stockpile them and buy "pancakes" of tape instead of the spooled lot. Just split the reel and drop the pancake in. Ofttimes this is cheaper than buying your tape on a new reel from the mfgrs.