1990 BASF Ferro Extra I 90 Audio Cassette

What an excellent tape this BASF Ferro Extra I was. As you’d expect, given the cassette’s name, it was a Type I, normal bias ferric, but it had a lovely refined sound. I bought a few of these in the autumn of 1990, shortly after getting myself a Tascam Porta 05 ministudio (26th September – still got the receipt). The Ferro Extra Is weren’t suitable for use in the Tascam (which only took Type II tapes), but I wanted to master some of the Tascam’s multitrack recordings onto normal bias cassettes which would play on the widest range of equipment.

1990 Sony UX 60 Audio Cassette

Given that the Sony UX was the most basic Type II audio tape in the manufacturer’s 1990 range, it was a really nice job. I found these very reliable for home multi-tracking, if rather uninspiring to look at and a little ‘wallflower’ in terms of tonal character. This Sony UX 60 feels reassuring when you pick it up, and is very uniform and smooth in its sound reproduction. The tape has an extra uniaxial formulation, but I’m not sure that this in itself was any cause for high expectations. The later Sony FXII 60 also boasted the extra uniaxial coating, but to me sounded thinner than the UX 60 and didn’t in my experience perform as reliably.

1990 BASF Chrome Extra II 60 Audio Cassette

This is the dark grey, ridged version of the BASF Chrome Extra II, from 1990. It falls in between this version, from 1989, and this much more attractive version, from 1992. I wasn’t keen at all on the aesthetics of the version in this post, and I’m not convinced it sounded as good as the others either. It certainly doesn’t sound as nice to me as the ’92 version, which I felt was more in keeping with the Chromdioxids of the early ’80s. I have to admit though, I never tested tapes scientifically. It was just practical use in working situations that formed my opinions.