1994 That’s AS:I 54 Audio Cassette

The That’s AS:I 54 was a really impressive Type 1 normal bias tape. The first thing you noticed about it was the unusually quiet performance. Noise levels are truly low for a mid-range Type 1. I used this particular cassette to record an acoustic piano performance, which I played on a Welmar upright in 1994. Tape hiss could be an issue on solo acoustic instrument performances even with Type II cassettes, but it really isn’t a problem here. I didn’t even use Dolby! The sound is what you’d expect from a very good normal bias tape. Rounded and warm, but with a well defined edge.

WHSmith Cleaning and Demagnetising Tape

Not content with offering a mere head cleaning tape, WHSmith sold a combined Cleaning and Demagnetising Cassette, as shown here in a Tascam Porta 05 multitracker. Contrary to some designs of head demagnetiser cassette, this one, from the 1990s, contained no circuitry. Inside it’s just a standard set of spools, plus a cylindrical magnet, around which the cleaning tape is wrapped, so that the magnet revolves in the opposite direction to the exposed tape when the cassette is run. The magnet, incidentally, is behind the red and white spoked wheel graphic. It’s not particularly strong.

1997 Woolworths Chrome High Bias Audio Cassette

In addition to the standard ferric in the post on THIS LINK, Woolworths also did a high bias Chrome audio cassette. I’m assuming Chrome was just the name of the product and not the actual tape formulation, as this artefact comes from 1997 – in an era afterwhich even the highly chrome-committed BASF had turned their backs on real chrome.