1990s Mitsubishi C60 Audio Cassette

One of the brands less synonymous with the manufacture of audio cassettes was Mitsubishi. This Mitsubishi C60 tape was given to me by someone I was teaching to play keyboards, near the end of 1999. So there’s a lot of stuff I can’t be sure of about. What I can say is that this is a Type I normal bias cassette, and hiss levels are not at all intrusive. Beyond that, there are some problems, but how much blame the cassette should take for that isn’t clear.

1981 Sony CHF 60 Audio Cassette

Sony CHF tapes were among the very first I used for my own recordings after I hit my teens. They were good, if basic, normal bias cassettes with quite a warm sound, but also an acceptable amount of definition for a Type I range-propper. Pretty noisy though.

The two other cassette models in the 1981 Sony Type I range were the Sony BHF, and the Sony AHF. The BHF was a noticeable upgrade on the quality of this CHF. And the AHF was a hugely improved, essentially pro-grade product of very high quality – coming with a much higher price tag.

I’ve got a fair old few Sony CHFs, and the material on them ranges quite widely. At one end of the scale there are some all-too-clear renditions of my own instrumental tracks, played on a Bontempi B370 organ. At the other, performances by chart bands of the day, recorded from the TV, with a cheapish tape recorder placed in front of the set’s speaker, and my family jabbering away in the background.

1984 Sony UCX 60 Audio Cassette

This was a tape which certainly had the looks, but did it have the sound to match?…