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.

1992 BASF Chrome Extra II 60 Audio Cassette

BASF maintained their commitment to chrome as a Type 2 formulation into the 1990s, and this was how things were looking in 1992. The BASF Chrome Extra II was the ‘entry level’ chrome tape in the range. It had a very typical BASF sound – quite glassy, with so much weight at the extremes of the frequency range, it was almost as if some of the midrange had been scooped a little. If you liked that sound, this was a great value tape, proving itself a lot more resistant to drop-outs than early ’80s BASFs in my experience.

1987 Maxell UD II 46 Audio Cassette

After buying my first proper home multi-tracking system in 1987 (a Tascam Porta One), I asked around for recommendations as to the best value high bias CrO2 tapes. The Maxell UDII was mentioned, and I gave it a try. I wasn’t disappointed. These were really nice products, with great high frequency reproduction and what I felt at the time was superb resilience. Now 25 years old, my first batch of Maxell UDIIs haven’t noticeably degraded with age, and have preserved my initial experiments with 4-track recording extremely well. The content of the recordings, however, is another matter.