Another great video Tony! I can vouch for the UR's toughness. I worked at a AM radio station in the 80's where we used UR 120's for recording radio programs from satellite and playing them on the air later. We used them over and over again but even when the tape was very worn out it never broke or jammed up. Anyway we cassette fans should respect the UR for being the "Last of the Mohicans" survivor of all the legendary tapes that came out in the 1980's. My favorite version is still the 1985-88, it made a big impression on me when I started using them. I never saw the BASF made UR in the USA, and it seemed the hissiest of all of the three you tested.
I bought many tapes Maxell UR-60 since 1999 until 2004, and this material actually has excellent preservation. I recorded many radio programs in this wonderful cassettes, in Mexico fortunately saled this brand and model of tapes.
Man, that 1985 wrapper is so classic. Only have one left unopened right now that I found at a thrift store years ago. That 85 Maxell range are some of my favourite looking cassettes. Have a bunch of the later guy in a chair URs of a few different designs. Never seen the Original before.
@Duck GWR Many tape companies put a LOT of thought into the design and labeling of cassettes back through the early 90s, but I would say they were at peak detailing in the mid to late 80s!
That hiss is part of analog!Without that hiss,never i buy again a cassette tape,a cassette deck!In that case we must stay with cd,MQA,DSD etc.I love that hiss,and all my recordings they are made without using dolby.....
The 1985 and 1988 UR had the best smell on any other Maxell cassette. The 1985 UR had “Japan Components (Assembled in R. Korea)” on them, and that was in the US version, and also on the 1977 LN and the 1982 LN does have the same thing in the US.
Fantastic as always... The UR will always have a special place in my heart! I used to buy loads of them and in the early 90s, I could still find the 88 version from the local store I used to buy from. I got super nostalgic when I saw those labels. I remember putting them on as you had to be careful to stick it on its proper position. Thanks Tony for this video!
Those tapes are VERY good, even the ones today are! They sound GREAT, are consistent, and built WELL! I've never had one ever mess up on me, I LOVE those tapes!
The '88 version with the solid hubs are some of the smoothest type 1s I've used. Put The Beatles on quite a few of mine, and always on the lookout for more in the 60 min lengths. Really enjoy these "cassette in profile" videos, like with the vintage cassette database you can see the evolution of the tapes- except that website doesn't have Tony's chair in it.
Also, the first Maxell UR I ever had was an 85 version a friend gave to me with...the Miami Vice Soundtrack on it! Jan Hammer sounded great on it, even on the cheap boombox I had at the time.
I’ve never come across a bad Maxell tape, especially UR. In my humble opinion, Maxell UR cassettes are great, look nice and are very useful. Maxell UR tapes, I would, on a five-star scale, give five stars. Cheers! 🍻 📼 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Maxell UR is still the best sounding cassette on the planet. I have so many of these, including the 1985 version with light gray J-Cards along with the original box in a 10-pack that I got in a flea market a long time ago, along with a few with red J-Cards, and both has the same cassette as it was in the ‘85 version. I also have a few ‘88, ‘91, ‘93, and ‘95 all the way to the last generation which is the ‘99 and still continues to this day. There were other predecessors like the LN and UD both came out in the 1970’s, along with the cheaper low end cassettes like the LN and S-LN as well while the UR was made.
@@CassetteComeback it's cringeworthy, forcing innocent and good people do be apologetic purely because they happened to be born with less melanin, keep up the great work and ignore the hippy bandwagon jumpers
Even WITH the sticker, the '85 UR still doesn't look complete to my eyes.. I'd feel much better if you would please write "Michael Jackson - BAD" on it 🕺
I had one of these of the "Springfield Jr High Jazz Band!" Hate to waste a good cassette on a group of tweens honkin their way through "The Theme from M*A*S*H," so the UR90 was spot on for that project!
When the western world moved from tape to CD, I did too. CDs have some good qualities, but after growing up on cassette tapes, doing all my radio air checks on cassette, mix tapes, etc. I preferred cassette. Recording to CD requires hardware and software that can burn a CD. Too many variables to bugger up. Recording to cassette has always seems easier and more reliable to me.
Even the later 90s and early 2000s American URs (which look similar to the one you didn't have but pictured) are really decent tapes, I've found (and have a ton of currently). Well, you've covered the HF, the D, and the UR in depth now.. I think it's about time for the Ultimate Vintage Type I Throwdown - maybe the '85s/88s/95s - D vs UR vs HF! See who comes out on top. (unless you've done it and I missed it lol) .. Great video, as always, Tony - thanks!
Thanks Tony for the vídeo!I like the most 85 and 88 URs The 85 Is a legend, due to have been the First UR Made by Maxell; it has beautiful label colours, wrapper, AND the 88 which has a More refined style of Shell and that is very good sounding as well.I Think as with TDK D , you cant go wrong with a Maxell UR.Generally speaking Maxell makes everlasting cassettes for tough work.I like its criteria of simplicity beautifully conceived, and the fact that they are built like a tank.Thanks again Tony!As always I'm very happy to learn something new every day .Regards!Rafael
6:49 I recorded on a few of the oval Maxell UR90's mainly electronic music from CD's and they were great cassettes and had an awesome smell to them as well. I liked how the labels matched the oval design.
As I have posted elsewhere, the UR 120's helped me to find one of my favorite bands quite by accident. I loved listening to two radio shows in my car. But I listened to them on cassette. The two were Dr. Dementio and Cartalk. I originally used my Nakamichi 600 to record these with a timer. But once I bought my auto-reverse Kenwood dual well deck in 1997, I moved to a 2 hour record mode on 120's. Cartalk was a one hour show. In order to put less stress on the C-120 I let the Kenwood record for two hours. Thus I didn't have to rewind the tape. One week in the last segment of the second hour I heard a group play a Canadian Folk Waltz that almost hypnotized me. I immediately hit the rewind button and played it twice more. Arriving home I played it for my wife on our home system. The group was Bottine Souriante, but the song was unknown to me. I attempted to contact the group by email. I wanted to buy a recording of that song. I sent an mp3 copy as an attachment but the response was less than enlightening. First, there was a language barrier. The recipients of my email were French speaking and couldn't completely grasp the question. "Is that wonderful song played as the last piece of the radio show available on CD?" Second there was a technology problem. They informed me that at that time in the late 90's their Mac computers couldn't play mp3's. I filled my question in my brain until Amazon, IIRC, CD's were sold on Amazon with the ability to listen to track segments before buying. I bought Xieme which includes the beautiful "Ciel D'Automne" (along with a couple other CD's by Bottine Souriante. ) My wife and I were lucky enough to attend one of their rare US concerts on the campus of Dartmouth College. Thank you Maxell UR C-120!
Thank you Tony, on the spot all the time. I´ve never had any luck with Maxell UR. Maybe I was recording them too hot? Will give them another try. Working on a deck upgrade like you suggested. Have a nice one.
Hey Tony! I love your channel! Got recently into cassettes again and bought myself a Sony TC K-415 and an Akai DX-49. As i watched all your videos i found something missing. I'm equally into the tapes themself as i am into the devices they are meant to be played back on. It would be really awesome if you could let us have a look on your deck collection. So far i always see a new deck pop up in your videos and am curious what i haven't seen jet. You could do a deck a week/month with all its history and story behind it or just a long video going through them all at once.
They all sound great, the '85 and '88 look great and, as always, great video! Never seen those "original UR" (or any Maxell with non-Maxell hubs, I think) here.
Hi Tony! Indeed Maxell are among the best and i always loved the look and the sound of these cassettes. By the way, the stickers for the 1985 version looks very much like the stickers of Fuji FR II.
The 88's version were made worldwide, yours is made in Korea, I got mine in Antwerp, 1992, it's made in Germany and more than likely loaded with light brown Basf tape. I personally stick to classic Maxell LN, slightly better response at high frequencies :)
I myself have some sealed Originals, however, they have the different tape inside. The hubs look like stars or cogs, the "Original" has been moved to the right hub instead of in the middle and the tape is a slightly transparent pure chocolate-like brown. Personally I love how clean this shell is, looking almost crystal clear and nearly no resistance when spooling at all. Cheers!
My workplace actually has a strategic reserve of mid-00s Maxell URs for dictation use. Like bulk boxes stacked 6 feet high. There was a scare that supply of new cassettes was going to dry up so someone scoured all the remote offices and built up the inventory. We had problems with our digital dictation workflow and still have the trusty old cassette+Sony dictation player with foot pedals on standby (they were still in active use a few years ago). Amazingly there is a Telex high speed duplicator that still works too!
I had a 5 pack of the 1985 when I was a young teenager, possibly my very first 5 pack, and I was probably given them for Christmas by my parents. I recorded my NOW 10 LP on two of them, and used the rest for Dire Straits. They remained my only (heavily played) copy of Dire Straits until I bought them on CD many many years later. They weren't great copies, having been dubbed off another copy. What I never realised was just how good the tape can actually sound. I just got some of the 1988 version yesterday, and have just tried recording a digital source onto them, having calibrated bias and pre-recording level on a good 3 head deck. I also used Dolby C (which because the deck is well calibrated to the tape, works superbly). And wow, does the '88 version sound impressive. It's so so close to the source once bias is tweaked, I can't quite believe it. I really struggle to tell UR and source apart, listening on decent open back headphones and a rather nice tube headphone amp. I tested a bunch of other ferrics, but also an AR, an SA, and a late model XL-II as well. Those last three are all indistinguishable from the source. The TDK D and Sony HF kept up with the UR too. I clearly need to find some more challenging test music, but for electronica (Goldfrapp's NeverStop in this case) all the ones I've mentioned were awesome. And the quality of the design work on the 1988 model - it's timeless. The inlay card looks contemporary; great typography, good colours. I think I might have a new favourite amongst the standard Type I's. I'm tempted to go and re-record my Dire Straits albums…
I have all of these Maxell Cassettes which I played over 5,000 times, besides other hundreds of brands of tapes I also played on my Professional Studio Quality Audio Compact Cassette Tape Deck, and they still sound amazing! Since I Professionally Record them from being, Louder Sharper and Cleaner than CD's and especially MP3's! I played them so much, that the pinch roller is permanently embedded with the chemical reaction from the protective layer of the tape, the pinch roller is naturally grey, but there is a dark black, mirrorish layer where the tape gets pinched between the Capstan and the pinch roller, you can see the Capstan's reflection spinning in the part of the pinch rollers in ether deck. I never, ever use alcohol or tape head cleaning solution on the rubber pinch roller, since it will dry it out! And I'm still playing one of the Maxell UR 90 with the Green "Original" lettering and White & Red hubs tape playing in my Tape Deck B, right now! Not to mention, I just purchased brand new blank Maxell UR 90 Minute Tapes from Fred Meyer today. Im glad they still sell them today!
I have a few LNs from the late 1970s. The tape colour was lighter brown, with a mat finish rather than high gloss. It was noisier with muted highs, but it worked for disco. I still have cartons of unopened XLII s we bought at good prices before CDs took over. Most of my cassette decks are worn out though.
Been looking forward to any tape evaluation you’re doing. The ‘88 sounded best to me. Could be that track had more going on both in the lows and highs. When you talk performance at this level, this is a really good standard for ferric tape. Still looking for a Revox B215. Just haven’t found one yet I can sink my money in. It’ll come. You always do a fun program Tony! Stay safe!
I was always a TDK man back in the day for some reason, maybe it was the look or the just more availability, but of all of them the 88 UR is a nostalgic cassette for me, I still have the Bon Jovi concert at Milton Keynes bowl I went to on tape, it was broadcast on radio 1 FM and my sister recorded it for me!
God we where spoilt back then, quality cassettes for peanut prices.....My oval shell still perform as good as the day they where opened in the 80,s...:):)
Our Tony, what have you done? The power of TH-cam means there were no URs left in our Tesco Haydock or St Helens after you gave the game away. A few months ago they couldn't give 'em away now, like the whispering grass, now everybody knows, Lofty T, that they are being discontinued. I should be angry with you but you are so informative and entertaining. Continuing the 70s theme, you are awful but we like you. These guys may be hissy, but we grew up with them. What is not to forgive? They gave me hours of pleasure back then, and cassette Gods willing, they will continue to give me pleasure in the future. I recorded the charts on the '85 version and it's predecessor the UL in 83 and I can still listen to the late Tommy Vance run down the chart long after he has gone to the monsters of Rock Valhalla. Excellent video and I hope you will find more UR stock to purchase from your store our Tony?
Hiss is part of them being s Cassette. Just because I acknowledge it, doesn't mean I mind it. The discontinuation of the UR isn't due to me, it's been common knowledge in cassette "circles" for the past year 😁 There's load of old Radio 1 charts on Mixcloud. They're great to record again.
Tony, this is your conscience talking to you... prepare a review of your Nakamichi Cassette Deck 2!!! :D Thanks for the UR review! Thoroughly enjoyed it!
In Slovakia, in the case of "original ur", it was something like this: Around 1998, it was sold in a blue package with the large inscription "EURO". Inside was a "original ur" cassette made by Maxell. Cheap transparent shell with cast Maxell inscription. Probably Pure Crystal, the tape was good. Cheaper than "UR" Shortly afterwards, it came in a red package with the words "original ur" and the cassette was exactly the same. In about 2002, the EMTEC cartridge was sold in the same red packaging, just like in your video. Maxell sold OEM products in Europe in 2002 and then only Indonesia products (PT.Panggung Electric Corp.). Probably at that time there was a change or sale of Maxell's production equipment. Maxell "UR" was also an OEM Emtec or Saehan in 2002.
Great... I'm a big Maxell-fan. I use the UR for "background" mix tapes, and mostly XL-II for jazz, country, 50s-70s pop, 50-60s folk. So I'm definitely looking forward to a similar story on the many incarnations of the XL-II (because even my UD-XLII cassettes stil sound great), I'd love to see a comparison between the UR-UD-I,XL-I and XL-I-S, same for UD-II, XL-II, XLII-S, perhaps even a "entry level chrome"-comparison: UD(S)-II, SX, SQ. In general, I like the 1985 lineup (that great looking UD-II in shiny gold, and the XL-II in a brushed-look version), and the ones that came right behind that with the "retro" hubs (like here: vintagecassettes.com/maxell/maxell_files/image817.jpg).
The UDI let's you push higher volume and has lower noise. A great choice when you can't find an XLI-S tape. The XLI-S is on par with the TDK AR-X tape.
I've loved The Maxell Type 2 tapes. Rarely any lemons. But I used to prefer the TDK type 1 .Just had more Highs and compression especially for radio shows. But hardly use them now. Been lucky to find plenty new old stock and hundreds of used type 2 I could probably take over if I needed to. Got a good deck being fixed up since I have hours of good live music from the past to rediscover .
funny you should do this video as i have brought a couple of the ones with the bloke sitting on the wrapper and the 88 version one also xlII-s and a Ln also this week i have some of the last ur's and used one of them and found the hiss not to be that bad tbh what the diff on the original between the 90 stamp on the cassette being in either white or green the 88 ur looks lost in the revox(the tinted part looks part of it) it looks really cool again i love the wrappers and tape design on the maxell will have to get more of them what do you do with all these tape to use in the videos. i have finally managed to get me a 3 head deck when it turn's up i cant wait to have a go(after a strip down and clean)
I like the look of the early-to-mid-80's tapes. Love your videos. Only one criticism- when you test the tapes, you start with the sound from the tape instead of the source. For me, it's a spoiler that takes away the suspense/surprise aspect. It's just my glass onion.... I mean opinion (just felt like throwing a joke in there), that it would make it better to put the source sound first. Thanks for your dedication. PS I did end up going , finally, to the store in Brooklyn, and the tapes have some familiar similarities to tapes you've described, like the hub design. I will have to go back to that video and let you know about it. :)
Hi Tony! Just going back to an old video to comment because it's about this brand. TE channel, a young guy from Vietnam that restores vintage electronics did a neat video on decorating plain new Maxell UE cassettes. I thought you might like to check it out.
Great vid to wile away a Friday evening. I picked some of the '88 Green ones at a charity shop few months ago for 20p each- bargain methinks. Stay safe and keep up the great work. P.S.- Have you used Sharp blank minidiscs at all?
@7:10 Easy to use cassette, maybe they were talking about basf pure chromes or phillips pure chromes where you have to do a biasing analytical physics and dynamics audio test before recording 😅😅
Why is 88 the prime year for tapes? The SA reference from TDK. The Maxell UR. Just to name two. Oh and the Fuji FR-II. Hahah that’s 3 - I digress! Those URs were also my Normal tape of choice back in 88-90. Made so many tapes. Mostly hip hop and dance and boy those sounded great even on lousy decks. :-)
Maxell is my favorite cassette brand. They’re very reliable, very high quality and rugged. Does anyone know what UR stands for? I can’t seem to figure it out. Just curious.
The UR stands for ur mom. Just kidding, the ur is not a shortening as far as i know, it simply represents the fact that it's a basic entry level cassette mostly used for voice recording.
Not much difference in sound quality from the source to any of these cassettes besides some tape hiss. In the 80s and early 90s I would have been blown away by this sound quality coming from my boom box. :)
Can you actually hear the hiss in Tony's videos? Because i can't hear it. I've got my pc hooked up to my NAD amp and Dali Zensor 3 speakers. Even if i turn up the volume considerably i don't hear any hiss.
Strange, the Revox scale should really be the same as the Nak's scale. Maybe someone was working on it and got that wrong. Service Manual clearly says 200nWb/m Dolby Level should be zero on the PPM. Nice tapes and video though.
Why is the tape different colors? They are all ferric tape and all based on clear Mylar with a coating of a waxy base with rust particles, at least in theory. Is simply different dyes? Do various additives have a different color? Does it denote how much of one doping agent vs a different one?
tarstarkusz Good question but there were some proprietary formulations so the rust is a bit different from one to another some are "doped" with other metals too.
@@watershed44 The only thing I can think of is one, a doping agent or 2, they actually added dye to the formulation for a more uniform (or possibly better looking) tape.
The 1985 version of which I own a few remind me of the TDK D, terms of looks. They are very similar, looks wise. Just a plain black tape with an ugly colored sticker. While I had pretty good luck with the Maxell, the TDK D sounded awful in whatever deck I used it in. Because I still have one of them that has a terrible copy of Deepest Purple (Deep Purple) on it.
I don't know what it is with the new maxell UR tapes. But my deck really does not like them at all.even with Dolby s in use, an old, used agfa LNS 60 from the 80s still sounds better, have I just been unlucky and got a bad set? Or is it my deck (SONY TC-S1) , the heads are cleaned once every two weeks.
Something peeked my interest, so i randomly trye'd to see if i could order cassette in my country, and well it seems so Theyre name is Crosley Blank Cassette, probably Type 0 mimic i dunno
2:01 Prophecy? A man in a mask against covid-19 listening to music? Joke, I've seen this photo or similar on books cover of Aleksander Witort, polish audio guru about hifi equipment. Dźwięk i Technika HI-FI (Sound and Hi-Fi technique - Aleksander Witort).
Pinch rollers get worn & need replacement. Tape reels stop turning freely. Tape gets eaten in tape decks. Cassette tapes are NOT a good media! They all should've been replaced by the LS-120 super-disks: th-cam.com/video/5ks3ucumilU/w-d-xo.html
Ferrari 250 GTOs are beaten in every aspect by modern cars. Speed, safety, costs, all bested. Doesn't stop the Ferrari being magic and one of the most desired cars on the planet. Provence and character mean a lot.
Another great video Tony! I can vouch for the UR's toughness. I worked at a AM radio station in the 80's where we used UR 120's for recording radio programs from satellite and playing them on the air later. We used them over and over again but even when the tape was very worn out it never broke or jammed up. Anyway we cassette fans should respect the UR for being the "Last of the Mohicans" survivor of all the legendary tapes that came out in the 1980's. My favorite version is still the 1985-88, it made a big impression on me when I started using them. I never saw the BASF made UR in the USA, and it seemed the hissiest of all of the three you tested.
I had one curl up and jam. A 1993 UR 90 green and red version the ones from the lineup that brought back the Maxell XLI designater.
I bought many tapes Maxell UR-60 since 1999 until 2004, and this material actually has excellent preservation. I recorded many radio programs in this wonderful cassettes, in Mexico fortunately saled this brand and model of tapes.
Man, that 1985 wrapper is so classic. Only have one left unopened right now that I found at a thrift store years ago. That 85 Maxell range are some of my favourite looking cassettes. Have a bunch of the later guy in a chair URs of a few different designs. Never seen the Original before.
@Duck GWR
Many tape companies put a LOT of thought into the design and labeling of cassettes back through the early 90s, but I would say they were at peak detailing in the mid to late 80s!
That hiss is part of analog!Without that hiss,never i buy again a cassette tape,a cassette deck!In that case we must stay with cd,MQA,DSD etc.I love that hiss,and all my recordings they are made without using dolby.....
Agreed. Hiss is part of it being a cassette. Just because I acknowledge it, doesn't mean I mind it.
I used some of the 'red' maxell UR tapes back in the late 80s, I always liked them, but I didn't know they were famous :)
There were two different variants of the ‘85 UR. The first one had a light gray with no cut-out J-card, and the second had red with a cut-out J-card.
How comes nobody mentions a very specific, distinctive smell of the oval Maxells? It was actually part of the experience!
All the older maxells had that smell. My 35 year old maxells still do!
Adam Lipsky I remember those and the curved labels well. So awesome.
I still remember that smell, too bad we couldn't get a good buzz from it! :)
Like somebody said the Maxwell oval shell smell never seems to diminish.
@@moco2802 I also have some from 1993, and I noticed that. I would almost call it fumes! The smell is very strong.
'88 seems to be just a great year for Cassette Tape design... Love the '88 UR, love the '88 D, and love the '88 SA/MA - Keep up the awesome work Tony
Yeah 88 is the year for TDK and That's.
Agreed. I think the 88 SA-X is one of the best looking cassettes ever. The XLII-S of the time is sleek and solid too.
Definitely. Especially with the oval-shell XLII
Agreed. 88 was a great year. SA reference is the best. The UR and XLII-S. and even Fuji’s FR-II. Mmmmm.
86 TDK D I like better. But I agree with you on the SA and MA. The TDK AR-X was also a good tape! Never recorded on an 88 TDK AD or a 90 TDK AD.
Lasting memory of 88 UR's - the smell, they had a really particular and peculiar smell! Also the hub clips always looked like little crowns to me
Yeah, they really did
The 1985 and 1988 UR had the best smell on any other Maxell cassette. The 1985 UR had “Japan Components (Assembled in R. Korea)” on them, and that was in the US version, and also on the 1977 LN and the 1982 LN does have the same thing in the US.
Fantastic as always... The UR will always have a special place in my heart! I used to buy loads of them and in the early 90s, I could still find the 88 version from the local store I used to buy from. I got super nostalgic when I saw those labels. I remember putting them on as you had to be careful to stick it on its proper position. Thanks Tony for this video!
Those tapes are VERY good, even the ones today are! They sound GREAT, are consistent, and built WELL! I've never had one ever mess up on me, I LOVE those tapes!
The '88 version with the solid hubs are some of the smoothest type 1s I've used. Put The Beatles on quite a few of mine, and always on the lookout for more in the 60 min lengths. Really enjoy these "cassette in profile" videos, like with the vintage cassette database you can see the evolution of the tapes- except that website doesn't have Tony's chair in it.
Also, the first Maxell UR I ever had was an 85 version a friend gave to me with...the Miami Vice Soundtrack on it! Jan Hammer sounded great on it, even on the cheap boombox I had at the time.
I’ve never come across a bad Maxell tape, especially UR. In my humble opinion, Maxell UR cassettes are great, look nice and are very useful. Maxell UR tapes, I would, on a five-star scale, give five stars. Cheers! 🍻 📼 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
@@colloidalsilverwater15ppm88 OK. Here it is. 👉📼⭐ x 10 👍
@@colloidalsilverwater15ppm88 Sayonara! 😃🌅🌄🌇👘🥋📼
Maxell UR is still the best sounding cassette on the planet. I have so many of these, including the 1985 version with light gray J-Cards along with the original box in a 10-pack that I got in a flea market a long time ago, along with a few with red J-Cards, and both has the same cassette as it was in the ‘85 version. I also have a few ‘88, ‘91, ‘93, and ‘95 all the way to the last generation which is the ‘99 and still continues to this day.
There were other predecessors like the LN and UD both came out in the 1970’s, along with the cheaper low end cassettes like the LN and S-LN as well while the UR was made.
0:20 - 0:25 utter respect from me, mate.
Yeah. Everyone is trying to jump on the bandwagon...
@@CassetteComeback it's cringeworthy, forcing innocent and good people do be apologetic purely because they happened to be born with less melanin, keep up the great work and ignore the hippy bandwagon jumpers
Even WITH the sticker, the '85 UR still doesn't look complete to my eyes.. I'd feel much better if you would please write "Michael Jackson - BAD" on it 🕺
or Live Aid. I'm sure I used a red UR for some of it.
And Alphaville - Big In Japan
How about Duran Duran
Only because BAD came out 2 years later in 1987 ;) just saying
I had one of these of the "Springfield Jr High Jazz Band!" Hate to waste a good cassette on a group of tweens honkin their way through "The Theme from M*A*S*H," so the UR90 was spot on for that project!
When the western world moved from tape to CD, I did too. CDs have some good qualities, but after growing up on cassette tapes, doing all my radio air checks on cassette, mix tapes, etc. I preferred cassette.
Recording to CD requires hardware and software that can burn a CD. Too many variables to bugger up. Recording to cassette has always seems easier and more reliable to me.
Maxell has been my favorite cassette for many years.
Even the later 90s and early 2000s American URs (which look similar to the one you didn't have but pictured) are really decent tapes, I've found (and have a ton of currently). Well, you've covered the HF, the D, and the UR in depth now.. I think it's about time for the Ultimate Vintage Type I Throwdown - maybe the '85s/88s/95s - D vs UR vs HF! See who comes out on top. (unless you've done it and I missed it lol) .. Great video, as always, Tony - thanks!
I've got a (very expensive) video in mind to round off the Type 1s...
@@CassetteComeback Can't wait! :)
Thanks Tony for the vídeo!I like the most 85 and 88 URs
The 85 Is a legend, due to have been the First UR Made by Maxell; it has beautiful label colours, wrapper, AND the 88 which has a More refined style of Shell and that is very good sounding as well.I Think as with TDK D , you cant go wrong with a Maxell UR.Generally speaking Maxell makes everlasting cassettes for tough work.I like its criteria of simplicity beautifully conceived, and the fact that they are built like a tank.Thanks again Tony!As always I'm very happy to learn something new every day
.Regards!Rafael
The 1988 UR is my favorite UR as well...especially with the half moon labels
6:49 I recorded on a few of the oval Maxell UR90's mainly electronic music from CD's and they were great cassettes and had an awesome smell to them as well. I liked how the labels matched the oval design.
As I have posted elsewhere, the UR 120's helped me to find one of my favorite bands quite by accident. I loved listening to two radio shows in my car. But I listened to them on cassette. The two were Dr. Dementio and Cartalk. I originally used my Nakamichi 600 to record these with a timer. But once I bought my auto-reverse Kenwood dual well deck in 1997, I moved to a 2 hour record mode on 120's.
Cartalk was a one hour show. In order to put less stress on the C-120 I let the Kenwood record for two hours. Thus I didn't have to rewind the tape. One week in the last segment of the second hour I heard a group play a Canadian Folk Waltz that almost hypnotized me. I immediately hit the rewind button and played it twice more. Arriving home I played it for my wife on our home system. The group was Bottine Souriante, but the song was unknown to me.
I attempted to contact the group by email. I wanted to buy a recording of that song. I sent an mp3 copy as an attachment but the response was less than enlightening. First, there was a language barrier. The recipients of my email were French speaking and couldn't completely grasp the question. "Is that wonderful song played as the last piece of the radio show available on CD?" Second there was a technology problem. They informed me that at that time in the late 90's their Mac computers couldn't play mp3's.
I filled my question in my brain until Amazon, IIRC, CD's were sold on Amazon with the ability to listen to track segments before buying. I bought Xieme which includes the beautiful "Ciel D'Automne" (along with a couple other CD's by Bottine Souriante. ) My wife and I were lucky enough to attend one of their rare US concerts on the campus of Dartmouth College.
Thank you Maxell UR C-120!
Thank you Tony, on the spot all the time. I´ve never had any luck with Maxell UR. Maybe I was recording them too hot? Will give them another try. Working on a deck upgrade like you suggested. Have a nice one.
Hey Tony! I love your channel! Got recently into cassettes again and bought myself a Sony TC K-415 and an Akai DX-49. As i watched all your videos i found something missing. I'm equally into the tapes themself as i am into the devices they are meant to be played back on. It would be really awesome if you could let us have a look on your deck collection. So far i always see a new deck pop up in your videos and am curious what i haven't seen jet. You could do a deck a week/month with all its history and story behind it or just a long video going through them all at once.
Deck videos will come...
They all sound great, the '85 and '88 look great and, as always, great video! Never seen those "original UR" (or any Maxell with non-Maxell hubs, I think) here.
Hi Tony!
Indeed Maxell are among the best and i always loved the look and the sound of these cassettes. By the way, the stickers for the 1985 version looks very much like the stickers of Fuji FR II.
The 88's version were made worldwide, yours is made in Korea, I got mine in Antwerp, 1992, it's made in Germany and more than likely loaded with light brown Basf tape. I personally stick to classic Maxell LN, slightly better response at high frequencies :)
I myself have some sealed Originals, however, they have the different tape inside.
The hubs look like stars or cogs, the "Original" has been moved to the right hub instead of in the middle and the tape is a slightly transparent pure chocolate-like brown.
Personally I love how clean this shell is, looking almost crystal clear and nearly no resistance when spooling at all.
Cheers!
Sir you are a great man never betray cassettes please we need them coming genaration need these cassettes and walkmans
My workplace actually has a strategic reserve of mid-00s Maxell URs for dictation use. Like bulk boxes stacked 6 feet high. There was a scare that supply of new cassettes was going to dry up so someone scoured all the remote offices and built up the inventory. We had problems with our digital dictation workflow and still have the trusty old cassette+Sony dictation player with foot pedals on standby (they were still in active use a few years ago). Amazingly there is a Telex high speed duplicator that still works too!
I had a 5 pack of the 1985 when I was a young teenager, possibly my very first 5 pack, and I was probably given them for Christmas by my parents. I recorded my NOW 10 LP on two of them, and used the rest for Dire Straits. They remained my only (heavily played) copy of Dire Straits until I bought them on CD many many years later. They weren't great copies, having been dubbed off another copy. What I never realised was just how good the tape can actually sound.
I just got some of the 1988 version yesterday, and have just tried recording a digital source onto them, having calibrated bias and pre-recording level on a good 3 head deck. I also used Dolby C (which because the deck is well calibrated to the tape, works superbly). And wow, does the '88 version sound impressive. It's so so close to the source once bias is tweaked, I can't quite believe it. I really struggle to tell UR and source apart, listening on decent open back headphones and a rather nice tube headphone amp. I tested a bunch of other ferrics, but also an AR, an SA, and a late model XL-II as well. Those last three are all indistinguishable from the source. The TDK D and Sony HF kept up with the UR too. I clearly need to find some more challenging test music, but for electronica (Goldfrapp's NeverStop in this case) all the ones I've mentioned were awesome.
And the quality of the design work on the 1988 model - it's timeless. The inlay card looks contemporary; great typography, good colours. I think I might have a new favourite amongst the standard Type I's.
I'm tempted to go and re-record my Dire Straits albums…
I have all of these Maxell Cassettes which I played over 5,000 times, besides other hundreds of brands of tapes I also played on my Professional Studio Quality Audio Compact Cassette Tape Deck, and they still sound amazing! Since I Professionally Record them from being, Louder Sharper and Cleaner than CD's and especially MP3's! I played them so much, that the pinch roller is permanently embedded with the chemical reaction from the protective layer of the tape, the pinch roller is naturally grey, but there is a dark black, mirrorish layer where the tape gets pinched between the Capstan and the pinch roller, you can see the Capstan's reflection spinning in the part of the pinch rollers in ether deck. I never, ever use alcohol or tape head cleaning solution on the rubber pinch roller, since it will dry it out! And I'm still playing one of the Maxell UR 90 with the Green "Original" lettering and White & Red hubs tape playing in my Tape Deck B, right now! Not to mention, I just purchased brand new blank Maxell UR 90 Minute Tapes from Fred Meyer today. Im glad they still sell them today!
Another nice video! I'm cassette collector and I love your videos
Excellent Tony,got about 1000 of these,all used & catolouged,...love #CassetteComeback 👏👏👏
I have a few LNs from the late 1970s. The tape colour was lighter brown, with a mat finish rather than high gloss. It was noisier with muted highs, but it worked for disco. I still have cartons of unopened XLII s we bought at good prices before CDs took over. Most of my cassette decks are worn out though.
Been looking forward to any tape evaluation you’re doing. The ‘88 sounded best to me. Could be that track had more going on both in the lows and highs. When you talk performance at this level, this is a really good standard for ferric tape. Still looking for a Revox B215. Just haven’t found one yet I can sink my money in. It’ll come. You always do a fun program Tony! Stay safe!
I had some Maxwell cassette tapes in my lifetime!
I was always a TDK man back in the day for some reason, maybe it was the look or the just more availability, but of all of them the 88 UR is a nostalgic cassette for me, I still have the Bon Jovi concert at Milton Keynes bowl I went to on tape, it was broadcast on radio 1 FM and my sister recorded it for me!
God we where spoilt back then, quality cassettes for peanut prices.....My oval shell still perform as good as the day they where opened in the 80,s...:):)
Our Tony, what have you done? The power of TH-cam means there were no URs left in our Tesco Haydock or St Helens after you gave the game away. A few months ago they couldn't give 'em away now, like the whispering grass, now everybody knows, Lofty T, that they are being discontinued.
I should be angry with you but you are so informative and entertaining. Continuing the 70s theme, you are awful but we like you. These guys may be hissy, but we grew up with them. What is not to forgive? They gave me hours of pleasure back then, and cassette Gods willing, they will continue to give me pleasure in the future. I recorded the charts on the '85 version and it's predecessor the UL in 83 and I can still listen to the late Tommy Vance run down the chart long after he has gone to the monsters of Rock Valhalla. Excellent video and I hope you will find more UR stock to purchase from your store our Tony?
Hiss is part of them being s Cassette. Just because I acknowledge it, doesn't mean I mind it. The discontinuation of the UR isn't due to me, it's been common knowledge in cassette "circles" for the past year 😁 There's load of old Radio 1 charts on Mixcloud. They're great to record again.
It's funny, after the '88, the wrappers and printing were different here in America.
I got in contact with Maxell a few weeks ago and they said they have discontinued the maxell UR ☹️☹️
Tony, this is your conscience talking to you... prepare a review of your Nakamichi Cassette Deck 2!!! :D Thanks for the UR review! Thoroughly enjoyed it!
I won't have the CD2 for much longer.
In Slovakia, in the case of "original ur", it was something like this:
Around 1998, it was sold in a blue package with the large inscription "EURO". Inside was a "original ur" cassette made by Maxell. Cheap transparent shell with cast Maxell inscription. Probably Pure Crystal, the tape was good. Cheaper than "UR"
Shortly afterwards, it came in a red package with the words "original ur" and the cassette was exactly the same.
In about 2002, the EMTEC cartridge was sold in the same red packaging, just like in your video.
Maxell sold OEM products in Europe in 2002 and then only Indonesia products (PT.Panggung Electric Corp.). Probably at that time there was a change or sale of Maxell's production equipment.
Maxell "UR" was also an OEM Emtec or Saehan in 2002.
Great... I'm a big Maxell-fan. I use the UR for "background" mix tapes, and mostly XL-II for jazz, country, 50s-70s pop, 50-60s folk.
So I'm definitely looking forward to a similar story on the many incarnations of the XL-II (because even my UD-XLII cassettes stil sound great), I'd love to see a comparison between the UR-UD-I,XL-I and XL-I-S, same for UD-II, XL-II, XLII-S, perhaps even a "entry level chrome"-comparison: UD(S)-II, SX, SQ.
In general, I like the 1985 lineup (that great looking UD-II in shiny gold, and the XL-II in a brushed-look version), and the ones that came right behind that with the "retro" hubs (like here: vintagecassettes.com/maxell/maxell_files/image817.jpg).
The UDI let's you push higher volume and has lower noise. A great choice when you can't find an XLI-S tape. The XLI-S is on par with the TDK AR-X tape.
I've loved The Maxell Type 2 tapes. Rarely any lemons. But I used to prefer the TDK type 1 .Just had more Highs and compression especially for radio shows. But hardly use them now. Been lucky to find plenty new old stock and hundreds of used type 2 I could probably take over if I needed to. Got a good deck being fixed up since I have hours of good live music from the past to rediscover .
Great tapes, always relied upon them
funny you should do this video as i have brought a couple of the ones with the bloke sitting on the wrapper and the 88 version one also xlII-s and a Ln also this week
i have some of the last ur's and used one of them and found the hiss not to be that bad tbh
what the diff on the original between the 90 stamp on the cassette being in either white or green
the 88 ur looks lost in the revox(the tinted part looks part of it) it looks really cool
again i love the wrappers and tape design on the maxell will have to get more of them
what do you do with all these tape to use in the videos.
i have finally managed to get me a 3 head deck when it turn's up i cant wait to have a go(after a strip down and clean)
Those maxell UR tapes are my favorite to use
Hi friend. Could you pls to help me! What do 70us and 120us EQ mean? I can not find out what is it? Thank you!
It means microseconds
I have the red UR- 90 with ELVIS Madison SQ Garden recorded on it. It's not a great quality recording. But it's entertaining!
I like the look of the early-to-mid-80's tapes. Love your videos. Only one criticism- when you test the tapes, you start with the sound from the tape instead of the source. For me, it's a spoiler that takes away the suspense/surprise aspect. It's just my glass onion.... I mean opinion (just felt like throwing a joke in there), that it would make it better to put the source sound first. Thanks for your dedication. PS I did end up going , finally, to the store in Brooklyn, and the tapes have some familiar similarities to tapes you've described, like the hub design. I will have to go back to that video and let you know about it. :)
I let you hear the hiss, as "relative hiss" matters to people when they choose a cassette.
I have these in the red wrapper and some in the green wrapper. is there any difference.. and maxells XL-II 100 minute chrome tapes
Man that 88 UR is a legend. I used to have so many and somehow I got rid of all of em 🥴
Hi Tony! Just going back to an old video to comment because it's about this brand. TE channel, a young guy from Vietnam that restores vintage electronics did a neat video on decorating plain new Maxell UE cassettes. I thought you might like to check it out.
Yeah, I looked at it, with the carbon wrap. Nice, but far too much hassle 😁
@@CassetteComeback yes, nice if you have the time to do it, like the reel-to-reel effect cutouts.
Nothing compares to the smell of a brand new opened maxell cassette. Nothing...
I must check that myself!
oh yes that sony had maxell pengion hubs which I remembered on one of ur of maxell.
That first ur90 is the first kind of cassette I've ever used
Где вы покупаете кассеты???? Пожалуйста ответьте мне??????
Could these virgin cassettes be valuable?
Great vid to wile away a Friday evening. I picked some of the '88 Green ones at a charity shop few months ago for 20p each- bargain methinks. Stay safe and keep up the great work. P.S.- Have you used Sharp blank minidiscs at all?
Yeah. The only bad minidiscs are supposedly Memorex.
@@CassetteComeback thanks for clarifying that Tony.
@7:10 Easy to use cassette, maybe they were talking about basf pure chromes or phillips pure chromes where you have to do a biasing analytical physics and dynamics audio test before recording 😅😅
Why is 88 the prime year for tapes? The SA reference from TDK. The Maxell UR. Just to name two. Oh and the Fuji FR-II. Hahah that’s 3 - I digress! Those URs were also my Normal tape of choice back in 88-90. Made so many tapes. Mostly hip hop and dance and boy those sounded great even on lousy decks. :-)
88 seems to be the pinnacle of cassette usage. It started to slip after this...
Hi Tony, what camera are you using?
One that doesn’t like green, apparently.
Maxell is my favorite cassette brand. They’re very reliable, very high quality and rugged. Does anyone know what UR stands for? I can’t seem to figure it out. Just curious.
The UR stands for ur mom.
Just kidding, the ur is not a shortening as far as i know, it simply represents the fact that it's a basic entry level cassette mostly used for voice recording.
I assumed the ur90 meant your 90 such as it was ur recording and 90 minutes of it
@@phantom_dragon I found out that UR actually stands for Universal Recording.
Well the UR's and the HF's and the D's don't give me the fizz to use. But for a quick and dirty mix tape they get the job done.
The URs that we have here in Connecticut look closer to the 3 pack you have but not exactly, I think they are either a 3 or 5 pack.
Nevermind that Nonsense. Let's talk cassettes!! Awesome
I got a bunch of the originals at a charity shop still wrapped up for 20p each.
Old but Gold...
I was browsing cassette tapes and found this cassette on USA eBay 6/8/20...TDK Gold cassette tape With a special case Not for sale difficult to obtain
Not much difference in sound quality from the source to any of these cassettes besides some tape hiss. In the 80s and early 90s I would have been blown away by this sound quality coming from my boom box. :)
Can you actually hear the hiss in Tony's videos? Because i can't hear it. I've got my pc hooked up to my NAD amp and Dali Zensor 3 speakers. Even if i turn up the volume considerably i don't hear any hiss.
@@Frankonero12 I hear it in the beginning. The newer "original UR" tape is the worst.
5:05 I had some maxells like that before
Strange, the Revox scale should really be the same as the Nak's scale. Maybe someone was working on it and got that wrong. Service Manual clearly says 200nWb/m Dolby Level should be zero on the PPM.
Nice tapes and video though.
Why is the tape different colors? They are all ferric tape and all based on clear Mylar with a coating of a waxy base with rust particles, at least in theory. Is simply different dyes? Do various additives have a different color? Does it denote how much of one doping agent vs a different one?
Different formulations. Otherwise all cassettes would sound the same.
tarstarkusz
Good question but there were some proprietary formulations so the rust is a bit different from one to another some are "doped" with other metals too.
@@watershed44 The only thing I can think of is one, a doping agent or 2, they actually added dye to the formulation for a more uniform (or possibly better looking) tape.
@tarstarkusz
Cassette Comeback responded but maybe you missed it.
Different Formulations.
is crazy that audio quality didn't evolve like video , today we have 8k but audio quality is quite the same
Some were korean made back in the day too
I have oval window URs made in Japan, and also in Korea.
Could you review some east german OrWo tapes? That would be great!
If someone sends me some, otherwise they unobtainable here in the UK.
@@CassetteComeback I will look around for some that I can maybe send over!
Take a look at the ed-x 60
The 1985 version of which I own a few remind me of the TDK D, terms of looks. They are very similar, looks wise. Just a plain black tape with an ugly colored sticker. While I had pretty good luck with the Maxell, the TDK D sounded awful in whatever deck I used it in. Because I still have one of them that has a terrible copy of Deepest Purple (Deep Purple) on it.
1:31 my favorite one
It seems to me that the rec level is a bit low for these tapes. That's the reason they sounds hissy.
I'm recording them at +3 Dolby scale. Don't want to push them further as they will start to distort.
are all cassette music albums type 1 from mid 80s and 90s
There were the odd ones on Type 2, but they were usually recorded at 120 microseconds
IT WAS TIME to TRYING but YOU CAN'T :v)! I've been telling you for months that you opened those cassettes with your a**! XD
Calm and patience!
I don't know what it is with the new maxell UR tapes. But my deck really does not like them at all.even with Dolby s in use, an old, used agfa LNS 60 from the 80s still sounds better, have I just been unlucky and got a bad set? Or is it my deck (SONY TC-S1) , the heads are cleaned once every two weeks.
I remember preferring the sound of Maxell Ur to TDK d. Was that just me?
Something peeked my interest, so i randomly trye'd to see if i could order cassette in my country, and well it seems so
Theyre name is Crosley Blank Cassette, probably Type 0 mimic i dunno
Yeah. They'll be modern Chinese, so rubbish.
I have one made by SAEHAN.
2:01 Prophecy? A man in a mask against covid-19 listening to music? Joke, I've seen this photo or similar on books cover of Aleksander Witort, polish audio guru about hifi equipment. Dźwięk i Technika HI-FI (Sound and Hi-Fi technique - Aleksander Witort).
Cracking video! Thanks man.
It's a bit of a novelty but would you be doing a review of the Tape2? www.reloop.com/reloop-tape-2
No. I'd have to buy one and wouldn't use it.
No explanation as to what Maxell actually meant by 'original UR'.
Frequency sweeps at -25dB? Push them levels to 0! :)
The "accepted" level to do it at, is -25...
@@CassetteComeback I am curious, though, how the sweeps would look when pushed to zero. :)
The modern URs 2:50 are utter Type 0 garbage in and out.
You either had bad ones or your deck can't Calibrate them.
These boring graphs are ... boring
Yeah. But to many, they make you more "legit"
Recording way too low
At +3 Dolby scale for entry level ferrics? Remember, deck scales can be different.
Pinch rollers get worn & need replacement. Tape reels stop turning freely. Tape gets eaten in tape decks. Cassette tapes are NOT a good media! They all should've been replaced by the LS-120 super-disks: th-cam.com/video/5ks3ucumilU/w-d-xo.html
Ferrari 250 GTOs are beaten in every aspect by modern cars. Speed, safety, costs, all bested. Doesn't stop the Ferrari being magic and one of the most desired cars on the planet. Provence and character mean a lot.
I don't like the Revox deck 👎
That's ok, it told me it didn't like you either 😆
@@CassetteComeback On the other side I LOVE ❤ all your Nakamichis. They are GREAT! And the AIWA too!
Someone is still making cassettes? WTF for?
shit Tony!! i used so many of these UR's back in the day i truly could not tell you just how many i went through-lol