Scotch 207 / 218

Scotch 207 is a classic master tape formulation introduced in 1969 and was highly regarded in the early 1970s.  The 207 is the Long Play (LP) of the 206 version used for mastering. Many of the world’s most famous recordings from the early 1970s were made on Scotch 206 and many classic machines were calibrated to this tape. The 207 was mostly sold to home users as a high quality tape. This is one of the rare back-coated tapes that has held up well and can be used today. In Japan the identical tape was manufactured by 3M Sumitomo and sold as the 218 series.

Notes:

• Performance is high, especially at 7-1/2 and 15 ips.
• There are some reports of edge oxide shedding with examples that have not been stored properly.
• Unlike other back-coated tapes from the 1970s and 1980s, this one is not subject to sticky shed.
• Tapes of this vintage have a tendency to shed slightly more oxide than the most modern tapes. This is not a sign that this tape is degrading, it should be considered normal.
• The general quality of these tapes is very high.
• There are some reports that batches suffer from sticky-shed, a condition we have not yet encountered.
• New advice 7/2023: Some improperly stored batches of 206/207/208/209 suffer from sudden binder failure. If you encounter such tapes be careful not to play them on a machine that puts the tape into tension to establish tape to head contact – the oxide will flake off.
• In Japan a later version of this tape with a nearly identical formulation was sold under the formula code 218.
• Available Refurbished: Yes, we sell the 207 as refurbished. We might also have the 218s in stock from Japan as well.