The Standard of the Audio Recording Industry
The prominence and consistency of Grand Master(R) 456 tape have made it the reference standard against which all analog audio tapes are compared. More professional open reel tape recorders are aligned by manufacturers to 456 than all other tapes combined. If it says "Bias Compatible," it means 456.
Quantegy 456 Grand Master™ has produced
more No. 1 hits and gold albums than all other
tapes combined. The professional recording
industry has chosen its sonic superiority,
consistent performance and reel-to-reel
consistency in studios around the globe.
Quantegy 456 Grand Master™ continues to
be the world’s most widely used analog tape,
from studio recording to broadcast radio.
Led by their commitment to consistency of performance, the manufacturing of 456 Studio Mastering Tape is carefully controlled to maintain tight tolerances at 118 points in the manufacturing process. The "continuous flow" production system eliminates batch variations.
All slitting creates debris from the shearing of cutting blades against the tape. Only their proprietary "Total Surface Cleaning" process wipes and then vacuums every square inch of tape, thereby cleaning away all debris. This eliminates the occurrence of transient recording errors.
Product Features:
- Industry Bias Reference Standard
- Reel-to-reel consistency
- Elimination of transit errors
- TapeCare™ packaging for archival storage
and transportation
- Widest variety of packaging options for
studio labeling compatibility
- Available in all configurations1/4”, 1/2”,
1” and 2” widths from 600’ to 5000’ lengths
456 Technical Data
| Magnetic Properties |
| Coercivity | 320 Oe (25.5 kA/m) |
| Retentivity | 1500 Gs (150 mT) |
| Physical Properties |
| Standard Widths: | |
| 1/4” | 0.246” (6.3 mm) |
| 1/2” | 0.496” (12.6 mm) |
| 1” | 0.997” (25.4 mm) |
| 2” | 1.996” (50.9 mm) |
| Nominal Thickness: | |
| Base Film | 1400 ́” (35.4 ́m) |
| Oxide Coating | 500 ́” (12.7 ́m) |
| Backcoating | 30 ́” (0.8 ́m) |
| Total | 1930 ́” (48.9 ́m) |
| Performance Properties |
| Sensitivity at 1 KHz | +2.0 dB |
| Sensitivity at 10 KHz | +4.0 dB |
Third Harmonic Distortion at
Reference Level (1 KHz) | 0.1 % |
Output Level at 3%
Third Harmonic Distortion (1 KHz) | +12.3 dB |
| Modulation Noise Ratio | -76.0 dB |
| Print-through | -55.0 dB |
456 Configurations
Catalog
Number | Description | Reel Size | Tape Length | Carton Weight | Carton
Quantity |
| Inches | mm | Feet | Meters | Lbs | Kgs |
| 456 Grand MasterTM Studio Mastering Audio Tape |
| 456-131111 | .25" x 600', 5" plastic reel, setup box | .25 x 5 | 6.25 x 130 | 600 | 183 | 16.2 | 7.36 | 40 |
| 456-151111 | .25" x 1200', 7" plastic reel, setup box | .25 x 7 | 6.25 x 180 | 1200 | 366 | 35.0 | 15.89 | 40 |
| 456-15111Y | .25" x 1200', 7" plastic reel,TapeCareTM box | .25 x 7 | 6.25 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 23.7 | 10.76 | 10 |
| 456-17311J | .25" x 2500', 10.5" NAB reel, setup box | .25 x 10.5 | 6.25 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 25.3 | 11.4 | 10 |
| 456-17611Y | .25" x 2500', pancake, TapeCareTM box | Hub | Hub | 2500 | 762 | 18.0 | 8.16 | 10 |
| 456-17611T | .25" x 2500', pancake, tray pack | Hub | Hub | 2500 | 762 | 11.4 | 5.18 | 10 |
| 456-27211Y | .5" x 2500', pancake, TapeCareTM box | Hub | Hub | 2500 | 762 | 19.9 | 9.03 | 7 |
| 456-273111 | 5" x 2500', 10.5" NAB reel, setup box | .5 x 10.5 | 12.7 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 24.3 | 11.04 | 7 |
| 456-27311Y | 5" x 2500', 10.5" NAB reel,TapeCareTM box | .5 x 10.5 | 12.7 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 25.6 | 11.63 | 7 |
| 456-57211Y | 1" x 2500', pancake, TapeCareTM box | Hub | Hub | 2500 | 762 | 25.3 | 11.48 | 5 |
| 456-573111 | 1" x 2500', 10.5" NAB reel, foldup box | 1 x 10.5 | 25.4 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 27.3 | 12.40 | 5 |
| 456-57311Y | 1" x 2500', 10.5" NAB reel,TapeCareTM box | 1 x 10.5 | 25.4 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 28.7 | 13.04 | 5 |
| 456-97G111 | 2" x 2500', 10.5" precision reel, foldup box | 2 x 10.5 | 50.8 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 21.9 | 9.93 | 2 |
| 456-97G11Y | 2" x 2500', 10.5" precision reel,TapeCareTM box | 2 x 10.5 | 50.8 x 270 | 2500 | 762 | 23.3 | 10.57 | 2 |
| 456-99G111 | 2" x 5000', 14" precision reel, foldup box | 2 x 14 | 50.8 x 360 | 5000 | 1524 | 40.7 | 18.46 | 2 |
| 456-99G11F | 2" x 5000', 14" precision reel, shipper | 2 x 14 | 50.8 x 360 | 5000 | 1524 | 46.6 | 21.14 | 2 |
| 456-99G11Y | 2" x 5000', 14" precision reel,TapeCareTM box | 2 x 14 | 50.8 x 360 | 5000 | 1524 | 43.0 | 19.50 | 2 |
| 457 Grand MasterTM Studio Mastering Audio Tape |
| 457-1511J1 | .25" x 1800', 7" plastic reel, setup box | .25 x 7 | 6.25 x 130 | 1800 | 549 | 19.8 | 8.99 | 20 |
| 457-17611T | .25" x 3600', pancake, tray pack | Hub | Hub | 3600 | 1098 | 12.3 | 5.56 | 10 |
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