The Revox tape typically refers to magnetic recording tape (reel-to-reel, and later cassette) that was considered high-quality and was often used with, or recommended for, Revox brand audio equipment.
To fully understand it, it's best to break it down into the two key components: the tape itself and the legendary company behind the name.
1. The Company: Revox
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Revox is a Swiss brand, originally a part of the legendary Studer company, which was a world-renowned manufacturer of professional audio equipment.
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Studer focused on top-of-the-line studio recorders, while Revox was created to market high-end, precision-built equipment for the discerning consumer and semi-professional market.
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Their reel-to-reel tape recorders (like the famous Revox A77, B77, and PR99 series) are considered some of the finest ever made for home and project studio use. They are known for their exceptional build quality, reliability, and superb sound.
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Because of this heritage, anything associated with the Revox name, including their own branded tape, carried a connotation of high quality and performance.
2. The Tape: Revox Branded Tape
When people talk about "Revox tape," they are usually referring to one of two things:
A. Reel-to-Reel Tape:
Revox sold their own branded open-reel tape. This wasn't necessarily tape that Revox itself manufactured. Like many brands, they likely had their tape manufactured for them by a major chemical company (like BASF or Agfa) and then spooled it onto their own reels with their branding.
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Quality: It was positioned as high-quality, low-noise tape suitable for their high-performance machines. Using cheap, poor-quality tape on a precision machine like a Revox could lead to poor sound, excessive head wear, or even technical issues like "tape shed" (where the oxide coating flakes off).
B. Cassette Tape:
In the later heyday of the compact cassette, Revox also sold high-bias (Type II) and metal-bias (Type IV) cassettes.
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Purpose: These were designed for use with their high-end cassette decks. They were competing with other premium cassette brands like TDK SA-X, Maxell XL-II, and Sony UX-Pro.
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Reputation: Revox cassettes were known for their excellent construction, low noise, and high output, allowing for the best possible recording quality from a cassette. They are now sought-after by audiophiles and collectors.
Key Takeaway
"Revox tape" isn't a specific, unique formula like "chrome tape" or "ferric oxide." Instead, it's a brand of tape that guaranteed a certain standard of quality, ensuring it was a suitable match for the excellent performance and precision of Revox audio recorders.
If you have a piece of Revox tape today, it's a relic from the golden age of high-fidelity analog audio, representing a time when the quality of the tape itself was just as critical as the quality of the machine recording onto it.
