Maxell XLII-S - 1982~1986 - US/EU
"Widely accepted as the most beautiful line of the Maxell brand. These are difficult tapes to adjust and calibrate. You need to put positive bias on these cassettes to get the best out of them, but that also means you get the bass. If there is a cassette considered a true classic... this is one of them." Tony Villa
A unique Gold foil label that is unequalled by any standards with Maxell's own typical well built shell. Those days... mid 80's, all top cassette companies competed to produce the best possible quality. Their aim was to beat their competition by achieving the best quality in everything... the tape, the shell, the label design, the wrapper, even the box had to be pretty... then a dark cloud came, covered with flying disks (CDs) and it all went to... well, you know this part!
Improved MOL by 1 dB over all frequencies compared to the XLII tape.
Note 1: 90 Mins: 1982-1: US/EU: No stock
Note 2: 90 Mins: 1982-2: US/EU: Only 1 available
Note 3: 90 Mins: 1983-1: CA/EU: Gold foil seal. No stock
Note 4: 90 Mins: 1983-1: US/EU Very few available.
Note 5: 90 Mins: 1983-1: US/EU: B-Grade: Only 1 available.
Note 6: 90 Mins: 1983-2: US: Very few available
Note 7: 90 Mins: 1984-0: US: Only 2 available. One tiny rip. No picture necessary.
Note 8: 90 Mins: 1984-1: US/EU: Very few available
Note 9: 90 Mins: 1984-2: US/CA: Red letters "Not For Sale". No stock. SOLD.
Note 10: 90 Mins: 1985-1: CA: Gold foil seal. SOLD.
Note 11: 90 Mins: 1986: CA: These have the "Bonus Buck" Blue seal. Only 1 available.
Side Notes: There are a great number of varieties and versions of this cassette. There are those made for the North American market, then for the US market separately from the Canadian market(*), also for the European market and/or with the rest of the world, and finally, the Japanese domestic market.
Not only that, these were introduced in 1982 and stopped distributed sometime in 1986. The varieties shown here (so far) follow a mix of patterns based on other cassette releases from Maxell. These should be considered "educated guesses", but all in all, the assigned dates will not be too far off. Your input will also be very valuable to tweak this list into their right chronology of release dates.
(*) In 1982, The Canadian government began requiring that all imported goods have both the English and French languages in all packaging.
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About Maxell:
Maxell is a Japanese brand with roots in Hitachi’s battery and magnetic-tape operations. Established as Maxell Electric Industrial in 1961, it became one of the most familiar names in home recording, with a business spanning batteries, audio cassettes and other magnetic media.
Throughout the cassette era, Maxell earned a strong following among home recording enthusiasts. Models such as the XL I-S, XL II-S and MX represented its ferric, high-bias and metal-particle ranges, combining distinctive shell designs with a reputation for consistent recording performance.
The “Blown Away Guy” advertising campaign became an enduring part of Maxell’s identity during the 1980s. Although the company’s wider business evolved, its cassettes remain a defining part of its history and a familiar presence in collections and recording systems today.
Maxell XLII-S - 1982~1986 - Made in Japan