Maxell UDII - 1988 - US
"We think these were designed to be more compatible with many decks that were calibrated to the TDK SA in the factory, than its XL brothers. These bias almost the same as the SA and sound just a touch "smoother" to our ears." Tony Villa.
Truly one of our favourite cassettes back in the day, and still true today.
NOTE 1: Canada. Produced for the Canadian Market. Has the diamond shaped seal for the "Maxell Super Sweepstakes". Made in Japan. Few available.
NOTE 2: UK. Made in England! How rare are these?
NOTE 3: USA. Made for the USA market. 100 Minutes (~1992). These shells are much darker when compared to those of the 1988 version. Only 1 available and it may be a very rare variant of this tape. This is definitely a transitional piece. It is the 1992 US version cassette on the 1988 US plastic wrapper.
NOTE 4: Canada. B-Grade (B101): Produced for the Canadian Market. Has the diamond shaped seal for the "Maxell Super Sweepstakes". Made in Japan. Only 1 available. The wrapper is rather scuffed and it has 2 price stickers from Canadian long gone BiWay stores. No cuts, no rips.
About Maxell:
Maxell Holdings, Ltd. (日立マクセル株式会社 Hitachi Makuseru Kabushiki-gaisha), commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics.
Maxell was formed in 1960, when a dry cell manufacturing plant was created at the company's headquarters in Ibaraki, Osaka. In 1961, Maxell Electric Industrial Company, Limited was created out of the dry battery and magnetic tape divisions of Nitto Electric Industrial Company, Limited (now Nitto Denko Corporation).
On March 18, 2014 the company was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.[7]
The company's notable products are batteries—the company's name is a contraction of "maximum capacity dry cell"—wireless charging solutions, storage devices, computer tapes, professional broadcast tapes and functional materials.[4][5] In the past, the company manufactured recording media, including audio cassettes and blank VHS tapes, and recordable optical discs including CD-R/RW and DVD±RW.
On March 4, 2008, Maxell announced that they would outsource the manufacturing of their optical media.[6]
During the height of the Compact Audio Cassette's popularity, Maxell's audio cassettes were held in high regard, producing some of the finest examples of the standard available. The performance of the XLII-S (CrO2) and MX (pure metal particles) cassettes was regarded by many audiophiles to be the ultimate achievement in the pre digital domestic recording medium.
In the 1980s, Maxell became an icon of pop culture when it produced advertisements popularly known as "Blown Away Guy" for its line of audio cassettes. The original campaign conceived by Art Director Lars Anderson began as a two-page spread in Rolling Stone Magazine ad in 1980, and was made into television spots in 1981 which ran throughout the 1980s.[10]