BW-65 developer from Formulary, colder than Ansco 130?

[pstake]

I just this weekend finished two printing sessions using BW-65 developer for the first time.

My usual stock is LPD mixed 1:1.

The shadow details are more pronounced and the blacks are INKY, wow. Unfortunately, the tray life is not long, a few hours.

But I'm hooked on the shadow detail and deep blacks.

One thing I noticed with the BW-65 is that it yields a cold-neutral tone, which I usually prefer. I used it with some graded Slavich bromportrait, which came out more neutral but also with some VC Silver Eagle, which yielded cold, blue-blacks and a testament to the value of that fine paper thankfully offered by an APUG Sponsor, Photo Warehous (I have no relation other than as a customer but am grateful to companies still committed to the Analog industry)

I have read that Ansco 130 has all the benefits of BW-65 but with a longer tray life. However, I have also read that it is a warmtone developer.

Does the tone with Ansco 130 differ from BW-65?

Has anyone directly compared Ansco 130 with BW-65?

 

[pstake]

Ansco 130 is generally reputed to be a neutral tone developer. Some people find it slightly warm-neutral, which seems fairly logical given the high bromide concentration. Then again it depends on the paper, subjective impressions, viewing conditions, etc. John Wimberley came up with a bluer version which substitutes varying amounts of the bromide with benzotriazole. There are variations by other people.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like something to look into.