Ampex electronics for the best possible sound

[RogerD]

There is currently a thread on the Ampex list about the future of analog recording and the new wave of master dubs tapes that are being made. I just purchased a 1/2 inch 30 ips 12 inch master,I guess I have a reason to have a MR70 1/2 inch 2 track now 15,30 ips machine.

http://www.ebreggae.com/Reggae/Vinyl/111146/Ernie-Ranglin-We-Want-To-Party.html

Ernie is 80 now and he's still going strong.

A interesting quote from George Schowerer on mastering from the Ampex list:

I boil at every mention of a "mastering engineer" that is needed to bring the product to the public. If the product was properly engineered in the first place, there should be no need for further adulteration. At Columbia the remix to two track from the three track classical original tapes was straight foward 3 to 2 mixdown. The resultant two track "master tape" had NO cutting eq or other crap added. That tape was then used to make two track dupes for Europe and Japan. It was also used for cutting the lp master disc. The only changes at that point were the normal cutting precautions for hi freq. limit (depending on whether it was an Ortophon or Westrex cutterhead) and diameter eq. In some cases, low freq content was adjusted for lpi, as was level. At independant sessions (not Columbia), I have witnessed god-awful manipulation of the recorded material without the albums' producer being in control of the situation. You hear this every day in Rhino
remastering and others whio have never listened to the original hit record for comparison. The result is stilted eq and distortion. Compare, for instance the session I did for the Four Seasons as re-released by Rhino on the "Anniversary" album-silver cover), and the remastered same songs on Ace records out of London. The differences are jaw-dropping. It apparently involves where the copies were obtained and how many generations...add to that (as I discovered during my years with Dolby)
the fact that many copies had NO TONE or Dolby tone for reproductive calibration. Those copies were "fly by the seat of your pants" so-called
engineers. At Columbia, every tape that came in for disc mastering were previewed for level...and then we set the "tone" for a 3db possible overshoot. This small step insured that the disc was an accurate transfer
without any meddling to the program. The results are obvious when listening. While there may be situations that arise when mastering for cd,
that require some adjustment for technical reasons...still it is not cause for remixing (which has been done in the name of "improving the material".
Best, George S.

 

[NorthStar]

--- Cool video 'snap' Roger. ...Fine music by me (Jazzy Rhythm).

 

[RogerD]

--- Cool video 'snap' Roger. ...Fine music by me (Jazzy Rhythm).

Hi Bob,

Sounds like smooth jazz.The recording was done in 1988 and I guess Mr. Ranglin is like the Wes Montgomery of Jamaica....ya mon.

 

[NorthStar]

----- Yamon!

 

[Tom B.]

Restoring a Classic

Time to get this Ampex thread going again!

My 350 needed some attention, so I decided to tear it down for a complete rebuild and give it some goodies along the way.

Parts like brakes, relays, solenoids and push buttons were obtained as NOS replacements, other items which were worn or scarred were pirated from several parts transports, we picked the best of the bunch to go forward with this project.

Tom B.

 

[Tom B.]

Most of the parts for the rebuild are stock Ampex, except for the playback which is Flux from JRF. A friend donated an immaculate stainless faceplate, which I swapped onto my one-piece aircraft aluminum deckplate, as it is supposed to offer a more rigid transport framework compared to the stock two piece deck.

The reel idler assembly, pinch roller arm, and headblock are all NOS Ampex, right out of the original boxes (except for the Flux head retrofit).

Tom B.

 

[mep]

Tom-That looks awesome. When you listen to tapes (and LPs) that were made from the Ampex 300 series of decks (which comprises lots of musical treasures), the sound today still sounds great.

 

[Tom B.]

Except for re-wiring the capstan solenoid, it's all ready to go. It took several months to refurbish/rebuild the constituent parts....it only took 8 hours to put it all back together.

Cleaning/polishing/waxing parts is very time-consuming. Many of the parts taken off of other transports had to be cleaned before they could even be considered as replacements. Labeling used parts for future use took forever.

Let's call this a 354 as I have a minty 354 unit to mate it with.

Tom

 

[Tom B.]

A Bigger Project

This project has been ongoing for over two years, but we're making progress and it's coming together. This is my 300 playback rig, which has both solid state (AG-350) and tube (350) electronics. The transport started out as a 300-3 and was modified with a four-speed DC servo capstan, Tentrol constant-tension on supply and fluid idler, similar to what is on the MR70. Rack is ex-Sonicraft.



John French is building a custom head assembly with a Flux Std 350 head and Flux ME head, and adding a scrape-flutter idler. The headblock will have identical long cables so I can swap the different heads between the two electronics depending on playback preferences.

John Fletcher rebuilt the tube electronics and I did the AG units. Adding the DC capstan was an enormous effort; it took a month of planning and something like 60 hours to do the machining and transport mods to accept the motor/controller. It did however, turn the 300 into an exceptionally smooth-running machine.

Although it was intended to be a 1/4" machine, the transport retains the 1/2" rollers (in addition to the required 1/4" ones) in the event I decide to move more towards 1/2" tape.

Tom

 

[Tom B.]

Tom-That looks awesome. When you listen to tapes (and LPs) that were made from the Ampex 300 series of decks (which comprises lots of musical treasures), the sound today still sounds great.

That's the main reason I have such high regard for machines like the 300/350, and still use them. Think of all the great recordings made on those machines, then ask yourself why it's not appropriate to play those recordings back on the same equipment. Listing to older music on my Ampex gear is something I enjoy very much.

Tom

 

[mep]

Tom-I currently have an Otari MX-55 that I use with a pair of Ampex 350s. I love the sound of the Ampex 350s and they are the only tubes that remain in my system. I would love to hear a properly functioning Ampex 350 tape deck into my pair of Ampex 350 repros.

 

[MylesBAstor]

There is currently a thread on the Ampex list about the future of analog recording and the new wave of master dubs tapes that are being made. I just purchased a 1/2 inch 30 ips 12 inch master,I guess I have a reason to have a MR70 1/2 inch 2 track now 15,30 ips machine.

http://www.ebreggae.com/Reggae/Vinyl...-To-Party.html

Ernie is 80 now and he's still going strong.




A interesting quote from George Schowerer on mastering from the Ampex list:

I boil at every mention of a "mastering engineer" that is needed to bring the product to the public. If the product was properly engineered in the first place, there should be no need for further adulteration. At Columbia the remix to two track from the three track classical original tapes was straight foward 3 to 2 mixdown. The resultant two track "master tape" had NO cutting eq or other crap added. That tape was then used to make two track dupes for Europe and Japan. It was also used for cutting the lp master disc. The only changes at that point were the normal cutting precautions for hi freq. limit (depending on whether it was an Ortophon or Westrex cutterhead) and diameter eq. In some cases, low freq content was adjusted for lpi, as was level. At independant sessions (not Columbia), I have witnessed god-awful manipulation of the recorded material without the albums' producer being in control of the situation. You hear this every day in Rhino
remastering and others whio have never listened to the original hit record for comparison. The result is stilted eq and distortion. Compare, for instance the session I did for the Four Seasons as re-released by Rhino on the "Anniversary" album-silver cover), and the remastered same songs on Ace records out of London. The differences are jaw-dropping. It apparently involves where the copies were obtained and how many generations...add to that (as I discovered during my years with Dolby)
the fact that many copies had NO TONE or Dolby tone for reproductive calibration. Those copies were "fly by the seat of your pants" so-called
engineers. At Columbia, every tape that came in for disc mastering were previewed for level...and then we set the "tone" for a 3db possible overshoot. This small step insured that the disc was an accurate transfer
without any meddling to the program. The results are obvious when listening. While there may be situations that arise when mastering for cd,
that require some adjustment for technical reasons...still it is not cause for remixing (which has been done in the name of "improving the material".
Best, George S.

Perhaps Columbia should have. Their classical releases sound God awful bad. They'll rip the wallpaper off the walls. The classical engineers should have taken a page from their jazz counterparts at 30th St.

BTW, have you ever compared a Mercury recording cut by Mercury with one done by Columbia (CTFR matrix). The Columbia version sucks. No bass among a host of other things.

No the Columbia classical team should not brag about their work (and yes tried their work with the Columbia RIAA-no dice)

 

[MylesBAstor]

That's the main reason I have such high regard for machines like the 300/350, and still use them. Think of all the great recordings made on those machines, then ask yourself why it's not appropriate to play those recordings back on the same equipment. Listing to older music on my Ampex gear is something I enjoy very much.

Tom

+1

 

[RogerD]

This project has been ongoing for over two years, but we're making progress and it's coming together. This is my 300 playback rig, which has both solid state (AG-350) and tube (350) electronics. The transport started out as a 300-3 and was modified with a four-speed DC servo capstan, Tentrol constant-tension on supply and fluid idler, similar to what is on the MR70. Rack is ex-Sonicraft.

View attachment 4767

John French is building a custom head assembly with a Flux Std 350 head and Flux ME head, and adding a scrape-flutter idler. The headblock will have identical long cables so I can swap the different heads between the two electronics depending on playback preferences.

John Fletcher rebuilt the tube electronics and I did the AG units. Adding the DC capstan was an enormous effort; it took a month of planning and something like 60 hours to do the machining and transport mods to accept the motor/controller. It did however, turn the 300 into an exceptionally smooth-running machine.

Although it was intended to be a 1/4" machine, the transport retains the 1/2" rollers (in addition to the required 1/4" ones) in the event I decide to move more towards 1/2" tape.

Tom

Tom,

That is a beautiful machine. I know how hard it is and time consuming it is. I'm glad you posted this on the thread,you are a master,great job. I also agree many times with you,the best part of owning Ampex machines is that we play on the original machines that the studios used to record the greatest music in the world. Congratulations!

 

[U47]

Question on Ampex 440 updating

I'm picking up an Ampex 445-4 1/2 inch deck this weekend and was wondering what updates should be done outside of updating coupling and filter caps. Heads are in great shape and the deck is in good overall condition. I like that it can play 1/2 inch four track tapes as well as 1/4 inch two track with the flip of the two guides- wish it was that easy on my Sony APR-5000

Rich

 

[Tom B.]

Electronics for the newly rebuilt 350

After spending the past year rebuilding a 350 transport, I was anxious to put together some electronics for it. There was a 354 unit sitting on the shelf that had lots of potential; cosmetically it was almost perfect but it suffered from a few bad repair attempts. It took almost two weeks of evenings to get the demons out of this one.....354 electronics are unbelievably difficult to work on due to the wiring density and layering of parts.

In addition to fixing the prior botched repair job, the unit was recapped...all 105 c electrolytics for power supply & decoupling, and basic Cornell-Dublier caps in the signal path. Sylvania 12AX7's were chosen for the first stage as these have given good performance on other units I've worked on.

The unit sounds great....much better than I had hoped and we haven't even done a full alignment yet. It's hard to believe how good a 50+ year old piece of equipment can sound

Tom B.

 

[MylesBAstor]

View attachment 5081After spending the past year rebuilding a 350 transport, I was anxious to put together some electronics for it. There was a 354 unit sitting on the shelf that had lots of potential; cosmetically it was almost perfect but it suffered from a few bad repair attempts. It took almost two weeks of evenings to get the demons out of this one.....354 electronics are unbelievably difficult to work on due to the wiring density and layering of parts.

In addition to fixing the prior botched repair job, the unit was recapped...all 105 c electrolytics for power supply & decoupling, and basic Cornell-Dublier caps in the signal path. Sylvania 12AX7's were chosen for the first stage as these have given good performance on other units I've worked on.

The unit sounds great....much better than I had hoped and we haven't even done a full alignment yet. It's hard to believe how good a 50+ year old piece of equipment can sound

Tom B.

Wow looks like new!

 

[NorthStar]

---Simply an amazing job, Tom! ...Kudos!

 

[Tom B.]

JRF Masterpiece.......

Just in from John French, the custom head assembly for the 300:



This is a playback-only head unit that feeds into either AG350 (SS) or 350 (Tube) electronics. Head on the left is Flux Magnetics STD, head on right is Flux ME (extended response). Mounting a second playback head on the exit end of the assembly required extensive machining to the MU-Metal can and mounting plate, so much so that it had to be tried first on a scrap headblock (the can on the exit end is an 'inverted' repro head can).

Installing the idler, a 440 scrape idler, also required machining to the head plate and the idler itself, but we felt that the addition of the idler would be worth it.

The original concept of this project required considerable head-scratching as this likely has not been done before, at least not on a 300 platform. Procuring the parts, especially the longer low-capacitance cables, took quite a bit of time. I started out by sending John a half-dozen NOS Ampex head blocks and parts, and after a few phone discussions he had come up with a plan to put it all together. Opening the gate the first time to see the finished product was pretty exciting....it's one cool-looking 300 head setup.

BTW.....if anyone wants to know.....the ME head is worth every penny

Tom B.

 

[NorthStar]

---How does it sound? :b