Identify this Ampex Pre!

rene-lemieux

rene-lemieux

Member
Hi, the ebay auction for THIS Ampex stereo pre ends today. I can't find a lick of information online about it though. Can anybody help me?
 
What's the point of having it if you don't have the transport to go with it?

It's not like there's Mic inputs on it with pads and trim controls. Just a balanced line in and out and the head connections as well as needing to have the correct power supply.

Unless someone is going to chime in extol the virtues of a tube stage in the circuit which will only add mostly noise and distortion...those older Ampex electronics had pretty noisy specs.

Cheers! :)
 
rene-lemieux said:
I'm confused. It is true I'm new to all this, but it appears to me that it has mic inputs on it, in the back?
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It has balanced inputs which resemble microphone inputs but they are not labeled as such so I would assume the deck it was designed for was to be used with an external separate mixer with Microphone inputs.

Ampex field recorder units like the 350 and 600 series would have Mic inputs as they were self contained units. This unit appears to belong to something other then that.

Even more disturbing is that the ebay seller is calling it a power amp! :D

Cheers! :)
 
Ok, while were on the topic, I am even more interested in the ampeg 351 pres such as THIS one. Does the same thing apply to this amp? Also, what are these things worth? This guy is charging 800 or whatever. You may know from my previous thread that I am interested in doing pre 70's recordings. I know for a fact that STAX and SUN both used ampex gear, so this would be ideal. What should I be paying, and SHOULD I even bother to buy one of these (depending on whether or not i need the transport).

Thanks for the help.
 
The one in your link to the 351 does have a switch on the front of it to accept a microphone input but keep in mind, this unit dates back to 50's so beyond any service issues just due to the age of the unit, I'd easily say that you could find a newer, cleaner quality Mic pre with phantom power, pads, phase reverse switching and more for the same of less money then what some of these older tape recorder guts are selling for.

Please keep in mind too that these units are being misrepresented when they advertise it as a "classic Microphone pre-amp". It's really just classic tape deck guts as far more of what's under the hood in these things was concerned with interfacing with the tape transport for levels and bias at different tape speeds. The microphone section is one tiny component of all that only.

I wouldn't give those guys more then 20 bucks for any of that stuff considering they're not dedicated Mic pre-amps and they're pushing 60 years in age so count on tracking down tubes, caps, resistors, pots, switches if needed...and they probably will be.

Cheers! :)
 
rene-lemieux said:
i wish i wasn't such a sucker for looks....
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If you're into good looks and absolutely brilliant, classic analog mic pre sound quality, throw your visa card at one of these... :)



fidelicestraight1.jpg


Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
If you're into good looks and absolutely brilliant, classic analog mic pre sound quality, throw your visa card at one of these... :)



fidelicestraight1.jpg


Cheers! :)
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Ok, this is completely subjective, bear in mind that I am revering strictly to the aesthetics of the 2 pieces of equipment. But I must say, that the ampex wins by a mile, and I personally think the other piece is kinda ugly.

To me, The ampex looks like military equiptment, It excites me, the other one, to me, looks like any other boring rack equiptment. Theat being said, I quite like universal audio stuff, as far as looks goes anyways.

THIS, is strictly my personal opinion, I dont wanna start a kaufaufel.
 
rene-lemieux said:
Ok, this is completely subjective, bear in mind that I am revering strictly to the aesthetics of the 2 pieces of equipment. But I must say, that the ampex wins by a mile, and I personally think the other piece is kinda ugly.

To me, The ampex looks like military equiptment, It excites me, the other one, to me, looks like any other boring rack equiptment. Theat being said, I quite like universal audio stuff, as far as looks goes anyways.

THIS, is strictly my personal opinion, I dont wanna start a kaufaufel.
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I have a UA 610 solo. It's a great pre. It's very clean sounding though. But it's also the classic design based on the old consoles. I imagine they have always been clean. There is a gain control though. You might want to look into getting one of those. Used it'd probably cost you about $500.
 
To me, The ampex looks like military equiptment...
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Ampex actually used a lot of military-grade components in their vintage gear.

I actually think the unit in your original post is an electronics module for a PR-10 transport.

Yep...a total useless PITA unless you have the PSU to power it up and at that it is just a line-level amp.
 
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