SCORE! Ampex tape machine.. some questions

battleminnow

battleminnow

What's this button do?
Repost from "Other Gear" forum...

I just got an Ampex ag-440 2 track 1/4" tape machine for free from a recording studio liquidation. It powers up and spins and turns, all the usual suspects, however...

The line/mic preamps are gone (probably went with a separate lot at the auction) and I am unsure of the wiring. Do I need these preamps, or should there be a way to wire it up to use different preamps?

Thanks all in advance!

(Also got a couple of Grommes amps, a few equipment racks, about a million feet of Belden cable, a couple wall mounted patch bays, and a few other things.)

Pete
 
I'm pretty sure the channel amps are proprietary to the operation of the deck and could not be replaced with generic preamps. They would have calibration and bias setting inside of them as well as hookups for all three heads. A straight preamp doesn't cover those bases.

Best keep your eyes open for someone selling their's or someone selling an entire deck with them which is always cool anyway for having spare parts.

Here's some info on the 440 series.

http://recordist.com/ampex/docs/apxbrochures/ag440/ag-440.pdf

Cheers! :)
 
I owned and worked on the 440 series. They’re big but reliable.
When you say the line/mic preamps are gone, do you mean the complete individual RECORD / PLAYBACK electronics with the VU meter, or the three printed circuit boards that plug in the front of the electronic chassis or the octal plug pre-amp that goes in the INPUT ACCES socket on back? Do you know if you have the AG-440, AG-440B or AG-440C? Depending on what you’re missing, the heads have to be matched to the appropriate electronics series. Inovonics 380 Tape Electronics are good R/P replacements if you need them. If you just need the boards, Ebay always has someone selling them and the same goes for the R/P electronics & pre-amp. There are other options but I’ll keep this short.
Let me know what you find out.
 
Hopefully I can respond with some semblance of understanding...

Unfortunately the machine says AG-440 and includes no reference to a/b/c, but looking at the manual in the link above it is missing the "2" parts of the AG-440 2 console. The two chassis/VU/rack mounted units are absent from the console itself, they look like they should be these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ampex-mic-line-...yZ119022QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The console itself has two cables and plugs that snake back to inputs marked "1701" and "1702" and the other jacks, "1703/1704" are emty. There are also 6 plugs (3 per unit) similar to xlr style with one, two or three female pins. These were obviously marked by the recording studio as "CH 1" or "CH 2" and I would assume these wil connect into whatever units I am missing.

Any more direction or input would be great, thanks for all your help everyone!

Pete
 
The 440 A/B/C use different electronics bays. The one on the Ebay link is either an A or B. Wont work on a C model. You must match the preamps to the transport, or sh** doesnt work.
You can determine what you have if the serial number data label is still on the back of your machine. The number can be decoded to tell the series and configuration of the original machine. I have a pair of 440 C machines, and the transport electronics and the preamp bays are different than the A or B units. Get the number and maybe I can tell you what it is

Parts for these beasts are PRICEY, and some maniacs on EBAY have been buying up parts at Hyper inflated prices recently. Unless you really have the hots for a 440, you may find the price to restore it to be higher than the cost to buy a nice reel to reel.

Upside: the 440 is a tank. All of the hardware is oversized and built to last, and EVERYTHING is servicable. .
 
Thanks for the help!

It seems every component has a serial number, but there are two that are seemingly unnatatched to anything but the main body of the unit. The "System Serial No." is 277554 and a smaller stamped ser. no. in the same vicinity is 113373.

Pete
 
Hmmm.. ought to be on a small silver foil tag on the back of the faceplate maybe, not on a specific component. I will have to look at my machines when i get home. Seem to recall a number in the format of "4010311-20" ..like a seven or so digit number with a dash and then two numbers.

I am not real familiar with the -A and -B machines, so i could not quote component differences. There is a lot of info out on the web in various places however. More difficult since the preamps are the most visible differences.
 
All right, now we're getting somewhere! It's funny, I have been to that site 20 times in the past couple of days, and I never realized what "rugby guides" were... now I know mine are glass guides, which tell me it is an "a" or "b" model, not a "c".

Finally, I found that in figures 2-3 of both "a" and "b" you can see printing on the tape transport connector panel, and they are slightly different. "A" seems to have writing under each 24v relay, and "B" has writing under 3 of the 4, and a rivet or input or something under the rewind relay. Mine has printing under all of them, and no rivet/

Thus, I think I have a genuine Ampex AG-440 "a" model, in need of two record/repro units.

Is this going to be a tough/expensive/unworthy search or is this machine worth the endeavor? I figure, I got it for free, I can work on it myself and I have a 70+ year old tube/tape/electronics guru friend that can help me when I need it.

Comments? Is it worth it? If so, point me in the direction of a couple of record/repro heads!

Pete
 
I was just noticing that on some "b" and "c" models, they say "b" or "c." Maybe they didn't put the "a" on because they didn't know yet they would have any other models.

So will the "b" models work in my "a" machine?

Pete
 
OK, next question. What is the condition of the heads? IMO, shot heads would screw the deal at this point. The head stack is the key element to the transport (read that as most expensive), so if its not worthy, then IMO I would not invest in this machine, unless, as I said before, you have a burning desire to have a 440. The "A" rev transport does not have a lot of the nice revisions the "C" model does, but thats another issue. How bout you put up some pics of the unit & heads?

Not all is lost, however. You can probably get some $$ parting the thing out if it comes to that. And use the spoils to buy a complete machine!!
 
Hey, I don't know where you are in relation to Seattle, but check their craigslist. Some guy selling reel to reel and has Ampex. You might luck out!!
 
battleminnow said:
I think I have a genuine Ampex AG-440 "a" model, in need of two record/repro units.

Is this going to be a tough/expensive/unworthy search or is this machine worth the endeavor? I figure, I got it for free, I can work on it myself and I have a 70+ year old tube/tape/electronics guru friend that can help me when I need it.

Comments? Is it worth it? If so, point me in the direction of a couple of record/repro heads!

Pete
Click to expand...

For good analog, it's worth it depending if you have the space, time, sanity and money to invest in rebuilding it.

This and the second series “B” transport did not have motion sensing. You had to wait for the tape to come to a complete stop from FF or RW before you could hit the PLAY button. Otherwise you had "death tape spill". All earlier AMPEX models work this way.
You must STOP before you GO GO.

R/P electronics will cost you. If you need heads, that’s another cost and I don’t know of anyone making economical replacement heads for these. Once in a while someone has New Old Stock heads on Ebay.

http://www.atrservice.com/products/ has a good selection of parts and complete decks.

I’m sadly selling my analog collection of over 40 machines because I moved to a smaller home. If I had the space, I would keep them all.

If you decide not to rebuild and you got this for free, you could part out this deck on Ebay or here and invest in a complete ATR-102. Now that is a sweet machine.

Good luck.
 
battleminnow said:
Repost from "Other Gear" forum...

I just got an Ampex ag-440 2 track 1/4" tape machine for free from a recording studio liquidation. It powers up and spins and turns, all the usual suspects, however...

The line/mic preamps are gone (probably went with a separate lot at the auction) and I am unsure of the wiring. Do I need these preamps, or should there be a way to wire it up to use different preamps?
Click to expand...

You pretty much need to pick up a couple of channels of AG-440 electronics. Those should typically run you $75-$100 per channel, complete and in good shape, no more than that. You could sign onto the AMPEX list (link is on the recordist ampex page you have visited). Ask the good folk there if anyone has any AG-440 "A" channel electronics they don't need. If you mention that they will go to restore an AG-440 transport into a working deck, you'll surely hear back if anyone has any channels to spare. They love that stuff. If so, you should be able to pick it up for a reasonable price, perhaps a bit less than the typical price above.

Cheers,

Otto
 
I've been thinking about Ampex machines alot lately. Thinking I'd like to get one at some point. Maybe an 8 track 1" or 4 track 1/2". How hard are they to come by? Any other advice on them?
 
ECC82-- thanks for the info, and I will look into the ATR-102. What makes this so much better?

ofajen-- great advice, I will probably give that a shot!

Pete
 
Ampex019.jpg


Ampex001.jpg


Ampex014.jpg


Ampex018.jpg


These any help? I can take more, now that I found my camera...

Freaking moving...


Pete
 
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