1966 Sunset Sound Ampex AG-300 1" 8-track

lonewhitefly

lonewhitefly

Active member
I thought I would share with you guys ... just bought the original 8-track deck from Sunset Sound Recorders (Los Angeles). Unbelievable to have the machine that recorded Love's "Forever Changes", The Beach Boys, Monkees, etc. etc. and on and on !

Still setting it up, but snapped a few photos:

Ampex AG-300 pictures by donnylang - Photobucket

quite a rare bird, even without the Sunset Sound connection. I'd guess only 2-3 were ever made.

Looking for Scotch 206 or 201 / 202 / 203 1" tape is anyone knows of any for sale.
 
Well done.
I hope you are handy with an iron. I assuming your going to restore and use it for recording.
Enjoy
 
The deck is actually in very well-maintained condition. After a little tweaking, I was able to get it up and running. I'm not a tech, but a local tech is coming over to set it up on Friday. Right now, the only problem I know about is a little missing lock nut on the capstan (not a big deal), and that channel 1 will not pass audio. I'm still waiting on some 1" tape, so I don't know fully what's going on yet. But I do know it was working well a few years ago and has been in storage since. All of the owners (the last one of which - who agreed to sell it to me even though he wasn't really planning on it - is a very great fellow ... also got a AG-440 2-track in the deal) have treated this machine very well.

This is not tube, it's actually the first Ampex solid-state 8-track. Probably (along with the Scully 280 and possibly the 3M M23) the first solid state 8-track recorder ever made. Heads (along with everything else) look good.

yes of course will be using it for recording! been working on a new album for the last few months. this one's gonna take awhile.
 
Fantastic. It looks very experimental. Let us know how things work out with that, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a better machine for someone trying to recreate a 1960s studio.
 
Wow congrats on scoring that amazing deck!
I have an AG350 full track machine that I use a fair bit (mostly for echo so far--haven't had a chance to mix to mono yet). I'd say it's the nicest sounding machine I have. Even the line-amp seem to a subtle euphonic tone.
Out of curiosity, does this machine have a sel-synch?
 
ethyrvalve said:
Wow congrats on scoring that amazing deck!
I have an AG350 full track machine that I use a fair bit (mostly for echo so far--haven't had a chance to mix to mono yet). I'd say it's the nicest sounding machine I have. Even the line-amp seem to a subtle euphonic tone.
Out of curiosity, does this machine have a sel-synch?
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I know ... I just got it up and running tonight, and I was running some stuff to it. It has 'that' sound I've been after ... even before fully setting it up. The AG-350 is actually the same electronics unit as this one, mated with a 300-series transport.

Yes, it has Sel-Sync. If you click on the link to the photos in my first post, the Sel-Sync panels are actually above the transport ... they take up as much space as 2 electronic units! The 8 channels are to the left ... they are supposed to be racked. I just bought a rack so I'm waiting on that too. The Sel-Sync sounds pretty crazy ... like full on mid-range!

Anyway, I got a bunch of (mostly bad) 1" tape on eBay for $12 (+30 shipping). Lots of good take up reels. One was advertised as Scotch 206 but it's kind of funky ... slows the deck down to a halt but doesn't really leave any residue. I thought that was strange I'm gonna guess it's actually 226 or 250. Most of the tape is '70s-'80s 456, so I'm not going to even bother attempting to use those. Luckily, there is one reel of Agfa 468 that runs nicely. Will probably set it up for that ... is RMGI making 1" 468? I really don't want to use 911, but 1" tape is so hard to find.

Anyway, there are a couple quirks (channel 1 doesn't pass audio, it comes in intermittently distorted), and the capstan needs to be adjusted for correct speed, possibly a couple things changed out in there (it was an indirect drive with a rubber flywheel ... I guess the rubber might need to be replaced to get stable speed). Has a bit of a subtle low hum when recording, so I'll have to work that out too.

But really, I'm surprised it's actually working ok ... overall, it actually performs alright !
 
lonewhitefly said:
is RMGI making 1" 468? I really don't want to use 911, but 1" tape is so hard to find.
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I don't believe they are slitting SM468 in 1", probably not enough demand for it. Your option for higher output tape from them would be SM911 or SM900 (assuming your machine can fully erase the SM900, not sure how the '60s machines do there).

Congrats on the score, that looks like a super cool machine, love the pedigree! 1" 8tk is such a fun format and sounds great, I love working with my 1" 8 MCI machine.
 
briank said:
I don't believe they are slitting SM468 in 1", probably not enough demand for it. Your option for higher output tape from them would be SM911 or SM900 (assuming your machine can fully erase the SM900, not sure how the '60s machines do there).

Congrats on the score, that looks like a super cool machine, love the pedigree! 1" 8tk is such a fun format and sounds great, I love working with my 1" 8 MCI machine.
Click to expand...

actually, I found a link for one:

RMGI-North America SM468 35320 Metal Reel Box 1" x 2500 ft 10.5" | Full Compass

I actually prefer low output tape, like Scotch 206. You can still find some Quantegy 406 NOS out there also. I may have to set up for 468 though, because that's the only tape I have right now.
 
lonewhitefly said:
actually, I found a link for one:

RMGI-North America SM468 35320 Metal Reel Box 1" x 2500 ft 10.5" | Full Compass

I actually prefer low output tape, like Scotch 206. You can still find some Quantegy 406 NOS out there also. I may have to set up for 468 though, because that's the only tape I have right now.
Click to expand...


That's interesting considering RMGI doesn't even list 1" 468 on their own website. I would actually call Full Compass and check for availability. FC doesn't generally stock RMGI, my rep always told me tape is a special order item, they order, tape ships to them, they ship to customer (which I thought was weird, no dropshipping to save time).
 
briank said:
That's interesting considering RMGI doesn't even list 1" 468 on their own website. I would actually call Full Compass and check for availability. FC doesn't generally stock RMGI, my rep always told me tape is a special order item, they order, tape ships to them, they ship to customer (which I thought was weird, no dropshipping to save time).
Click to expand...

Yeh, it's kind of weird. I actually found out I have some 206 1" here! it was unlabeled but I compared the color to my 1/2" 206, and sure enough ... runs well and sounds like 206!
 
Love the picture with Stills and Young!
So cool to know that your machine was right there with them and most likely recorded them too.
Great score!
 
Yes indeed a great score well done mate.
I just hope your going to post up some stuff you record on it too.
 
Hi Steve,

'Pet Sounds' and 'Vibes' were cut at a variety of studios ... including Sunset, but the Sunset stuff was 4-track at that time. Looks they they got this deck around summer '67. Based on my research, it seems as though Beach Boys sessions for 'Celebrate the News', 'Got to Know the Woman', 'San Miguel' and 'Loop De Loop' were cut on this deck. Probably some others as well.
 
You know...I didn't even check the tape type...just saw the 1", and I remembered he's looking for 1"... :D
 
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