Ampex MM-1000 Story...

Yeah, the brochure is where I saw the doors and thought they'd ad a finishing touch to the deck in the picture...pardon my creative license!
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No problem...I've come to expect and happily anticipate that creativity. ;)

I've thought about making some doors or something, but it just has to sit as a low priority. If the MM-1000's disposition remains an 8-track only (long-term) then I'm going to consider it, but, you know me...I'll find a way to make the conversion happen eventually...heheh...:drunk:
 
I have long been confused over the direct heritage of the MM-1000 in terms of the transport and console; Ampex 2" Quad VTR yes, but which one?

Some say its the VR-1000...I've also heard that its the VR-2000...what abut the VR-1100 or the VR-1200?

Well, I've been dialoging with Don Norwood of Digitrak Communications, Inc.

Very glad to get better acquainted with Don...great guy and extremely knowledeable and experienced in the world of quad VTR's. He helped me understand the chronology of Ampex quads...the VR-1100/1200/2000 series recorders coexisted, and all shared the same transport plate and reel motors with the MM-1000 (the same transport plate and reel motors as were developed for the VR-1000 quad VTR).

The VR-1000 was tube-based, but the VR-1100 was the first solid-state quad VTR produced by Ampex. The 1100 and 1200 are similar but the 1100 was monochrome, and the 1200 was color (though many 1100's were upgraded for color operation).

So you see, it IS hard to pinpoint which quad model was the parent of the MM-1000...BUT, have a look below at the "flat-top" version of the VR-1200...the VR-1200E. This was a "compact" version of the VR-1200 designed for field work...monitoring facilities could be purchased separately as suited for the particular installation.

Folks, that there VR-1200E looks a whole lot like an MM-1000-8 without the overbridge don't it??
 

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sweetbeats said:
I have long been confused over the direct heritage of the MM-1000 in terms of the transport and console; Ampex 2" Quad VTR yes, but which one?

Some say its the VR-1000...I've also heard that its the VR-2000...what abut the VR-1100 or the VR-1200?

Well, I've been dialoging with Don Norwood of Digitrak Communications, Inc.

Very glad to get better acquainted with Don...great guy and extremely knowledeable and experienced in the world of quad VTR's. He helped me understand the chronology of Ampex quads...the VR-1100/1200/2000 series recorders coexisted, and all shared the same transport plate and reel motors with the MM-1000 (the same transport plate and reel motors as were developed for the VR-1000 quad VTR).

The VR-1000 was tube-based, but the VR-1100 was the first solid-state quad VTR produced by Ampex. The 1100 and 1200 are similar but the 1100 was monochrome, and the 1200 was color (though many 1100's were upgraded for color operation).

So you see, it IS hard to pinpoint which quad model was the parent of the MM-1000...BUT, have a look below at the "flat-top" version of the VR-1200...the VR-1200E. This was a "compact" version of the VR-1200 designed for field work...monitoring facilities could be purchased separately as suited for the particular installation.

Folks, that there VR-1200E looks a whole lot like an MM-1000-8 without the overbridge don't it??
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that picture! I didn't realize those doors had handles! I'll see if I can fix that on the ones I crafted.

Cheers! :)
 
I finally tracked down bearings for the rolling guides. Bear in mind these are for the 1" rolling guides. There are different varieties for the 2", and maybe various types for the 1". Mine are SFR1810ZZ...that's a flanged stainless roller bearing with a 5/16" ID, 1/2" OD and 5/32" thick. The flange has an OD of 0.547" and a thickness of 0.031". I found some cheapy unrated ones in an 8-pack but I was a bit leary...then I found ABEC-3 rated versions for $6 and change each with free shipping. I ordered 4 of those. It'll be nice to get those in as I will no longer have to listen to one of the guides wheezing as it spins up to or down from fast-wind.

Also, I looked at the lower console rack rails and they most certainly bear the scars of having been fully loaded at some point...and the spacing of the scars suggest they were fully loaded with electronics. SO...my MM-1000 may have originally been an 8-track without the overbridge, an 8-track that shipped with the overbridge and an empty lower section and then converted to 16-0track, OR it may have been a 16-track from the factory and been downconverted to 8-track or even gutted and was brought back to life as an 8-track by the previous owner. No way to find out, but the bottom line is that the lower console was full at some point and the clincher that it spent time running 2" tape is the wear on the lifters...unless the lifters were pulled from another machine. It will forever be a mystery since there 's no p/n tag on the system, but that's okay...it wants to run 2" tape...
 
That's a good question to which I've been wanting to get an answer...The quad VTR's could handle 14" and of course the MM-1000 is a converted quad VTR...So by virtue of that I always thought that it could handle 14" reels but the manual only refers to the transport being designed to handle 10.5" reels...dunno if that is because in 1969 (when the manual was written) audio tape only CAME on 10.5" reels or not...I don't know whether or not that is even the case, but theoretically the transport (as far as the reel motors, brakes, capstan, etc...the stuff that moves the tape) of the MM-1000 should be capable of handling 14" x 2" reels because that's what was used (or could be used) on the VR-series Ampex VTR's...

Urg...I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about this now...I've been meaning to find out...

Lessee here...where did I put those 14" x 1" reels...
 
Yup...

That answers that...

IMG_7152_2_1.JPG
 
Some useless information...

In researching bearings to purchase for the rolling guides I wanted to know how fast those things spin in fast-wind. In order to get there I had the opportunity to consider some information:

  • The MM-1000 is rated to fast-wind a 10.5" reel of 1.5mil tape in 1.4 minutes.
  • That means it could wind about a mile of tape in around 3 minutes.
  • That means in fast wind the tape is traveling at a linear rate of over 20 miles per hour.
  • The rolling guides are 3/4" in diameter. If I did my math right that means those are spinning at about 9000rpm in fast-wind.
  • I'm thankful for lifters. The flutter idlers are 15/32" in diameter and therefore would be spinning at well over 31,000rpm were the lifters not sparing them.
 
sweetbeats said:
That answers that...
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I'll bet you know what I'm going to ask you next! :D

If you have two of those 14" reels, do you think you could load them on the machine with some tape on them threaded up and take another picture of the deck like you did in IMG7134, which had the slightly darker lighting conditions and this time when your framing the shot, try to position your camera so that the front edge of the side wood panel is vertically straight as well as keeping the entire deck on the frame of the picture? This might mean having to back up an extra foot or two to accomplish that. The reason I ask this is because I had to slightly rotate the previous shot to get that vertical alignment and when I do that, the look of the perspective gets messed up and causes me to do a mountain of perspective correction in Photoshop, which eats into the salvageable sharpness of the finished picture.

Cheers! :)
 
If you have two of those 14" reels, do you think you could load them on the machine with some tape on them threaded up and take another picture of the deck like you did in IMG7134, which had the slightly darker lighting conditions and this time when your framing the shot, try to position your camera so that the front edge of the side wood panel is vertically straight as well as keeping the entire deck on the frame of the picture?
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Heheh...yeah...I was reeling in anticipation...I'll see. I might indeed have another 14" reel WITH tape on it. I'm pretty sure it isn't a precision reel but no matter.

Jeff, when you are talking about framing the shot are you referring to making the front edge of the left side panel vertical? And did I cut something off in the last photos or are you just making a precautionary statement when you are stating to keep the entire deck in the frame?

By golly it fits like a glove!
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Yep! Almost...almost like it was MEANT for 14" reels! Wait...oh yeah...it was! :)

(though I think those are 12" reels below...)
 

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sweetbeats said:
Jeff, when you are talking about framing the shot are you referring to making the front edge of the left side panel vertical? And did I cut something off in the last photos or are you just making a precautionary statement when you are stating to keep the entire deck in the frame?
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Yes, the wood grained left panel's front edge; vertically dead straight, plumb!

And yes, just a precautionary warning to keep the entire deck in the frame of the picture. ;)

If you can't back up far enough, consider moving the machine a foot or two to the right along that wall its up against and that should give you the working distance needed.

Cheers! :)
 
That's true! :o

I do have a compulsion to do photographically what you do electronically! :D

But, I suppose if you felt so inclined, many of those minor paint nicks could be touched up with some careful paint matching, I imagine? Or would it involve removing panels and completely repainting them?

Cheers! :)
 
I had a good friend over the other night. We had good fellowship. Later in the evening he brought in his acoustic guitar and little keyboard amp to show me some of the looping compositions he's been working up. I grabbed an ART Tube MP OPL for preamplification, and nothing more than an SM-57 (that's for you, cjacek), plugged up the cables and recorded over 30 minutes onto track 2 of the MM-1000. Haven't had a chance to listen back and I'll explain in a moment.

I can understand that, for those who are not mechanically inclined or interested, running an analog tape machine could be cumbersome or intimidating. Using a digital unit (either computer-based or stand-alone) IS more comfortable for most in our computer-centric culture I believe. And the tools and expediency available can be powerful. But I also bet there are scads of digital-only users out there that have never had the opportunity and/or never considered even trying tape and I bet that many would, after trying the process, seek to incorporate an analog tape element (at least) into the setup. I say this because it is just a joy to use that big old machine. And it was fast. Took less time to thread and cue tape than it does to startup the DAW and initiate the drivers. It is just so simple...and the tactile experience sets the tone of "we are going to record now", and the red light and the reels turning says "we are now recording" in a different way than facsimiles on a monitor. Again, I'm an avid and appreciative user of digital technology, but this tape thing is certainly my first choice in tracking tools...and I haven't even touched on the sonic qualities yet. And the breeze that comes off this thing in fast-wind with those 14" reels installed...hair and shirt waving in the breeze as I stand at the control panel...just awesome. I did some more useless but potentially interesting calculations and the velocity at the edge of the supplying 14" reel on the MM-1000 in fast wind near the end of the winding (in other words the supplying reel is nearly empty) is, in theory, around 95mph... :eek: Watch your fingers, kids.

So I had spliced together two 2500' reels of tape to fill one 14" reel for the photo shoot for Ghost's fabulous graphic work. One section of 2500' tape was the reel of 996...the other was whatever was on the 3-screw 14" reel...456 I think. SSS afflicted. Not badly but bad enough that flakes are starting to stick to the back-coating on the tape and of course it is leaving a buildup on the tape path...I know this because I play-spooled it onto the reel after the splicing to get a nice pack for the photos. Its not bad-bad...like it took maybe 10 minutes to clean everything up including the vacuuming and cleaning it all up with alcohol, but bad tape is just stupid. So that was on spooled on the reel first and then the 996. Recording had extended past the splice...like to about 53 minutes of recording and so, yes, I've got to clean it up again and I haven't had a chance. I just cut the tape where I stopped the transport and dump edited off the bad stuff from the takeup reel...THAT was even fun..."Look honey! This is called 'dump editing'!" :drunk: She did smile but it was accompanied by some eye-rolling. I guess not everybody is impressed with what 2000' of tape on the floor looks like. Anyway...I still need to clean the path up again before I can rewind the 996 and listen back. I'm not expecting much from the tracking as it was not a real good space to record in and of course the MM-1000 hasn't been biased for the 996 and no calibration has been done, and I realized last night that I haven't even degaussed the tape path. I just wanted to play and I figure I didn't hurt anything in doing so (the SSS isn't extensive...NO apparent laboring of the machine to run the tape as far as I could tell).

Maybe in the next couple days I'll have a chance to clean it up and have a listen. Still working on getting my Tascam MX-80 repaired as a basic preamp unit and 8 x 2 summing mixer for playback.
 
The Ghost of FM said:
That's true! :o

I do have a compulsion to do photographically what you do electronically! :D

But, I suppose if you felt so inclined, many of those minor paint nicks could be touched up with some careful paint matching, I imagine? Or would it involve removing panels and completely repainting them?

Cheers! :)
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The paint is pretty thick, so for it to be done right it'd have to be a complete respray as touch-ups would still show texturally. My guess is that I'll never do that. I also like something about a machine that shows its battle scars but can still do its thing like day 1. The main areas are around the top of the counter assembly and along the edge of the face of the control panel...totally chewed up into the aluminum.
 
sweetbeats said:
.....and nothing more than an SM-57 (that's for you, cjacek), plugged up the cables and recorded over 30 minutes onto track 2 of the MM-1000.
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That's what I'm talking about! :) Recordings as they should be done, simple, live, to a tape machine!:D It's about the human interface and feel of it all. Totally organic man!;) Seriously, I'm really pumped up about that recording session, would love to hear it, warts and all but isn't music more interesting that way? Don't sweat about the imperfections, not degaussing, SS, not ideal room etc.... interesting results is what counts. I'll take the real thing vs those slick, polished, monotonous, sterile, robotic tunes so prevalent today. Great stuff Cory!:)
 
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