Ampex MM-1000 Story...
- Thread starter sweetbeats
- Start date
Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Speaking of a blown V8 in a Pinto, I'm in the same boat Cory. The only room I have now is 9'x11'. And given this is the last place I'm ever gonna have, I'll have to live with it. Also given, I have to use what I have now, this means my room is gonna be filled pretty much like yours. My console alone will fill one complete end, as it was built to hold my M3700, which I'm NEVER going to give up, regardless if it takes half my room. Then there is the fixture that holds the twin MSR's. Bout the size of your MM-1000. Fortunately..I don't have a drum kit in there too.
But I know the feeling. Btw, that MM-000 looks positively amazing.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
And not just ONE drum kit, but TWO!
My younger son's junior size drum kit is in there along with mine. Fortunately I'm a fairly small fella and like making my kit setup as compact and efficient as possible so it takes up a fairly small footprint.
Regarding tinnitus: yeah, it's funny...I don't have it bad-bad but my ears do ring all the time, ability to hear stuff in the HF range begins to taper at about 12K and is pretty well gone by 16K (have to trust the meter that the 16K tone is reproducing), and I have difficulty in conversation in a crowded room like a restaurant...all that mid-range clutter gets muddy and I have to start doing some lip reading to supplement my ears with the person across the table. And yet there are times I can pick out very high frequency sounds in the environment that NOBODY else hears. But I think since the wife and kids are getting frustrated at having to repeat stuff it's time to get the ears checked.
Thanks for the comments on the MM-1000 appearance. Someday I'll clean up the electronics...the 8 channels I the overbridge have received nothing more than a wipe-down since I got the thing. When I get to the point I'm recapping and doing the tweaks and refurbish tasks on my to-do list I'll be polishing the stainless material...and it'll look even better when the lower racks are populated and I'm not staring into a mess of looming and spare parts.
SOMEday. But I must say just starting to use it takes the eve off my impatience to finish everything on it...I'll get there...it's good to play. And messy or clean the MM-1000 offers a commanding visual appearance. I suspect many react to it the way I did when I first saw the pictures in the Craigslist posting that ultimately led it to be in my possession: "What is THAT??"
BTW, I'll always be envious of your design and fabrication skills...your work on your equipment furnishings for the M-3700 and MSRs is cool on the highest order, both visually and functionally.
My younger son's junior size drum kit is in there along with mine. Fortunately I'm a fairly small fella and like making my kit setup as compact and efficient as possible so it takes up a fairly small footprint.
Regarding tinnitus: yeah, it's funny...I don't have it bad-bad but my ears do ring all the time, ability to hear stuff in the HF range begins to taper at about 12K and is pretty well gone by 16K (have to trust the meter that the 16K tone is reproducing), and I have difficulty in conversation in a crowded room like a restaurant...all that mid-range clutter gets muddy and I have to start doing some lip reading to supplement my ears with the person across the table. And yet there are times I can pick out very high frequency sounds in the environment that NOBODY else hears. But I think since the wife and kids are getting frustrated at having to repeat stuff it's time to get the ears checked.
Thanks for the comments on the MM-1000 appearance. Someday I'll clean up the electronics...the 8 channels I the overbridge have received nothing more than a wipe-down since I got the thing. When I get to the point I'm recapping and doing the tweaks and refurbish tasks on my to-do list I'll be polishing the stainless material...and it'll look even better when the lower racks are populated and I'm not staring into a mess of looming and spare parts.
SOMEday. But I must say just starting to use it takes the eve off my impatience to finish everything on it...I'll get there...it's good to play. And messy or clean the MM-1000 offers a commanding visual appearance. I suspect many react to it the way I did when I first saw the pictures in the Craigslist posting that ultimately led it to be in my possession: "What is THAT??"BTW, I'll always be envious of your design and fabrication skills...your work on your equipment furnishings for the M-3700 and MSRs is cool on the highest order, both visually and functionally.
Hi Cory.
Oh man, do I know about that. My wife has gotten to the point she's almost stopped talking to me. In fact, we made our trip in a big Penski truck. Between the noise of the engine and air turbulance from the open windows, she lost her voice in two days from screaming at me, which made things worse cause she was my co-pilot. She had a "talking" GPS and would punch in destinations and hand me the GPS to listen to. Have you ever driven a 22' truck with a car dolly? Nightmare. I had to constantly make sure where ever I was going had plenty of space to turn around, like motels and gas stations. But the GPS was a vintage unit that was..well let's just say it didn't have a clue. More than once it sent me up country roads that ended in one lane out in the boondocks with no place to turn around. Fuck.
Almost ran out of gas on one of these little detours. We took highway 80 across the states, which meant gasing up at those "all in one" truck stops. Holy moly. Talk about a zoo. One place was so bad I saw people getting into screaming matches over their turn in the gas line. sheeezus. Got stuck in one where I couldn't pull out because I was too close to the pump, and couldn't back up because of the line of cars behind me. By the time I got out of there I was ready to kill.
God..never again. Needless to say, the GPS didn't make it here. 
Ah yes..the proverbial.."to do" and "to get" lists. I stopped making one. My list in Oregon was so long it took an hour to read it. Ha! And now, it starts all over from scratch. In fact, when I got here, the thought of doing every thing from scratch almost made me sell everything and say the hell with it. But I'm too stubborn, and it took too long to collect everything I have. But then..I saw YOUR latest post on this thread and it gave me hope..again.
The thing is..I had to admit something to myself. When I first got an interest in recording, it was because I had long term friends who I loved to play music with, and we had a bunch of original tunes that I wanted to record. Well, given life's little detours, moves and reality, it took forever to collect enough stuff and have a room to do it in. By the time I got to Oregon, my friends were thousands of miles away. So the "recording" thing took a back seat to my other interest..which is design and fabrication. So, not having any one to share my recording interest with, I devoted what time I did have, to making my "studio" the best I possibly could, just for my own satisfaction, which I assume..you do too. I mean..that mixer and the MM is living proof.
And then I had to move..again. And not only did I have a studio to move, I also have a complete woodworking shop. Fuck. When I left Coos Bay, I left so much stuff I could have filled another truck. But there was no way. So now, we've downscaled in the sense of space and junk. I do have a nice sized garage for the shop, but the room for my "studio" is so small compared to Coos Bay, I kinda gave up. Until I saw your thread again. And that is what I admitted to myself. Over the years, I enjoyed building stuff for the studio. Most of it is already done. At one time, I really got into studio "design". To the point I spent more time on design than I did on fabrication. Thing was though..I ran out of time and money. I even left a pile 6 sheets of 4" thick 4'x10' sheets of 703 that cost $600 and a trip to Portland. Makes me sick. But life is life and it's time to move on. So now, it's not so much finally getting to record. It's about making the best of things and enjoying what you can get out of life before you kick the bucket. Although, one of the best things about moving here, is I am only an hour away from my best musical buddy. We started a band together in...well, a LONG LONG time ago...hahahahaha. Anyway, going up Saturday to see him for the first time in five years. So, that too gives me purpose. And without purpose..ya might as well roll over and die. So...my purpose here is to delve into putting my studio back together in what ever shape and form it takes. What I'm REALLY interested in doing now though...is learning how to get this gear working. THAT is why I looked at this thread. I want to understand the nature and underpinnings of how this shit works. And YOU gave me hope that I might actually get there. Thanks
GAK! Coming from you..I'm humbled. Thank you. Well, in that light..I'll start my own thread here pretty quick. I used to post in the Studio design forum, but now, considering my interest has gone from design to getting this shit working again..AND I have what I consider, probably the ONLY complete setup in the world that Tascam designed for the MSR's. That is, the M3700..WITH the JL Cooper automation, 2 MSR's sychronized by virtue of a Midiizer, and a 42b mixdown deck. It took a long long time to collect this shit and now I need to get it working. So..well, enough bla bla bla. My apology for the long post on your thread. I'll post my own soon. Thanks again Cory.
Oh man, do I know about that. My wife has gotten to the point she's almost stopped talking to me. In fact, we made our trip in a big Penski truck. Between the noise of the engine and air turbulance from the open windows, she lost her voice in two days from screaming at me, which made things worse cause she was my co-pilot. She had a "talking" GPS and would punch in destinations and hand me the GPS to listen to. Have you ever driven a 22' truck with a car dolly? Nightmare. I had to constantly make sure where ever I was going had plenty of space to turn around, like motels and gas stations. But the GPS was a vintage unit that was..well let's just say it didn't have a clue.
More than once it sent me up country roads that ended in one lane out in the boondocks with no place to turn around. Fuck. Almost ran out of gas on one of these little detours. We took highway 80 across the states, which meant gasing up at those "all in one" truck stops. Holy moly. Talk about a zoo. One place was so bad I saw people getting into screaming matches over their turn in the gas line. sheeezus. Got stuck in one where I couldn't pull out because I was too close to the pump, and couldn't back up because of the line of cars behind me. By the time I got out of there I was ready to kill. God..never again. Needless to say, the GPS didn't make it here. Ah yes..the proverbial.."to do" and "to get" lists. I stopped making one. My list in Oregon was so long it took an hour to read it. Ha! And now, it starts all over from scratch. In fact, when I got here, the thought of doing every thing from scratch almost made me sell everything and say the hell with it. But I'm too stubborn, and it took too long to collect everything I have. But then..I saw YOUR latest post on this thread and it gave me hope..again.
The thing is..I had to admit something to myself. When I first got an interest in recording, it was because I had long term friends who I loved to play music with, and we had a bunch of original tunes that I wanted to record. Well, given life's little detours, moves and reality, it took forever to collect enough stuff and have a room to do it in. By the time I got to Oregon, my friends were thousands of miles away. So the "recording" thing took a back seat to my other interest..which is design and fabrication. So, not having any one to share my recording interest with, I devoted what time I did have, to making my "studio" the best I possibly could, just for my own satisfaction, which I assume..you do too. I mean..that mixer and the MM is living proof.
And then I had to move..again. And not only did I have a studio to move, I also have a complete woodworking shop. Fuck. When I left Coos Bay, I left so much stuff I could have filled another truck. But there was no way. So now, we've downscaled in the sense of space and junk.
I do have a nice sized garage for the shop, but the room for my "studio" is so small compared to Coos Bay, I kinda gave up. Until I saw your thread again. And that is what I admitted to myself. Over the years, I enjoyed building stuff for the studio. Most of it is already done. At one time, I really got into studio "design". To the point I spent more time on design than I did on fabrication. Thing was though..I ran out of time and money. I even left a pile 6 sheets of 4" thick 4'x10' sheets of 703 that cost $600 and a trip to Portland. Makes me sick. But life is life and it's time to move on. So now, it's not so much finally getting to record. It's about making the best of things and enjoying what you can get out of life before you kick the bucket. Although, one of the best things about moving here, is I am only an hour away from my best musical buddy. We started a band together in...well, a LONG LONG time ago...hahahahaha. Anyway, going up Saturday to see him for the first time in five years. So, that too gives me purpose. And without purpose..ya might as well roll over and die. So...my purpose here is to delve into putting my studio back together in what ever shape and form it takes. What I'm REALLY interested in doing now though...is learning how to get this gear working. THAT is why I looked at this thread. I want to understand the nature and underpinnings of how this shit works. And YOU gave me hope that I might actually get there. ThanksGAK! Coming from you..I'm humbled. Thank you. Well, in that light..I'll start my own thread here pretty quick. I used to post in the Studio design forum, but now, considering my interest has gone from design to getting this shit working again..AND I have what I consider, probably the ONLY complete setup in the world that Tascam designed for the MSR's. That is, the M3700..WITH the JL Cooper automation, 2 MSR's sychronized by virtue of a Midiizer, and a 42b mixdown deck. It took a long long time to collect this shit and now I need to get it working. So..well, enough bla bla bla. My apology for the long post on your thread. I'll post my own soon. Thanks again Cory.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Hm...
An MM-1000 four-track??
An MM-1000 four-track??
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Yah...some spares I picked up for cheap...I really only got it for the scrape flutter idlers but there is a second incomplete headblock assembly that is coming with the bunch that ALSO has the scrape flutter idlers intact. So this makes it possible for me to have 4 complete 1" headblock assemblies, three 8-track, and one 4-track. I'll need to have a 1" 4-track repro head made which won't be cheap...total back-burner for sure, but could be fun. I think it would make the world's most ridiculously massive 4-track analog recorder/reproducer.
The three 1" 8-track headblock assemblies all have different head types so may offer some different flavors. I'll know more whether or not that's of any value someday. And if not look to thin the herd down by one assembly if there is one that just doesn't fit in.
The three 1" 8-track headblock assemblies all have different head types so may offer some different flavors. I'll know more whether or not that's of any value someday. And if not look to thin the herd down by one assembly if there is one that just doesn't fit in.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
So I finally unwrapped the spare headblocks today...good news is all four of the scrape flutter idlers are in nice shape.
The 1" 8-track play head is in pretty bad shape I think, but that's alright...I don't need it anyway. The 1" 4-track erase and record heads actually look to be in good shape. On the record head the gap depth is unknown but at least the gap is centered in the wear pattern, and the wear pattern looks really nice (no keystone or hourglass patterns)...just looking at it I think there may very well be quite a bit of gap depth left. So, cool. Maybe someday I could have a Flux 1" 4-track play head made up and have a crazy 1" 4-track machine...
EXCEPT...!!
Here's the trick. I'm confused! I never saw the head wires or connectors before purchase and when I unwrap the assembly today there are only two pairs of wires for each head...and only two sets of terminals on the back of each head as opposed to the 4 that are necessary for 4-track operation! These are only 2-track heads with 4 cores each...bizarre!!
PLUS...it looks like the erase head is missing a guard band section between tracks 1 and 2. I'm baffled!
Anybody have an explanation why this might be? Like why would somebody make 1" heads to record only 1/2" 2-track on 1" tape?
Erase head front (note the missing guard band core between tracks 1 and 2):
Erase head back:
Record head front:
Record head back:
Assembly overview:
I've never even heard of Norton heads.
Thinking I might reach out to John French on this one...I posted on the recordist.com Ampex List as well...thinking I might get some good information there.
The 1" 8-track play head is in pretty bad shape I think, but that's alright...I don't need it anyway. The 1" 4-track erase and record heads actually look to be in good shape. On the record head the gap depth is unknown but at least the gap is centered in the wear pattern, and the wear pattern looks really nice (no keystone or hourglass patterns)...just looking at it I think there may very well be quite a bit of gap depth left. So, cool. Maybe someday I could have a Flux 1" 4-track play head made up and have a crazy 1" 4-track machine...
EXCEPT...!!
Here's the trick. I'm confused! I never saw the head wires or connectors before purchase and when I unwrap the assembly today there are only two pairs of wires for each head...and only two sets of terminals on the back of each head as opposed to the 4 that are necessary for 4-track operation! These are only 2-track heads with 4 cores each...bizarre!!
PLUS...it looks like the erase head is missing a guard band section between tracks 1 and 2. I'm baffled!
Anybody have an explanation why this might be? Like why would somebody make 1" heads to record only 1/2" 2-track on 1" tape?
Erase head front (note the missing guard band core between tracks 1 and 2):
Erase head back:
Record head front:
Record head back:
Assembly overview:
I've never even heard of Norton heads.
Thinking I might reach out to John French on this one...I posted on the recordist.com Ampex List as well...thinking I might get some good information there.
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They look like custom heads all right. Maybe made for a specialist purpose like replaying 4 track film? Don't forget the film world used magnetic film in multitrack formats too. Or someone trying a wider track format. Fire em up and see what they sound like!
If you don't want them let me know. I have access to an old MM1200 carcass which I have always thought it would be cool to do something with.
If you don't want them let me know. I have access to an old MM1200 carcass which I have always thought it would be cool to do something with.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
I got the answers on the heads. They are definitely 2-track and made for the purpose of recording on one half of the 1" tape, flip and record on the other half...I guess they did this for cassette tape duping...MM-1000 is an odd machine for this application, but that's what they are.
So I guess I have 2/3 of an awesome 1/2" halftrack setup with extra long play...
So I guess I have 2/3 of an awesome 1/2" halftrack setup with extra long play...
lonewhitefly
Active member
I got the answers on the heads. They are definitely 2-track and made for the purpose of recording on one half of the 1" tape, flip and record on the other half...I guess they did this for cassette tape duping...MM-1000 is an odd machine for this application, but that's what they are.
So I guess I have 2/3 of an awesome 1/2" halftrack setup with extra long play...
Presumably, the play head would have been a standard 1" 4-track to dub the whole thing in one go I'd think ... possibly why there is no play head -- it may have been played back on another play-only (duplication) machine.
Hammerstone
Out of style
Cassette, or 1/4" open reel maybe? Man, that might actually come in handy someday if you want to make high-quality copies of master tapes. You could start your own budget Tape Project for anyone who wants the ultimate copy of one of your albums! And certainly cheaper than doing a run of vinyl, eh?
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Except that there are only two active cores...two of the cores are dummy cores. Tracks 1 and 2 are the only active tracks on these heads.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
No these aren't cassette or 1/4" open reel...these are 1" heads.
lonewhitefly
Active member
Right ... so it records on tracks 1 & 2, then you reverse it (flip the tape around) and record it on tracks 1 & 2 upside down on the same reel. When you play it back on a standard 1" 4-track head, one program goes forward and one in reverse (simultaneously on all 4 tracks) ... just like a cassette. So it could be used for duplication. Makes sense how they would need the heads produced in this manner for this specific purpose.
lonewhitefly
Active member
It would have to be for cassette duplication being track 1 & 2 ... open reel duplication masters would be tracks 1 & 3.
The problem w/ Sweetbeats' setup is there's no play head! I'm guessing the play head was on a different playback-only machine.
lonewhitefly
Active member
I believe he means the duplication masters for 1/4" or cassette.
I know 8-track cartridge duplication masters were usually on 1" 8-track. What's curious here is that it's 1" 4-track ... I assume cassette and 1/4" 4-track or quad open reel duplication masters would have generally been on 1/2" 4-track. The guys that ordered your heads originally probably had an 8-track cartridge and cassette duplication setup or something, so they used the same MM-1000 machine for both ... just switched out the heads.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Yeah, but its NOT a 1" 4-track setup. Its basically a 1" unidirectional quarter-track setup (i.e. half of a quarter-track setup for 1" tape).
The Ghost of FM
Banned
Probably redundant info but cassette tape is 3/16th of an inch. Not 1/4 inch.
Fancy looking heads there, Cory!
Cheers!
Fancy looking heads there, Cory!
Cheers!
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Here's a wrinkle though, the terminals on the backs of the heads are labeled "1" and "2", but that doesn't mean those connect to cores 1 and 2 as you count from top to bottom...since they are 2-track heads its possible that "1" is the first core at the top, and "2" *could* be the third core...that would explain why there are guard bands between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cores of the erase head, but not between the 3rd and 4th cores. I would expect if the 1st and 2nd cores were the ones utilized there would only be a guard band between cores 1 and 2.
Also, I think it is reasonable to assume there used to be a play head mounted...there is a head can cover there for the play head on the gate, and burnishing of the machine marks of the mounting block where a head can was mounted. Plus the second scrape flutter idler is in place which really would be superfluous if there never was a play head mounted.
I think it should assumed there was a play head at some point.
Wish I knew of a way to test which terminals on the heads went to which cores...