best tape for Ampex AG440??

  • Thread starter Thread starter amphony
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amphony

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Can anyone recommend the best tape for mastering? I'm recording to a late 60's/early 70's Ampex AG440 at 15ips. I've been using GP9, but the recordings have a bit too much hiss. Is the bias off? Can this machine bias up that high???
 
amphony said:
Can anyone recommend the best tape for mastering? I'm recording to a late 60's/early 70's Ampex AG440 at 15ips. I've been using GP9, but the recordings have a bit too much hiss. Is the bias off? Can this machine bias up that high???
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I think it'll barely bias up to it, if at all but the electronics may clip well before GP-9 even comes close to saturating. Ampex 406 or 456 would be a good choice for the 440.
 
...what cjacek said....

If you are getting hiss on GP9, it most definitely is not the tape's fault. Re-align to 456 or such to keep you and your machine happy. And if there is still a problem, it's certainly the machine or your recording chain.

Good Luck,
C.
 
thanks, guys! I'll give it a shot with 456 and see if that doesn't help. :)
 
amphony said:
thanks, guys! I'll give it a shot with 456 and see if that doesn't help. :)
Click to expand...

If you haven't done this yet, spend a couple of hundred bucks and get a tech, familiar with this type equipment, to bring the machine to spec as stuff tends to drift over time. The 440 is a very well designed machine but the 440, 440B and 440C is a very old series and one can't just pick one up and start recording. It needs to be fully aligned, both mechanically and electronically and checked over. You certainly should not be getting "too much hiss".
 
About 6 years ago, when I got the machine,I had the tech from CRC (Chicago Recording Co.) over here. He set it up for GP9. It worked beautifully. He said the heads were going to need relapping. A year or so later, some caps started to fail, which were replaced with the proper values based on the original service manual that came with the machine. While the cards were being recapped, I brought the heads in for a relap at IEM in Palatine,IL (great guys/experienced/knowledgeable). Once I got everything back together I couldn't get the tech from CRC to commit to a house call so I tried to recal it on my own. I called MRL and got the proper alignment tape and followed their directions for azimuth & electronic calibration. With the head relap I gained around 2 db in high frequency. The bias adjustment was my only question because the vu meter pegged itself as I made the adjustment then started to climb back down (overbias adjust). I stopped the adjust after it fell 3db. The mystery was how far did it travel before it started to fall. Could it have too much bias? I wouldn't think so judging by the sound of my mixes. There was plenty of high and low, punchy as hell, but just a little too much hiss. I tried recording hotter just in case that might help. Until recently I accepted it as a classic rock'n roll machine with the usual tape hiss. Obviously this machine comes years before NR. At this point I've realigned it, electronically calibrated and bias adjusted for 406. I'm about to send a mix to it to see where I'm at. Wish me luck!! Thanks for all the help. I love this forum!!! :D
 
Obviously you know about this a whole lot! Yeah, send us a mix to listen to! :)
 
cjacek said:
Obviously you know about this a whole lot! Yeah, send us a mix to listen to! :)
Click to expand...

Maybe :confused:

I know what I know from trying. I could be screwing this thing up royally!!
 
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