This is to document the Ampex 351 deck and electronics I purchased to rebuild. Original condition was poor and 7 months later, Analog Domain has restored this machine to excellent working condition and improved cosmetics a great deal.
I must say I am not happy with the outcome, performance is not what I expected and I plan on selling my completed Ampex. Perhaps other mods would make it right but I have run out of energy working on this project.
You're welcome to telephone me, use the Audiogon server to send an email and I will give you my phone number or you can give me yours. I will discuss every detail of my experience if that is of any value to you.
I designed a custom stand for the Ampex and had Sound Anchor build it. After waiting a month to build and nearly a week to ship, UPS smashed it so badly we had to claim it as unusable. It takes effort to crush a steel stand filled with concrete but UPS was up to the task :^).
So, after all the claims paper work and waiting, a new stand has been built and is supposed to ship today.
Assuming the shipper does not do the same to stand number 2, I may get to listen late this week.
I'm sending an email to Bottlehead to see if a list exists. If these are good titles, I'm interested.
As for the rebuild job on my tape machine, I'm very pleased with the mechanical work such as head blocks, pinch rollers and such and (honestly) disappointed with the electrical restoration.
The guy that rebuilt mine believes the Ampex should stay dead stock, even down to crappy wire and bad slip on connection clips to the circuit boards.
I have not put enough hours on mine yet to determine quality of sound. I'm waiting on a rack from Sound Anchor so I can move it into my listening room where it will hook up to the same cables as the Technics 1520. Once I listen, swap a couple of tubes and let it settle in, I will have a solid opinion.
Thanks for the tip on master copies at Bottlehead, I would definitely like to take advantage of that.
My Ampex has the advantage of twin head blocks, one is stock (as yours) and records and plays half track. However, the other will play half AND quarter track but will not record.
Advantage is I can buy prerecorded off Ebay for about what used LP's go for and have another analog source. If you get crazy and want to convert your machine I can put you in touch with the guy that built mine.
If you do that recording gig your talking about I sure would love to hear some samples.
Thank you. I am especially impressed with the Ampex ATR, Studer C37 series and AEG 'Magnetophon 20.
Lots of great old analog players out there. I just got the Ampex operational, the problem was a bad switch. It may have gotten jammed in shipping.
Anyway, now the sound is great, I will decide how just how good with some long term listening and maybe after swapping tubes. The guy that rebuilt it put in JJ Tesla 12AX7 and I'm a fan of Telefunken's version.
Hornblower, that would be EXCELLENT! I am willing to dub a couple of mine if your interested. My treasure is an original first generation safety that was recorded half track 15 IPS.
The deck you mention, do you know of a website that favors that model where I can read about it and view images? I would definitely like to learn about it even though I can't afford another deck right now.
Nate, keep the dream. Those LP's and open reel tapes will still be around when you finish school. I'm constantly amazed at how much music I missed while shopping for what I wanted :^).
There is an amazing amount of material out there, I've found several jazz titles on open reel that I would have never heard had I not gone for this format. Too bad I'm not friends with Arnie, dupes of even a handful of those masters in his library would make me a happy person.
David, If you capture any analog recordings of the students playing Cello I would love a copy, assuming they don't mind an individual owning it to just listen.
Maybe we could trade copies of tapes when I get both my machines running.
I looked at the Studer machines when I was open reel shopping. The Ampex has more technicians here in the USA familiar with it because it's so old and made in the states. The Studer 810 came very close to being my choice, it is very beautiful and well made.
I have about 150 prerecorded half and quarter track 7.5 inch per second tapes and several safety or master dubs that are on 10.5 inch reels, half track, 15 inch per second play speed.
The dubs and safeties are Aerosmith, "Toys in the Attic," Ferlin Huskey studio tracks, Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends," Reiner "Pictures at an Exhibition," The Isley Brothers (A Bernie Grundman copy), Joe Scott Hill , Faron Young (original first generation safety), Duke Ellington "Indigo's," and some parts and pieces assembled for single play record pressings.
Two or three of these are stunning quality, exceeding anything in my library. The ordinary prerecorded open reel releases are better than CD but not up to the Walker turntable.
Chico, actually there have been several Ampex and Nagra machines used as a source at CES and AudioFest over the last few years. One night late with Steve Hoffman after the rooms were closed is what got me started on this project.
The system was Eben two way that use a ribbon plus woofers. The electronics were good quality tube gear that I've forgotten the name of and the source was a high end CD player. I had visited the room to do photography earlier in the day and sound was about what you would expect. Not bad but no big deal.
Anyway, that evening Steve hauled out the open reel and played the Coasters, Miles Davis, The Everly Brothers and Elvis. I was absolutely stunned at the sound off these flat dupe masters. I stayed and listened until I was too tired to stay awake. Others in the room were equally amazed, and that was the moment I knew I was going to own open reel as one of my sources.
As for my personal machine, I wish the guy that rebuilt the Ampex was a bit more tidy. He should have paid more attention to cleaning up the interior and circuits, not to mention overall cosmetics. He says it sounds fabulous but compared to the Aesthetix or my new custom built tube crossover the thing looks like it belongs in the junk pile :^).
It will be running in the system this coming Tuesday night for the gang to vote on, guess we will see if it works properly and how it sounds.
albertporter on All Out Assault