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New Ampex 354!

MakeMineVinyl

MakeMineVinyl

Well-Known Member
I added a new tape machine to my collection, an Ampex model 354. I've always wanted one of the 350 series machines since they are such an icon, and the prototype of practically every tape machine made since - the Japanese copied the crap out of its basic design, along with the Ampex model 600, of which I have a mono version.

It took a couple months to get it totally sorted out. It was pretty clean when I bought it, but I went through everything and restored the crap out of it, including having the stainless steel front panels re-brushed professionally.

The machine is one of their last vacuum tube models, just before they went all solid state. Needless to say, this machine sounds awsome!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7DJEN ... sp=sharing

The back of the recorder in my rack:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7DJEN ... sp=sharing

Here's an image of the electronics chassis:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7DJEN ... sp=sharing
 
Thanks!

Most everything recorded from the mid 1950s to the early 60s was recorded/mixed to a machine like this, or the model 351.
 
Wardsweb said:
The is some serious tape machine. You have any good 15 ips material to play?
Click to expand...

A number of masters I recorded, and a few master copies I have from my days when I worked as a recording engineer at Sound City.
 
^ After seeing the Documentary on Sound City...........we would all love to hear some of the crazy things you experienced there! (even though only 50% of it will be true?)

:music-rockout: :music-rockout:
 
heeman said:
^ After seeing the Documentary on Sound City...........we would all love to hear some of the crazy things you experienced there! (even though only 50% of it will be true?)

:music-rockout: :music-rockout:
Click to expand...

I dunno - I spent a large portion of the time there stoned (as did most others!). Probably the most drama was when Buddy Guy (I think it was him) was doing an album there and the swat team arrived and surrounded the building with guns drawn - turns out he was wanted for some crime or something.

The place was pretty funky, with a lot of history. I went there after I closed down my 8 track studio in the late 70s. They bought a good amount of my recording equipment.

****Correction - I looked at the tape tonight, and its Buddy Miles, not Buddy Guy.****
 
Is this the 15 ips or did you get the 30 ips, In the past I think you were looking for the 30 ?
 
malsackj said:
Is this the 15 ips or did you get the 30 ips, In the past I think you were looking for the 30 ?
Click to expand...

The machine I converted to 30ips was one of my Tapesonic recorders. The Tapesonics are essentially a "poor man's" version of the Ampex 350 series. I kept the Ampex almost completely stock with the exception of replacing some of the capacitors in the electronics chassis. If certain of those capacitors decided to develop a short, they could take out the record or playback heads. Since replacements (especially factory replacements) of these heads are extremely rare, and getting rarer, that's a road I didn't want to go down.

During the formative years of the recording industry, very little recording was done at 30ips, mostly since it doubled the tape costs. The 350 machines weren't even capable of going at 30ips - only 7.5ips and 15 ips. The model 300 machines which included the 1/2" 3 track mastering recorders were offered at 30ips, but almost no popular music was recorded at that speed. What 30ips material there was, was classical.

Nowadays, with the revival of analog tape (to a certain extent, at least for mixdown), 30ips is very common, using 1/2" tape for stereo, with no use of noise reduction systems like Dolby. I've heard many of these 30ips 1/2" masters, and I've got to say they sound awesome. Seeing reels spin at the 30ips speed is a lot of fun.
 
rammisframmis said:
... from my days when I worked as a recording engineer at Sound City.
Click to expand...
:eek: You may have mentioned that back at S&V before I joined; I did not know that!
 
Botch said:
rammisframmis said:
... from my days when I worked as a recording engineer at Sound City.
Click to expand...
:eek: You may have mentioned that back at S&V before I joined; I did not know that!
Click to expand...

I may have, I don't remember. At least I can say that my career hasn't been boring. :scared-yipes:
 
Do they still make the tape & if so, are you recording anything on them ?
 
rammisframmis said:
Botch said:
rammisframmis said:
... from my days when I worked as a recording engineer at Sound City.
Click to expand...
:eek: You may have mentioned that back at S&V before I joined; I did not know that!
Click to expand...

I may have, I don't remember. At least I can say that my career hasn't been boring. :scared-yipes:
Click to expand...
Are you still working for Disney ?
 
Barney said:
Do they still make the tape & if so, are you recording anything on them ?
Click to expand...

There are two suppliers of tape these days; ATR, which is an American company and Pyral, which is French. I use the latter tape.
 
Thanks! Yes it does sound amazing. One fly in the ointment though is that many tapes from the late 70s until the late 80s developed a thing called "sticky shed syndrome". This was caused by the urethane based binder cement they used to hold the back coating on the tape deteriorating, with the result that these tapes will not play until they are literally baked in an oven at 120 degrees for about 8 hours.

This is by no means unique to tapes I have - literally almost EVERY master tape ever recorded during that period is unplayable today unless it is baked. Obviously, this has caused a major uproar in the recording industry, with record companies scrambling to get their masters archived onto digital storage of some type.

The new tape stock I buy today is (supposedly!!!!!) immune to this. I guess I'll have to check back in 20 or so years.....

Meanwhile, all of the tapes I have from the period of the 1950s through the 60s are still perfectly playable.
 
rammisframmis said:
Thanks! Yes it does sound amazing. One fly in the ointment though is that many tapes from the late 70s until the late 80s developed a thing called "sticky shed syndrome". This was caused by the urethane based binder cement they used to hold the back coating on the tape deteriorating, with the result that these tapes will not play until they are literally baked in an oven at 120 degrees for about 8 hours.

This is by no means unique to tapes I have - literally almost EVERY master tape ever recorded during that period is unplayable today unless it is baked. Obviously, this has caused a major uproar in the recording industry, with record companies scrambling to get their masters archived onto digital storage of some type.

The new tape stock I buy today is (supposedly!!!!!) immune to this. I guess I'll have to check back in 20 or so years.....

Meanwhile, all of the tapes I have from the period of the 1950s through the 60s are still perfectly playable.
Click to expand...

Yes quite common. A lot of talk about it, baking and nufinish over on the TapeHeads forums. I've run into a little of it but have been real lucky with my tapes.

A big plus for me is hearing my father's tapes of him playing live. He died in 1984, so I missed out on a lot of years. Hearing him play brings back so many good memories.

My 2 track machines are a Tascam BR20 and a Revox C270. My 4 track decks are a Teac X-2000M and a Teac X-1000R.
 
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