bradzatitagain
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2004
- Messages
- 295
I thought it might be worth it to post this here since alot of Ampex recording electronics are bought/sold on eBone and other spots to be used a pre-amps and di's and such. The Ampex 354, PR10, and 440 (all series) channels DO NOT have mic pre circuitry in them. You can't buy a 354 and turn it into a stereo version of the 350 or the more popular 351. All of these recording channels have octal socket plug in units that require either balanced line matching/bridging xt's or mic pres. The 354 and PR10 machines took the same plug ins as the MR70, little cans not dissimilar in size as the optics plug in on the LA2A; there were two, a 40db and a 60db, the 40 had one NuVistor and a Beyerdynamics peanut XT, the 60db had 2 NuVistors and a Beyerdynamic peanut XT. The 440's and all subsequent machines that had octal sockets, the MM1000 being the last I believe, had a solid state mic pre plug in. None of these pre's work at all with present day close mic'ing, the XT is smaller than the first phalange of your index finger; they work fine as room mic pre's. Anyway, if you see one of these on eBone don't believe the seller's claims that you can make Phat Evil mic-pre's out of them, YA CAN'T! So it would be a perfect waste of the $300-500 USDollars these things are presently going for if that's what you're wanting to do. And the PR10 stereo electronics melt down from overheating issues, have a voltage regulating tube in a poorly designed power supply and can start oscillating like crazy unless you can design a zoebel on the outs. Same for the 10 series tube'd monitor amps. The 440 series Reproduce card has a nice line amp on it ut also has impedance issues that need to be addressed and the dreaded Beyer xt's. And don't forget, if you've got 350's or 351's the hi pin is 3, not 2.
The MX35 and MX10 mixers have the same Beyer XT's and they output from a cathode follower at 100Kohm. Yes, that's right, 100K ohm. The outs were intended to go directly to tape heads. So if you snag one of these for the $1400 they seem to be routinely going for these days don't neglect to buy an output transformer to get the signal down to line level.
And for the record, the AM-10 is a pretty crappy early solid state mixer that's noisy and distorted w/the same microscopic XTs that saturate when somebody drops a cymbal. The guys who were around when these things were designed confess they're pieces of crap and have no idea why they went out the front door at Ampex in the first place when they should've gone right into the dumpster instead. And routinely laugh their asses off when one sells for more than $20.
And yes I do have a motive for posting this here other than looking out for everybody, this is far less generous than all that, I'm trying to score a 354 controller for an orphaned transport I have. I would get the 351's but Steve Albini's seen to it that those will never any longer be available for the price he original got his for--FREE FROM THE GARBAGE IN AN ALLEY BEHIND A RADIO STATION SOMETIME IN 1981. Thanks a whole lot Steve, btw; someday I hope you'll figure out exactly what "secret weapon" means.
All righty then! Roger that, over-n-out!
P.S.: the 620 montiors make crappy electric guitar amps, even for practice. Nice acoustic guitar amps, but crappy electric guitar amps. Same for 2010 & 2012 which are exactly the same monitor. The driver is really close to a Jensen L8 but not quite, and it's a "purpose designed" thing, the amp is sort of crappy w/any other driver in any other cabinet. Even the home consoles w/the 6V6 amps (same amp. btw) use these drivers. The 620's went with the 600 series recorders, in suitcases and "portable" as such, back when they called roadies sherpas.
10-4!
The MX35 and MX10 mixers have the same Beyer XT's and they output from a cathode follower at 100Kohm. Yes, that's right, 100K ohm. The outs were intended to go directly to tape heads. So if you snag one of these for the $1400 they seem to be routinely going for these days don't neglect to buy an output transformer to get the signal down to line level.
And for the record, the AM-10 is a pretty crappy early solid state mixer that's noisy and distorted w/the same microscopic XTs that saturate when somebody drops a cymbal. The guys who were around when these things were designed confess they're pieces of crap and have no idea why they went out the front door at Ampex in the first place when they should've gone right into the dumpster instead. And routinely laugh their asses off when one sells for more than $20.
And yes I do have a motive for posting this here other than looking out for everybody, this is far less generous than all that, I'm trying to score a 354 controller for an orphaned transport I have. I would get the 351's but Steve Albini's seen to it that those will never any longer be available for the price he original got his for--FREE FROM THE GARBAGE IN AN ALLEY BEHIND A RADIO STATION SOMETIME IN 1981. Thanks a whole lot Steve, btw; someday I hope you'll figure out exactly what "secret weapon" means.
All righty then! Roger that, over-n-out!
P.S.: the 620 montiors make crappy electric guitar amps, even for practice. Nice acoustic guitar amps, but crappy electric guitar amps. Same for 2010 & 2012 which are exactly the same monitor. The driver is really close to a Jensen L8 but not quite, and it's a "purpose designed" thing, the amp is sort of crappy w/any other driver in any other cabinet. Even the home consoles w/the 6V6 amps (same amp. btw) use these drivers. The 620's went with the 600 series recorders, in suitcases and "portable" as such, back when they called roadies sherpas.
10-4!
