Thread Number: 71316
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Got me a pair of Ampex VR-1200 Quadruplex VTR's |
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Post# 943792 , Reply# 1   6/16/2017 at 13:22 (2,476 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT)   |   | |
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a mainframe or minicomputer with multiple vacuum controlled tape drives maybe?
Quad CPU Data General Nova 3/4 system: Canadian weather forecasting, circa 1977! Very cool, if esoteric, find! Gotta love all vintage electronics!
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Post# 943882 , Reply# 2   6/16/2017 at 20:19 (2,476 days old) by cornutt (Huntsville, AL USA)   |   | |
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I remember seeing some VTRs at WTVF in Nashville circa 1982, and the tech who was showing us around talking about how much maintenance it took to keep them going. My hat is off to anyone who can make one of these work. Where do you get tape? |
Post# 943967 , Reply# 5   6/17/2017 at 10:09 (2,475 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)   |   | |
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Those are historical units that maybe should be in a museum. probably are already? |
Post# 944066 , Reply# 6   6/18/2017 at 03:23 (2,475 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea))   |   | |
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Ampex ACR25, most magical machine I ever worked on. Or even saw up close for that matter.
I know things about VR 1200/2000 even the designers didn't know at the time. Like: Whilst the capstan was milled to very close tolerance, the motor and flywheel pulleys were not. Thus it was possible for the capstan velocity and phase loops to stall in an unresolvable awkward equilibrium of lock yet not locked. Anyone who had 6 of these machines usually had one that could not be trusted to lock in auto. Unless the operator set the capstan oscillator to offset the mechanical offset. Few had the knowledge to do this and even fewer had the time loading spot reels.
What I know of broadcast television today, it's no fun at all. There's nothing to "know".
Link added. Next to last comment below image is mine. CLICK HERE TO GO TO arbilab's LINK This post was last edited 06/18/2017 at 05:40 |
Post# 944079 , Reply# 8   6/18/2017 at 07:13 (2,475 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)   |   | |
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Post# 944104 , Reply# 9   6/18/2017 at 12:40 (2,474 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs)   |   | |
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Congrats to you. Those are very impressive. As a kid I'd always stare at the Ampex factory when my parents drove by with it's very cool back-lit blue neon sign. I was a high-fi nut even when I was young and knew all about Ampex tape recorders (my friends looked at Playboy, I looked at High Fidelity Magazine). I even knew back then that nearby Hillsborough resident Bing Crosby was a major investor in Ampex. Of course now people say "who is or was Bing Crosby?"
The next time someone tells me "look at all this junk in your house...console stereos, antique radios, pinball machines, jukeboxes etc." I will show them a photo of your VTR's and say "like a fine painting, some people have an appreciation for nice things". |
Post# 944109 , Reply# 10   6/18/2017 at 12:55 (2,474 days old) by Stricklybojack (South Hams Devon UK)   |   | |
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I worked on a project to convert decades old videos to digital. Coincidentally a former and long time Ampex sales exec was also involved, and I got the lowdown on the company while we toiled to find the equipment we needed..."Ampex stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence" he would often say, forgetting he had told me that numerous times before. One memorable story, of many, was detailing his fairly simple sales technique vs arch rival Sony. While addressing the person responsible for actually operating the equipment and keeping it running he would ask..."so, you have an American phone number for Sony you can call for parts? Uh huh, thought so...well here is Ampex's American number." Then, "when you do call, do they speak English on the other end? Call our number, I'll wait...when you done say hi to Chuck for me." Then, "oh btw, here's a parts list for the machine...ask for ANY part." Chuck would inevitably only ask how many of that part they needed and informed the caller that the parts would be on the next flight out. And that was how my friend Kevin would often make another sale thanks to his parts manager buddy Chuck (not his real name) and Sony's apparently atrocious customer service and (comparatively) unobtanium parts. Sony's advantage was that their machines were much cheaper up front...AND could hold a king-sized comforter! This post was last edited 06/18/2017 at 13:31 |
Post# 944122 , Reply# 11   6/18/2017 at 14:34 (2,474 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT)   |   | |
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made some great audio stuff as well, had some of their amps in the past and should have kept 'em.
Matt - as to Data General Novas: a Nova 3/12 + dual 8" floppy (top) resides in my basement: |
Post# 944140 , Reply# 12   6/18/2017 at 16:37 (2,474 days old) by kb0nes (Burnsville, MN)   |   | |
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Joe mentioned Bing Crosby and his involvement with the early Ampex company. Several AEG magnetophon's were brought back from Germany as a spoil of WWII. Bing and the Ampex folks got their hands on them and then Ampex took it from there. Here are a couple photos from units here in Minneapolis at the Pavek Museum. First is an original AEG which still runs fine and they love to demo it. They have a bunch of original tape of Bing Crosby. The tape used had the magnetic material inside the plastic so it doesn't shed with age! The second image is an early Ampex recorder that was from Bing's collection, you can see a photo of him with it.
The Pavek also has a couple Quad VTR's in the back room. They have the ability to transcribe just about any format of audio or video to anything else. |