WTB - a mate for my single AMPEX 350 TUBE Mic Pre-amplifier

[Guest]

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Please write to me at ze_ant(at)yahoo.com if you think you may have a
suitable mate for my single AMPEX 350 TUBE Mic Pre-amplifier.

Note, my 350 is not that picky, but any prospective mate must be in
good working condition, come with the speprate power supply and not too
costly to acquire.

Many thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<ze_ant@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Please write to me at ze_ant(at)yahoo.com if you think you may have a
>suitable mate for my single AMPEX 350 TUBE Mic Pre-amplifier.

The 350 isn't a tube mike preamp. It's a tape machine. I gather that
what you have is the electronics package stripped out of a tape machine?

>Note, my 350 is not that picky, but any prospective mate must be in
>good working condition, come with the speprate power supply and not too
>costly to acquire.

There are plenty of 350 machines out there. I do not recall there being
any seperate power supply on the 350 or 351 electronics packages, though.
Are you sure you have what you think you have?

I still just don't get people tearing up perfectly good tape machines to
use the preamp sections on them, especially when a few years back everyone
was using outboard preamps on their 350s because the internal preamps weren't
so good.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

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Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
> I still just don't get people tearing up perfectly good tape machines to
> use the preamp sections on them, especially when a few years back everyone
> was using outboard preamps on their 350s because the internal preamps weren't
> so good.


But it has tooooooobz!

 

[Bryson]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> <ze_ant@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>Please write to me at ze_ant(at)yahoo.com if you think you may have a
>>suitable mate for my single AMPEX 350 TUBE Mic Pre-amplifier.
>
>
> The 350 isn't a tube mike preamp. It's a tape machine. I gather that
> what you have is the electronics package stripped out of a tape machine?
>
>
>>Note, my 350 is not that picky, but any prospective mate must be in
>>good working condition, come with the speprate power supply and not too
>>costly to acquire.

>
>
> There are plenty of 350 machines out there. I do not recall there being
> any seperate power supply on the 350 or 351 electronics packages, though.
> Are you sure you have what you think you have?


Weren't there some older 350s (with the metal tubes) that used a
seperate supply? Still, I think it was one supply for both channels,
so I don't know why he'd need a second one.


>
> I still just don't get people tearing up perfectly good tape machines to
> use the preamp sections on them, especially when a few years back everyone
> was using outboard preamps on their 350s because the internal preamps weren't
> so good.

But with the line input being the same path as the mic in, just padded
(right?), how would a better pre improve things? Well okay....the
unbalanced input does bypass the xfrmr and the first triode
stage....so maybe that's how....?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 27 Jan 2005 23:04:02 -0800, ze_ant@yahoo.com wrote:

>Note, my 350 is not that picky, but any prospective mate must be in
>good working condition, come with the speprate power supply and not too
>costly to acquire. <snip>

Lotsa luck on that one, buddy. Addled brained gee-tawr whackers have
been trashing 350s for years to strip them to make a "mic pre" out of
them, usually tossing the transport, heads, cables and power supply in
the garbage. The rest have been gobbled up by dedicated Ampex 300/350
owners and restorers. The proof is that the power supply is getting
more rare than the chassis itself. I know one dolt who bought three
of them..."gonna get some TOOB sound, man!"...and promptly threw the
power supplies in the dumpster in back of his storage unit/studio.
NICE GOING, GOMER! Hope yer Spinal Tap II audition goes well!

351 versions are cheaper, but still expensive in marginal shape. The
only tube electronics for these transports that goes cheap these days
are the 354s, for obvious reasons. To be honest, I never thought the
354s sounded bad, but they were maintenance queens, and their layout
would elicit litanies of "dammits!" from the shop room every time. It
was the 354 that was a favorite candidate for "solid stating" with
Inovonics 375s for that reason...although the "cure" didn't sound very
good at all. To be quite honest, I never could really hear that much
sonic difference betweena 350 and 351, anyway. I think all this 350
legacy is about 25% scientific fact and 75% "octal toob mania."
Either one will give you that classic Ampex sound,
though...unmistakable with real Ampex heads. I actually tend to favor
the 351 over the 350, to be honest. 350s always seemed to be a little
laggardly in the top end in comparison.

dB