Ampex 440 Experience?

Not a ton, but I learned to cut tape on a 1/4'' 440. It was great I thought. There are better machines that handle the tape better but sound wise they are great. Didn't do a lot on it otherwise, never really used it other than transfers.

Electric and company do a good ampex prem- amp based on years and hundreds of modding actual Ampex units and now making there own.
Also the .locomotive audio 86b-2 is based on the Ampex unit. Having owned both units you cant wrong with either one.

I like Doug’s post above. There are a lot of older pres that do sound better then the Ampex style. See if you can demo one first so you can measure whether your original expectations of the Ampex sound might be accurate.
Also Doug has a wealth of knowledge, technical and real world experience in this area. So reach out to him to have a chat as he has been spot on with the advice he has given me and others on this forum. Also buying stuff from him is a breeze.

Right here !

OK, if your going to go the modded Ampex tape amp as a pre go tube! The 440 electronics modded as pres just haven’t impressed me, now with good heads ( not cheap because most that ended up spending a second life in home studios were aligned as often as Alaska see’s 4 days of temps above 95c ! Yup the heavy trans port plate could be better, BUT if you build a cart knowing this instead of simply copying the Ampex pressed board you can deal with it!
Now even if your still going the route of using the electronics as pres why not just buy one at a time on eBay and save while leaving an old machine for someone as stupid as me?
Also you have to remember these are old, old, old school transport, the remote is hard to find, it isn’t a real auto locator and if you go from FF or Rew without pressing the opposite high speed mode your going to have a bunch of tape at your feet!
So why the hell do I have one? Well it was 500 for the 440-8, a 440-2 a weird console that I had found a guy who had just paid $2k for on eBay who bought the modules for 500 so essentially it was free!
You want a decent cheap old deck that will work the way you want a deck to work? Buy a Revox A77. I have kept them because they are the decks I started this journey at an old radio station studio 4 blocks from my moms house, Ironically I have no feelings towards the to Ampex mixers that sound better as pres but have zero routing and if I’m going for a board from my past to go with it I would grab a Soundcraft 200.
Also as far as pres Doug can correct me if I’m wrong but other than iron there is nothing in there that’s unobtainable and Nobody has tried to recreate them as a pre! You have to ask why not.

 I would print mixes/stems to tape - but probably not track often unless the players were up to snuff

I do love the sound of RADAR.

Yeah I think you guys convinced me this is not the piece for me. I get annoyed enough keeping modern outboard gear up and running!
If anyone is interested, the excellent Anne Gauthier at La La Land is selling it for $2500. For the right person its definitely a great deal!

Heres the studio: La La Land
Tape Machine: Ampex 440 8 Track

Man, I really like the vibe of that studio.  If I'm ever in Louisville, I'll have to check it out.

As for the 440, I always wanted either an AG440 8 track or a MM1200 16 track, but I think that ship has mostly sailed for me.  Using tape just seems to be such an uphill battle these days and I've got too many other irons in the fire to deal with upkeep of a tape machine at this point, unfortunately.

Hi all,

New member here. Long story short: musician, songwriter, based in Europe. I became a recording engineer by default because I was the only bandmember interested in the recording side of things. Parenthood made me decide to retire from the road. I no longer have a commercial facility, but I do take on paid projects from time to time.

Anyway...I own a AG 440C-8. It's a beautifully engineered tape machine, but the transport is clunky. The motors are not powerful enough to pull heavy reels of 1" tape. When it worked, I loved it, but after too many mid-session breakdowns and expensive repairs I gave up using my 440 for tape recording. 

I considered selling the Ampex, but I kept it for the electronics modules. They're discreet, and have transformer balanced inputs. I rout stereo mixes through the modules, and individual tracks too. Sometimes use them as preamps. It's a very colored sound, with rolled off high frequencies and a substantial boost of the low mids. Cool, if that's what you're after.  I like it on my own music, but a recent client of mine disliked what it did to his tracks. 

For the asking price I don't know whether I would buy that 440 for the electronics alone. I think the true potential of that machine is in the combination of the electronics and the tape. But then you would have to deal with that less than ideal tape transport and other maintenance issues. And new 1" tape is expensive...

Hewdie

I may be selling my A800 MKIII. Haven't decided yet, but maintenance is becoming a problem for me due to medical issues and my outside Studer tech is probably retiring...

Experience? yeah, the IK Multimedia plugin sounds nice.











I'm being facetious