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[Larrchild]

I dunno, elgit. I have a PT 002R at home, so as you can imagine, the mere addition of an analog recorder changed the character of the home recordings a great amount.

I did spend many years using the A800 before I owned it, and came to my own personal conclusion that hyperbolic heads ..shaped like this: >|  ... which the Otari has, have a different low-end character than curved heads  )   like the Studer has.

The Otari actually sweeps flatter on the low end tho.
It's the "flavor" of the Studer I dig. Specs be damned.
No good or bad..just different, and both good!

Lar'

EDIT: the A800 is 24 track 2" which is a skinnier track than 1" 8tk

[bushwick]

Go here eligit...

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMPEX-AG-350-Custom-1-8-track-1960s-A-Cl assic_W0QQitemZ110030913354QQihZ001QQcategoryZ15199QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem

[eligit]

bushwick wrote on Sat, 09 September 2006 01:58

Go here eligit...  http://cgi.ebay.com/AMPEX-AG-350-Custom-1-8-track-1960s-A-Cl  assic_W0QQitemZ110030913354QQihZ001QQcategoryZ15199QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem

hehe..i totally was looking at this today...i just chickened out because of all the work that needed to be done on the machine.  

i'm all for maintaining an already nicely functional machine....but i'm just not sure about a fixer upper situation on a 40+ year old machine.

does look nice tho....

[rnicklaus]

That machine has had some mods - it looks as if it has auto input switching which in those days Ampex did not have.

It would not be a machine to buy unless you liked to tinker more than record and you had more money to fix it than it cost to buy.

[eligit]

rnicklaus wrote on Sat, 09 September 2006 02:29

That machine has had some mods - it looks as if it has auto input switching which in those days Ampex did not have. It would not be a machine to buy unless you liked to tinker more than record and you had more money to fix it than it cost to buy.

that was why i didn't go for it....i really cannot spend ALL (some but not all) of my time messing around with the machine.

[rnicklaus]

If you want to get music on tape, you need a machine that fires up and runs everyday outside of normal wear and tear and maintenance.

Anything outside of that is a boat anchor. IMHO

[Larrchild]

Yeah for that kinda cabbage, something like I have. But relays and noisy FET ic's can plague those Otari MX's.

So yeah, punching in on the Ampex was like firing a torpedo in a sub, took 3 people. Even if it has autoswitching added, its not a good starter piece.

[rnicklaus]

Think of trying to figure out how to repair the auto input mod if it had issues, which you can bet it does.

[rnicklaus]

Larrchild wrote on Fri, 08 September 2006 18:39

So yeah, punching in on the Ampex was like firing a torpedo in a sub, took 3 people.

Good way to put it.  With the right console set up in the day, monitoring the output of the console during record and pushing up another fader for playback, you could reduce the work force to two people for a punch.

[eligit]

an obvious fixer-upper situation is just not for me....even if a good deal emerges by the end it would not be a deal in terms of time or money.  i have enough to do without a whole other seriously time and money consuming hobby.....

just to have to bide my time on the right used deck.

[rnicklaus]

My friend sold his nice 827 24 trk for 3500.00 with remote, MRL tapes, everything.  Low hours

If I was looking for a 1" 8 track, I wouldn't spend much and it better be "mint".

[compasspnt]

Or just buy a brand new one with a warranty.

[eligit]

compasspnt wrote on Sat, 09 September 2006 06:17

Or just buy a brand new one with a warranty.

are any professional quality 1" 8 track machines even in production anymore?

[rnicklaus]

If you buy this 1" 8 track, what are you going to use as a console?

[Justin from Queens]

Hi there,

I bought an MCI JH110C about a year and a half ago.  

It's a fine machine.  The main problem with the JH 110s (and I think this is mentioned above) is that the connections on some of the machines were poorly done.  It's not a problem with my machine, but I recall seeing somewhere that the machines with real problems have a certain color on the connections (blue or red).  If you can avoid getting such a machine, you'll be sitting pretty.

The biggest advantage to these machines is that maintenance on them is pretty easy that there's several active resources (Blevins in Nashville, ladewd on this forum and former MCI tech Glenn Coleman) to help you deal with parts and maintenance issues.  I knew nothing about analaog machines a few months ago, but after some study and talking to the folks mentioned above, I can troubleshoot signal problems and do a pretty comprehensive alignment.  And I think it sounds fine.  In addition, the prevelance of these machines and the fact that they share parts with the 2 and 4 track models means that you won't be stuck looking for a critical part.  I bought the 8 track, a 1/2" 2 track and a 1/4" 2 track (for parts), spending about $3000 for all three machines.  

I'm in NYC as well and am running a home studio with the 110 as my main machine.   PM me if you'd like to come by and take a look at it.

= Justin