The Ultimate Tape Machine Collectible

[cfoster]

I have been collecting Professional R to R recording equipment since the late 60's and have many more than I can either use or maintain but, I love them all. I even own the actual first professional machines I ever saw as a small child but, that is another story. My favorite decks are either Ampex or Crown since I tend to stay away from equipment made elsewhere in the world.

I was browsing the R to R tape section on that auction site last week and spotted something very unusual and very rare. My collector juices got going and I knew that I had to have it. It's a portable Ampex. OK, I know that Ampex did make portable machines but, these were best suited to being transported on a hand truck, rather than by the handle. Most Ampex equipment was intended for studio use.

In 1967, someone at Ampex decided to develop a real high quality, portable machine in hopes of competing with Nagra. Thus the AG-20 was born. No, you wouldn't have heard of it since none were ever sold and only 2 or 3 were ever made.

Well, on eBay I spy the only remaining AG-20 in unused new condition. According to the seller, the other unit(s) were destroyed by Ampex. This survived by being sent to Boeing for evaluation in their wind tunnel testing but was never used and returned to the Ampex field office where it sat on a shelf until the engineer who ran the facility bought the inventory and took it home to again sit on a shelf. He is now selling off the leftover parts and the AG-20 was put on eBay and I got it!:banana:

I have attached a pic and will report back after it arrives.

Clyde

[penkosey]

Very cool. Congrats. Would love to hear more.

[DENNYDOG]

So they actually did testing on it in their wind tunnel?

It looks to be in great condition. It's surprising there is documentation with it.

[vinyldavid]

I like, I like.....

You got yourself a RARE piece of gear, there.

[cfoster]

So they actually did testing on it in their wind tunnel?

It looks to be in great condition. It's surprising there is documentation with it.

No it was never used, there was a change in management at Boeing and it was decided to ask Ampex to take it back. The field service engineer went and got it and when he tried to find out from Redwood City what to do with it, no one had ever heard of an AG-20 and could not help him, so it sat on his shelf. According to the seller, I am getting it just as Boeing got it in 1968.

Clyde

[DENNYDOG]

Cool beans... it's fun to be able to find a little piece of history like that.

Dennis

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

This is the type of machine Ampex should have built. The old 600 series were getting tired by then. Wonder what Ampex was worried about? Broadcasters would have loved this for field recording. It would have been easier on my back then too. I used to lug a 600, EV Microphones, a Gates remote mixer, tape, and cables 3 1/2 miles across town to record the Oak Ridge Symphony. Got a cab or the conductor gave me a ride if it was wet or I had hip joint problems. Ampex also needed a 10.5" deck for small broadcasters/semi-pro use at a decent price then. They lacked machines between 600 series and 440 series and many old broadcast clients needed good, reliable, easily serviced machines. I used a little red wagon to haul the field gear and walked that 3 1/2 miles then.

[Old1625]

Nice score. :thmbsp:

I'm curious to know what tape the machine is set up to use.... 671....641....?

As for transport construction and design my memory of portable Ampex equipment that drifted through my shop over the years is that it is of pedestrian nature--good quality, but not up the the standards of the urgently heavy studio gear.

All the major studio machine brands--Studer, Ampex and the like--have junior league portable models that are good machines, but not like the stationary models.

I'd still rather tote a Revox B77 than one of Studer's 2" machines. :D

[cfoster]

Nice score. :thmbsp:

I'm curious to know what tape the machine is set up to use.... 671....641....?

As for transport construction and design my memory of portable Ampex equipment that drifted through my shop over the years is that it is of pedestrian nature--good quality, but not up the the standards of the urgently heavy studio gear.

All the major studio machine brands--Studer, Ampex and the like--have junior league portable models that are good machines, but not like the stationary models.

I'd still rather tote a Revox B77 than one of Studer's 2" machines. :D


The tape included with the machine is Ampex type 341 which remains unused, so I would guess that it is set up for that tape type.

I will be very curious to open it up and look at the construction. My fear is that it is a belt drive system with unknown belt types needed to get it going. I'm not going to be able to go to an Ampex parts dealer and ask for belts for an AG-20. So that might be interesting. This unit was developed in England at the Ampex International Division so I suspect that it will be high quality all the way, since they had wanted to compete with Nagra. Who knows, the transport might be Swiss?????

I will report back when it arrives and maybe take some pics of the inside.

Clyde

[x_25]

I'm not going to be able to go to an Ampex parts dealer and ask for belts for an AG-20. So that might be interesting.

I say try it anyway but bring the AG-20 with you can watch as you confuse the living daylights out of the techs. :D

[Mark W.]

interesting that with only a few prototypes made they had manuals and sales info already in hand. I would have thought that type of material would have come much later after testing and the decision to market said item since producing that type of material back then was not a simple desk top publishing job.

In fact it's hard to imagine they would have had only a few manuals offset printed at all.

Any idea what they are doing in the skydiving photo's? Cause they sure as hell ain't recording anything at 120mph you open your mouth to talk ain't nobody even with their helmet touching your going to hear you if you shout so I seriously doubt then would be able to record anything. A recent Mythbusters just did a show on this and trying to talk in free fall is basically impossible.

curious

[jeffn]

How did you ensure you won the auction? Bid high or was there a but-it-now? Thats one auction I reckon you'd have not left to chance.

[cfoster]

How did you ensure you won the auction? Bid high or was there a but-it-now? Thats one auction I reckon you'd have not left to chance.

I bid as high as I could go and ended up getting it for a few hundred less. Needless to say, I am pleased.

Clyde

[cfoster]

interesting that with only a few prototypes made they had manuals and sales info already in hand. I would have thought that type of material would have come much later after testing and the decision to market said item since producing that type of material back then was not a simple desk top publishing job.

In fact it's hard to imagine they would have had only a few manuals offset printed at all.

Any idea what they are doing in the skydiving photo's? Cause they sure as hell ain't recording anything at 120mph you open your mouth to talk ain't nobody even with their helmet touching your going to hear you if you shout so I seriously doubt then would be able to record anything. A recent Mythbusters just did a show on this and trying to talk in free fall is basically impossible.

curious

Mark, I wondered the same thing and I should be able to tell how the materials were generated once I have them. It is possible that Ampex had an in house offset shop as many companies did during that time. Note that the book is not perfect bound as all Ampex manuals were but rather saddle stitched. I have a printing background, so I am as curious about this as you are.

I suspect that the skydiving photo was just trying to show how portable and sturdy the AG-20 was.

Clyde

[goldear]

Wow, now that's cool! I was completely unaware of that machine's existence before now. That makes my recent Sony TC-770 acquisition seem downright common by comparison. Congratulations!

[Jon Chandler]

Boeing probably wouldn't have used a recorder like this for AUDIO recordings in the wind tunnel. It would have been used for data recordings - perhaps vibration data from accelerometers or data from pressure sensors. Likewise if the recorder was actually used during skydiving, it was probably used to record some type of data.

I've run many reels of tape through a Nagra IV-SJ recording machinery vibration for condition analysis and submarine noise quieting. The Nagra worked great as it had calibrated (step detent) level controls to allow accurate level calibration and it provided power for the accelerometer pre-amps directly.

Jon

[cfoster]

Boeing probably wouldn't have used a recorder like this for AUDIO recordings in the wind tunnel. It would have been used for data recordings - perhaps vibration data from accelerometers or data from pressure sensors. Likewise if the recorder was actually used during skydiving, it was probably used to record some type of data.

I've run many reels of tape through a Nagra IV-SJ recording machinery vibration for condition analysis and submarine noise quieting. The Nagra worked great as it had calibrated (step detent) level controls to allow accurate level calibration and it provided power for the accelerometer pre-amps directly.

Jon

Jon,

According to the seller they were making sonic recordings with an Ampex 351-2P prior to wanting to evaluate this machine. This is very much an audio recorder according to the specs that come with it. Image of spec sheet attached.

Clyde

[Jon Chandler]

Clyde,

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest or imply that this wasn't an audio recorder!

I just wanted to point out that it may have been used to record things other than the output of a microphone. My experience is in analyzing machinery vibration data, which fits nicely in the 10 Hz - 10+ kHz range that an audio recorder covers. Microphones, whether for music or voice, aren't the only type of transducer that may be recorded on a tape recorder covering the audio frequency range.

Where I used to work, we had as many as 10 Nagra IV recorders (which have similar specs to your recorder) which were used for vibration analysis and some sonar work. The only time they were ever used for music is when I brought a reel from home just to see how they would work for music. As you might expect from a recorder costing $10,000, the results were beautiful :)

Jon