This week: Blizzards. Ice. Snow drifts. Rather sunny and warm. Wait, what? Yup, we've seen it all this week folks. All that's left is for delicious pastries to start falling from the skies, and we can check off the last item on our home-made "meteorological phenomena" list. And boy, you have no idea how long […]
Vintage AMPEX VR1200B 2" Quadruplex VTR ...
Solar botics
January 8, 2016
I occupy a studio space in a building that is a former movie shooting facility turned into an artist hovel. The building itself is wonderfully old but the hallways are also full of ancient audio and video equipment from the movie days. One of the things that got the attention of our RnD and tech geek was the AMPEX VR1200B Quadruplex videotape recorder from 1966. The machine stands about 5' tall, about the same in width, and weighs 'under 1000 pounds' as the spec sheet puts it. This was one of the first machines to use magnetic tape technology for recording video in the form of 2" quad tape for video, as opposed to film that was used previously.
A couple interesting points about this machine:
- 60PSI Air was needed for air bearings and a Venturi system for holding the 2" tape in alignment;
- These machines were the workhorses in TV Stations throughout the 60's and 70's. Running these machines required a full time technician!
Here's the beast in action:
A photoset of AMPEX VR1200B
An Overview of Ampex History:
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New product for your attention: Electret Microphone Breakout $7.95 Audio sensors & mics have to be amplified just right for best response. Here's a tidy unit engineered by Sparkfun to make adding an electret mic to your project easy. MEMS microphone board $9.95 Newer MEMS microphones give much better response than older style electret mics, […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.