[Eeyore]

Iain Churches wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote

The Ampex mic amps are widely considered to be somewhat mediocre. There
never was any intention for them to be anything special, just to 'do the
job'.
That'll explain your noise comment for sure. It ought to be simple to
'upgrade' an Ampex design to a lower noise level.

The Ampex 300 and 350 series were indeed a little on
the side of mediocre, to say the least, but there was
not a lot of competition at that time. In the UK
we had the venerable EMI TR90 and later the
BTR 2

But old Ampex machines have a certain mystique
about them. People sell the electronics on as a
mic amp and scrap the deck or break it for parts,
motor and headblock, which is rather sad.

Yes. Just shows how little most tube nuts actually know or understand. The
reverence for old transformers is barking mad too.

Graham