406 and 456 have pretty similar bias points, but way different operating
levels. The A77 should be able to bias up 456 without any problem, but
the electronics will clip before the tape does.

Mine didn't. The thing you need to be careful about on an A77 is clipping the
input amp, as a nominal +4dBu signal will cause gross input amp distortion (and
a smidgeon of oscillation on peaks) before you get anywhere near tape
saturation. But feed it with -10dBV and it'll be happy. My experience with the
record card electronics is that you can get adequate headroom on 456 and 250.
'Course, I never liked 456 anyway...

The 440B isn't ever going to run comfortably at 30 ips... and I would suggest

you get some experience under your belt before you do an alignment on one.

Agreed. Once you know how, it's idiot-simple to align, but there's a learning
curve. Oh, and it's fine at 30 ips IF you have the servo-motor option, but hell
on wheels if you don't.

Peace,
Paul

Scott Dorsey wrote:

The 440B isn't ever going to run comfortably at 30 ips... and I would suggest
you get some experience under your belt before you do an alignment on one.

But the 440C will do it just fine, and can even do 60ips. I just sold
a 2-track 440C for $200. That's a whole lot of tape deck for very
little money. Of course, the reason I sold it was that I didn't want
to be the one to maintain it.

ulysses

Luke Kaven wrote:

(David Satz) wrote:

30 ips was "ips-o" facto a professional format.

Owwww...oh it hurts.

It's good, though.

--
ha

Jason McClelland wrote:

At this point, I am wondering if I should already
be trying to sell this B77 and have my eyes open for an Ampex 440B or
something, so that I can use 499 type tape at 30IPS...

See this from Jay Frigoletto http://www.promastering.com/sale and
follow the gear link. He's offering a pair of Studer A80's, one quarter
and one half inch.

--
ha

"LeBaron & Alrich" wrote in message
.. .

See this from Jay Frigoletto http://www.promastering.com/sale and
follow the gear link. He's offering a pair of Studer A80's, one quarter
and one half inch.


Thanks for the info!!!

snarfdude wrote:

here's a question...any good tutorials on the web on biasing up to a
particular? I've heard the term so many times, but I'd like to get
specific, and tweak my old ampex 351 full track clone (it's running an
inovonics 375 amp) that I saved from the trash (radio station
renovations) for some old scotch 203 reel I have...or for that
matter...I just wanna learn how to bias up to a particular tape.

The manual for the 350 has complete details on the old 1KC method,
and the Innovonics manual probably does too.

If you're using Scotch 203, that's probably the best way to set the bias
anyway.

You will need to do the azimuth adjustment and playback EQ before you do
the record level and bias settings. The manual will tell you how to do
this too.

The Ampex mailing list probably has the 350 manual archived somewhere,
although I doubt they have the Inovonics. I bet a call to Santa Cruz will
get you a new manual for the Inovonics, box, though.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

snarfdude wrote:
cool thanks.....guess I have all I need as I have the innovonics and
ampex manuals. I found a whole bunch of scotch 203 with no splices at
a thrift store cheap...looks like they were used on a instrument
recorder some 30 years ago, and put away. it's in great shape, so the
nostaligia of using a bit of it, I thought I'd ask.

Get the MRL and the scope and go for it, then. Just follow the manual
directions and find the peak at 1 KC.

With a modern tape, you'll do better to find the peak with a 10 KC tone,
then increase the bias until the level drops a calibrated overbias value
that is specified for the tape. But for old red-oxide tapes, the 1 KC
method with no overbias will work a lot better.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."