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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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In Reply to: RE: Latest additions posted by denden11 on February 12, 2023 at 14:37:11:
The two Ampex model ATR-102's on the sides are among my favorite tape machines. I invite anyone interested to read on Ampex history, because that company made tremendous contribution to tape recording - audio at first, followed by their leadership in video recording. Some call is "American Studer", to which I disagree, I see it as the other way around, or at least as two equal players, two world giants. Naturally, Ampex was dominant on this side of the pond, and Studer in Europe. Here you have the old competition - an American muscle car versus Mercedes, if you will.Whereas Studer excels in finesse, Ampex is all about strength and power, but without losing its fine sound quality, which is, in my opinion, unrivaled.
While both companies stopped making studio tape recorders back in the eighties, their presence in studios is still remarkably strong.
Both brands are also participating heavily in the current tape revival - most current pre-recorded tapes are done on one of these two brands.
I do own several Studers and I do admire and like certain things about them, but I still prefer the Ampex for most of what I do.
The ATR-100 line is legendary for its technology, including the pinch roller-less drive system with advanced tape tension control. The Studer stays with the more traditional tape path design. They are unparalleled in gentle tape handling and overall feel of precision.
The machine in the middle is essentially a Lexus of tape recording. A late comer that managed to carve a sizable niche and gain great reputation. Its essential attributes are your typical Japanese ones - high quality, superb reliability and all at lower cost. They produced broad line of semi-pro and pro level equipment that could be found in many studios and radio stations around the world - real workhorses.
That particular machine, their MX-55, comes from about the middle of their product line. Otaris are also built along the traditional layouts, but they are certainly not shy about incorporating advanced features.
Of these three machines the Ampex offers more advanced features - it can run at four speeds, up to 30ips, take much larger reels, and also have one of my favorite features - slow spooling.
I can talk about all these for hours... :) but this is a short summary. :)
Edits: 02/12/23 02/12/23 02/12/23
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Follow Ups
- Ampex and Otari - Victor Khomenko 15:17:37 02/12/23 (0)
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