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In Reply to: RE: ampex 6973 amps posted by vinnie2 on July 31, 2015 at 04:10:55
I do post some pics from time to time.As I've posted before, been in the business since the late 70's and my collection started to slowly accelerate. It's slowed down considerably now, and as an old man beset with medical issues, I need to clear out what my relatives consider junk.....
Been already accused as a hoarder....
Edits: 07/31/15Follow Ups:
First, these are some of the best sounding vintage, consumer available amps. Sonically, they are right up there with the more famous, more "fit and finished" looking amps. They are cute; like a Fairchild 255 but not as pretty as the Fairchildren. The Mullard type front end has tons of gain and the output iron was special Triad ultralinear outputs with 16 Ohm opt taps.
Unfortunately, there will not be any lit to be found about these Ampex amps, other than the sales brochures of their now very rare console offerings. I don't remember seeing any Ampex console amps in any magazine featuring amps or reviews; other than the 6V6 based speaker/smps.
I did "test" these trannies almost two decades ago when I had my pair of these great sounding amps. I also had a spare pair of opt iron, which I mounted on a pair of Craftsmen C400 chrome amps and gave to a close friend. He has moved away and traded off the amps since then. I no longer know where my Ampex 6973 amps reside, as they too were traded away.
When I did have the iron, they were tested and compared with the likes of Dynaco Stereo 35 and Heath UA-1 or 2 iron; very sonically rewarding. In fact, they were tried in a PP triode 6B4 amp and worked very well without the screen taps or feedback. It takes a very good PP UL tranny to work with triodes without the ultralinear taps and overall feedback connected...
The S-144 might have some catalog listing, but I doubt it has the bandwidth of the special Triad unit found on those 6973 amps. Good Luck finding the original opt iron...It will be worth the search. Besides, those cute chassis do not take up much room...
can be very rewarding. And I do appreciate your memories and information.The s-144 Tranny lista spec of 10 to 50 KHz, so I am rather impressed with what the decal states.
Still the Ampex trannie with a single speaker tap does offer certain advantages, so if the s-144 already boasts a good performance the x-73 may even be better.
Although I entered the tube game fairly late I am fascinated by older designs. I believe we can still learn from many of them.
I've seen several Grommes amps with interesting PS topologies. One had a 5U4 for the power tubes B+ and a 6X4 for the input B+. The 260 which apparently is being reissued, uses 75 volt gas regulator for the negative bias regulation ! Never seen that before. Also uses a 6L6 for series pass main B+ regulation.
So many ideas gone and forgotten...but still very interesting and potential very useful
Edits: 07/31/15
I have ( somewhere) a pair of 8 inch full range Ampex speakers with cast octagonal frame, alnico < hmm... should dig them up too.Actually I like to sound of those little amps. I started with a pair of Dyna Mk IV's, 1/2 of an ST 70 and really liked them. and had a few TV BQ5 amps, with naked trannies.They all sounded pretty good.
but perhaps I am dating myself....
Edits: 07/31/15
Yes Sir ! Ampex had class. Rumour was either Stephens or JBL was employed. I have only seen JBL types, a few versions by the way. Some have a metal concentric ring in the middle of the woofer section; obviously to add mass. Some have the aluminum center dome painted black as well; or no paint. Unfortunately, like the famous Altec 8s and all JBL 8s, they "ring" in the upper mids/highs. These frequency aberrations can cause some piercing sounding guitar notes...
If you have ever seen the Altec 603, their first full range PM 15, they also used the "Diacone" aluminum center dome, but shrouded the dome with a small horn. That helped with taming the inherent "shouting" of the aluminum center dispersion element. Proper grille cloth helps tame them as well...
Now I got to dig them out and make a closer examination.......
Sheesh this is never ending, but believe me I appreciate all your information
Thank you
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