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i'm going vintage here:
i'm dealing for a single ampex ag-440 A preamplifier without power supply, would like to use it as a microphone preamp but really don't know if it is worth anything, do you have any experience with it? obviously the idea comes from electrical audio's ampex ''you know what''.
Any info, technical support, advices and ''you should know that...'' is welcomed!

Have you listened to these? Whether you're expecting it to sound like a 351 or a more modern transistorized preamp, I believe you will be underwhelmed by the mic preamp in the AG440.

They are fine, neutral line amplifiers, and those tape machines were pretty good for the day, but the mic amps are nothing special.

anybody want the enclosures to these things? I don't have the three cards that slide in it anymore, but I have two of the enclosures still. I also have the transport although it's mostly in a use-for-parts condition.

i have the chance but before spend time and gasoline i wanted to know if someone ever used them as single mic preamps.
And if i would test them then i need the PSU and buy it oversea just to have a test.

I never used mine as preamps, but I have an AG440B. I was reading about it(the mod of making it a pre, actually there's a plug for that).
I think someone on the ampex mailing list did it, he wasn't knocked off his feet. I don't think it's worth butchering this machine just to have two more preamps.

I'm in negotiations to get two Ampex 440b's. One is stereo and in good working condition(alledgedly). The other, a mono unit, is in not-as-good working condition. Five-hundred Canadian dollars for both. I'm curious if anyone here thinks this is a good investment, and how they compare to other machines in that price range.

Oh yeah, sorry for hijacking the thread.

i have 2 of these machines. we use them as primary mixdown decks at our studio. they are hell to align, but they have a real magic to them...
(and for a modern sound (i.e. free of hiss), you NEED to use NR with them.)

that being said, i don't think they would be worth buying to turn into preamps. what they do well is this great crispy & thick tape compression thing they do for a mix- which involves the whole machine working and not just the mic amps.

btw- we have 351's, Presto's, & an MX-35 also that we use as mic preamps, so i know the difference, and the 440's wouldn't nearly do anything close for that purpose.

hope that helps,
-Darren.

I've got a bunch of these (MM1000 versions, the same electronics as the 440's if I'm not mistaken). My boss mods them into mic pres with phantom power, they sound OK. Nothing special, but not bad....nice if you don't have a lot of options other than middle-of-the-road board pres. There is a transformer on one of the cards you can replace with an upgrade, and it makes for much better low end response.

about the transformer, I was thinking about it just the other day. Ampex made a mic pre transformer for those units. I think you can find them on ebay for 20-40 bucks. it will save you some of the modding.

i used these for guitars on a record i did almost 2 years ago. i liked what they did at the time, but we were going kind of a gritty, almost 70s sound. we were also hitting the GP9 pretty hard, so its a bit hard to tell what part of the sound was coming from where.

i'd try it out if it were cheap.