Picture taken in 1953 in Control Room B

It shows the Magnecord PT 6-3 that was later mounted in the rack. (By the mid 60's they were already there). The amp and deck are separate and the amp had a switch (in the sixties) to select which deck it operated with. Here's a photo taken by Mike Muderick in the sixties of these same pieces of eqipment installed into the master control racks. The recorder in this photo is the bottom unit in the sixties picture.

The equipment on the extreme right was at first thought to be possibly a disc cutter. However, when we enlarged this photo, you can see that it is some sort of reel to reel tape recorder. The capstan is visble just as the pictures goes off frame.

SOME E-MAILS ON THE SUBJECT....

Assuming the picture isn't printed backwards, (and I don't think it is), the deck is possibly an Ampex 300 or was there a 200. I say that because the capstan is BEFORE the head which is a design that Ampex quickly abandoned, I believe, because of excessive flutter.

Mike Muderick
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The labels on both the amp and that deck are slightly different. There is an added label on the amp and the lettering on the deck seems slightly different. I'm going to take a look at the Maggie carcases I have to see if that label is a Maggie label or could have been from the university or a repair house.

(Referring to the equipment on the extreme right) There is a possibility that this is an Ampex 400. That was the weird machine that had the capstan and pinch roller on the left hand side pushing the tape thru the machine. The first time I ever saw one was at WDAS, so you (Gerry Wilkinson) should remember it. When Ampex had a museum they did not have one of these on display--they were too embarassed about it, they said. But if it is an Ampex, where the hell was it when we were there. We had the 600 and 601, of course, but the large Ampex was a 354 which postdates this picture. I understand the 400 came out before the 350, and might have been new at that time.

On Mike's picture, below the tone oscillator was the filter which we used to create telephone effects. You can see one of the two filter controls.

Mike Biel
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(Again referring to the equipment on the extreme right, any idea what it is?) No clue, except that the caption is probably correct. It appears to be a reel-to-reel machine. By 1954, when I arrived on scene, I am certain the magnecord machines were rack mounted. The large unit on the right may have been temporary. I do recall the disc cutters were just inside the MCR entrance to the right. What is more curious is why I remember that and not what I had for breakfast today!

Joel Albert
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I just realized what the two things sitting on top of the Maggie are. They are Ampex adapter discs for 10 1/2-inch NAB-hub reels. They are plastic and have studs which fit into holes on the reel turntables of Ampexes.

Mike Biel

Photo from the collection of Gary Gumpert

Equipment identification by Mike Muderick, Mike Biel, Joel Albert and Gerry Wilkinson