a client has delivered these ampex machines – ex of capitol studios L.A. – to me –  for to reclaim them up and into a new professional life. first thing has been  to strip them free of their remote control and varispeed switching wireing. to return their control back to personal only. and to bypass the signal tone injectors from the input circuitry. then to clean the decks down careful lube clean up check over electro mechanical features of the tape  transporters.  chunky old school stuff . from another world of engineering long ago long in the past .  the cleaning and clearing has revealed –  one very  munted capstan shaft – one bubbled rubber shot pinch roller – and one scratched up feed idler wheel surface . so far.   braking and control functions seem  good. a bearing bit gummy. so carefullydismantle – clean – lube – refit – quick beer.

i have  to focus now on getting one single stereo machine going all good inside the next two weeks. so the 300 transport deck 1/4″ 2 track with stereo model 300 – 3  octal tube record playback amplifiers. capitol#54 . the total yummy valve tape machine.  it actually oozes dean martin. just today ive swapped out the 60hz capstan motor for my 50 hz spare. so as to get the speed of this master machine as close to an actual 15 inches per second as possible. with that sorted and after a feed idler overhaul  – this transport should be sweet. then to dismantle – recap the amps ,  check thru and prep for full tape recording alignment and greatness.