Ampex 351 Series - RECORDING AND REPRODUCING PROCEDURES

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CAUTION
Never press the S TOP and PL AY but-
tons in rapid , se quence when the tape
is traveling at high speed in the RE-
W IND or FAST FORWARD rnodes.
This will almost invariably break the
tap e since il' does not allow the tape
to sto p before the capstan idler lock.s
it to the capstan.
Reproduce (Playback}
To rep rod u ce a prev iou sly recorded tape,
tu rn the METER and OU T PUT SvVITCH 4S3 ,
to the ex tr eme left position d esignate d PLAY-
BACK LEVEL , then star t th e tap e in moti on as
indicated und er PLAY . A PLAYBACK LEVEL
Control 4R 36 has b ee n provid ed on the front
panel to ad ju sL the tape level to plus 8 vu out -
put (ze ro on the vu met er).
Record
To record a new program on prev i ous ly r e-
co rded tape . or on blank tape, turn th e METER
and OUTPUT SWITCH 4S3 to the secon d posi-
tion from the le ft which is d esignated RECORD
LEVEL. Turn th e RECORD LEVEL CONTRO L
4R9 clockwise until th e level reads O (ze ro ) on
th e vu m eter on the mo st jntcnse program
peaks. Th e program can be audib ly m on i tored
through ei th er th e phone j ac ks ( PHO N ES )
4J6,
Monitor 5 J4 . or the lin e out con n ecto r
(LINE
OUTPU T ) 5J5 b efore th e tape is in
m
ot ion. Thi s direct m o nit or featur e all ows th e
prog ram to be se t up thr ough th e m ach in e
wHhout
act ually r eco rdin g during the set up
period.
NOTE
For co rr ec t meter calibrntion it is im -
7wrt cm l that the line out be pr ope rl y
tcnlli11ntcd in a 11n111innl 600 o lim s
either
exte rn al to the ma c hin e or by
/II(' 11.W ' of the line o ut le n11 inatimz
SH' ilc/1 ( LINE TERM ) SS4.
\A /hen th e progi·am Jcv cl is prop e rl y set, st ar t
the tape in motion as indic ated und er PL/\ Y.
Th en press the RECORD BUTTON 4SG, TJ1c
record indi ca t or 4 !1 n ext to th e record bu tt on
will now gl ow and th e cquiprn cn t js r eco rdin g.
The erase position of the METER ;:i nd OUT -
PUT SWTTC II provid es l'or me ter ing of erase
3-5
c urr e nt. Th e e ra se c urr e nt is not criti ca l and
h as b ee n fac tory a djust ed to r ea d approxi-
m ate ly -½ on the vu met er for half track
and stereophonic h ea ds and + I for fu ll track
head s. Both the e ra se a nd bias c urr e nt will
vary direct ly with lin e vo lt age . Th e bi as c urr e nt
is more criti ca l and is factory set to r ea d zero
at J 17 vo lt lin e voltage, using an average tap e.
It sh ou ld 1· ca d b et w ee n - ½ a nd + ½ for the
op timum hi gh fr e qu ency response at 7 .½ and
3¾ inch t ape speeds usin g a me dian tape. For
th e flat tes t poss ibl e response w Hh a g i. ve n t ape ,
the bi as ca n be reset as d esc ribed in Section 7
AL I GNMENT AND PERFORMANCE
CHECKS. Note the bia s c urr ent r eading for
the particular tape and log H for f utur e r efe r-
ence.
The
bias is a dju sted by m ea ns of th e Bias
Co ntrol H 460 , lo ca t ed on th e electronic c ha ssis,
Th e m eter ca librati on for bi as m eas ur ement
ca n be ch ec ked as i ndi ca t ed in SECTION 7,
Half Track Operation
The tape is thr ea ded a nd opera ted as d e-
scribe d under TAPE THREAD ING and TAPE
MOTI ON. How ever, on ly th e upp er ha Jf of th e
tape will be u sed on th e ha lf track e quipm en t.
To utilize the lower ha lf of th e tape, th e full
reel on th e t ake up turnt able s hould be rem ove d,
turned ove r and p l ace d on the tape su pp ly turn -
t
ab le ups id e cl ow n. Pl ace an e mpt y re el on the
t
akcup turntabl e. Repea t the opera ti on as per -
formed on th e fi rst track,
R emo te Control
For 1·em olc opcratfon, remove the dumm y
plu g P 502 P from th e recep tacle J502S on the
co ntrol bo x of the tape transport and co nn ec t
th e re mote con trol cab le from J502S to th e
rem
ote contro l uni t (see TAPE TRANSPORT
MECIJ AN I SM - REMOTE CON TROL ) .
Not es on Stereophonic Operation
B ec ause th e ste r eop honic e quipm e nt h as a
sqi;_irate er ase featmc, perm ittin g e ith er tr ac k
to be erased ind epe nd e ntly of the other. it is
ne cessa ry to pr ess the RE CO RD buttons on
each amplifi er to ph1 cc both a mpli fiers in th e
r
cc: onJ mod e.
When using th e remot e co ntrol un it th e
si ngle RE CORD butt on will ene rgi ze l>oth elec-
tronics ( co nc ur re nt r eco rd featur e).