by Michael Sienicki
(South Bend, Indiana)
The Ampex AG-440 tape recorder is the finest sounding machine I have ever laid my ears on. I upgraded my half track B to a C version many years ago when parts were still available. The only thing I would have liked to see improved would be the take up tensioner. A roll pin would snap off after a while and then no longer have the tape damping there. I still own the machine, but, I need to replace the reproduce head. Later, the Ampex engineers really out did themselves with the ATR-100 series. It made Studer and all others take notice.