Technical Reference


Head Stack Variations found on the ATR-100 Series

Ampex Ferrite

Ampex’s original design made use of ferrite head technology for each of the erase, record and reproduce heads.  Primarily selected for its extended service life, additional benefits of ferrite are detailed further in this article.

Ampex Metal

After a series of reports about high-frequency instability from the first crop of ATR-100 users Ampex shifted back to traditional metal laminate head stacks.  The ferrite material’s mode of failure was to chip along the record and reproduce head gaps.  Read more about ferrite and metal laminate heads here.

Flux Magnetics Metal

After the close of Ampex’s Audio Products Division many ex-employees founded their own companies based on their field of expertise,  one such company is Flux Magnetics. Flux Magnetics is the world leader in the production of professional grade analog magnetic recording heads.

Saki Magnetics Ferrite

Saki Magnetics provided long-life replacement heads for the Ampex ATR-100 series and many other tape recorders.  Saki provided ferrite heads in all compatible configurations of the ATR-100: 1/4″ 2-trk, 1/2″ 2-trk and 1/2″ 4-trk.  Advertisement from 1985


 

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