Ampex History Project

AES Historical Committee

Ampex History Project

What is it?

This is a subset of the AESHC Oral History Project. It was requested due to interest of Ampex “Old-Timers” and as a way to “kick off” release of some of the Oral History Project material while people are still around to be interested (especially those who designed and used the equipment).
It is in addition to, not instead of, the ongoing Oral History Project effort to produce archive recordings of Audio Pioneers. It seems to be a nicely self-contained sub-project, especially since most of the interviewees are still located in the Bay Area.

Why do an Ampex History?

Enthusiasm of participants and desire to get a definitive, “Myth-free” Company History.  Ampex and Hewlett-Packard were the first major players in what has come to be known as “Silicon Valley”.
At one time, nearly every engineer in the Bay Area had worked for one of these companies. Ampex is an “Historical Company” that should not be relegated to a footnote as later companies became dominant.
We have a unique collection of memorabilia (Stanford collection) and memories (Oral History interviewees) to put together a (hopefully) interesting narrative. Ampex still has an active “following” in the audio community; many machines are still in revenue service and many more are cherished collector/audiophile items.

Scope

At this time, scope of this project is limited to emphasis on very early Ampex history, and, generally, history of Ampex audio.
It concentrates (so far) on the earliest Ampex products: The Model 200A, the Model 201, and the Model 300.
It also concentrates on the founders of the Company and their stories. General cutoff at present is 1960-61.

Organization (Participants)

Project Leader: Larry Miller
Helpers: Ross Snyder, John Leslie, Jay McKnight
Reviewers: Pete Hammar, Howard Sanner

Activities

Produce set of Oral History Videos from Ampex

Newer or additional videos from selected personnel

John Leslie, Myron Stolaroff, and the Group Recording 2001 December with Early Ampexers Pete Hammar (MC), John Leslie, Walter Selsted, Frank Lennert, Robby Smits and ,Ross Snyder.

Use of Oral History Project videos

Use 14 existing Oral History videotapes of Ampex people: Bill Cara, Eric Daniel, Mort Fujii, Bob Langevin, Dale Manquen, Jay McKnight,  Larry Miller, Bob Morrison, Rein Narma, Fred Pfost, David Sarser, Walter Selsted, Ross Snyder, and Al Sroka.

Probable Release Medium: DVDs to be sold through AES

These oral histories are personal portraits of the people: their story as they remember it. There are inconsistencies between 50-year-old memories.

Make a written History of Early Ampex based on the recollections of these people, in these oral histories.

In this case, we would attempt to get historical accuracy, based on correlation of following resources:
Above videos,
Written papers by Myron Stolaroff, Harold Lindsay, and Peter Hammar
The Ampex “Fact Book”
Other contemporary publications
Physical evidence

Status

Video Recordings

We have in hand several videos listed above

Newer or additional videos from selected personnel

John Leslie, Myron Stolaroff, Group Recording 2001 December with Early Ampexers: Pete Hammar (MC), John Leslie, Walter Selsted, Frank Lennert, Robby Smits, Ross Snyder

We are collecting copies of the other videos. John K. Chester has made and delivered digital dubs of the 14 Oral History Project Interviewees listed:
Bill Cara, Eric Daniel, Mort Fujii, Bob Langevin, Dale Manquen, Jay McKnight, Larry Miller, Bob Morrison, Rein Narma, Fred Pfost, David Sarser, Walter Selsted, Ross Snyder, and Al Sroka.
Larry Miller will edit these videos (estimate 6 months)
We may re-do a few of them at request of interviewees.
We may add to the list.

Written History

Transcripts of Oral History Tapes

We have the John Leslie interview already transcribed by Chuck Booye, at MRL, and John Leslie is editing that transcription.
The 2001 December Hammar group is about half transcribed, also by Chuck Booye, and most of the participants appear willing to review the transcript, with John Leslie and Ross Snyder as
leaders.
These two interviews can serve as the basis of a written history. By playing the other interviews, small additions or corrections can be made without transcribing all of those interviews. Selected parts could be transcribed, as required.
The history will be prepared by John Leslie and Ross Snyder, based on the transcriptions and other resources.
Larry Miller will attempt to produce a “rectified” Time Line Excel spread sheet to aid in reconciling detail differences.

2004-11-15