AMPEX was located in Redwood City, California and developed the first practical video recorder for broadcast use in 1958.  The company is still active in the field of data recording. 

The following files are available:

2" Quadruplex VTR's

ACR-25  The ACR-25 was the first automatic cassette recorder/reproducer.  This machine revolutionized the playback of spot material by automating entire multi-spot sequences.

ACR-25B  The ACR-25B was an updated version of its predecessor and included a digital TBC in place of the original analog unit.

AVR-1  The AVR-1 was the ultimate Ampex quad and featured an advanced transport design and many automated features designed for ease of use and top performance.

AVR-2  The AVR-2 was the first Ampex quad to feature a digital TBC.  It was a 2-part machine with the transport and electronics in separate, table-top size cabinets, allowing it to be moved easily and configured in different arrangements including a console.

AVR-3  The AVR-3 was the last Ampex quad machine introduced.  It offered a transport similar to the AVR-1 but without the vacuum columns, and featured a digital TBC.

FR-900  The FR-900 is not a video recorder in the traditional sense of a quad, but is a wideband, transverse scan recorder with a 6 MHz bandwidth.  One application was by NASA for the recording of images from the Lunar Orbiter program in the late 60's.

VR-1000B  This is a 13 page brochure from 1959 on the NEW VR-1000B.  The machine featured a number of enhancements over the original VR-1000.

VR-1100  The VR-1100 was the first solid state quadruplex VTR from Ampex.  This is a 10-page brochure from 1964 showing the early version of this machine in a number of installations.

VR-1100/E  This catalog page also shows the compact /E version.

VR-1100HB  This advertisement is for the High Band conversion for the VR-1100.

VR-1200/E  The VR-1200 was the third model solid state quadruplex VTR from Ampex.  This catalog page also shows the compact /E version.

VR-1200B  This is the full brochure for the VR-1200B. The B version offered several updates to the original 1200 and was made for many years, possibly the most popular quad ever produced.  It was available in either side-car or monitor bridge configurations.

VR-2000B  This is the full brochure for the VR-2000B.  The B version offered improvements in several areas over the 2000 which was the first Hi-Band quad.  It was available only in the side-car configuration.

VR-3000  This is the first portable quadruplex VTR.  It was introduced in 1967 and continued in production for over 10 years.

Quadruplex Accessories & SubSystems

Amtec   Automatic Time Element Corrector
Colortec   Direct color recovery system
DOC and Auto Chroma  Modules for these systems.

Original Editor   An 8-page Introduction to the very first editor introduced in 1962.
Editor  Updated version of 1055.
Editec Mk I   One of the automated controllers for the editor.
Editor  Several later versions of the basic edit system.
Editec Mk I   One of the automated controllers for the editor.
Editec Mk II   Another automated controller for the editor.

Electronic Timer  For the VR-2000/1200 with simple automated functions and digital readout.
Multilock   Multi-machine synchronizer
VHO  Provided a fast and easy method for head optimization.