8mm Forum: A range of Ampros

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Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on December 10, 2009, 05:59 AM:

As I may have mentioned before, I recently acquired 2 more Ampro Stylist Majors from Dave Whistler. These are a Mk 3 and a Mk 4.

They were both introduced at the same time as the Mk 2, with differing facilities. I shall go into the subtleties at some point in the future, but suffice it to say that essentially, the Mk 3 has optical playback & magnetic recording and playback facilities, as well as freeze frame and reverse; the Mk 2 has only optical playback. The Mk 4 has optical & magnetic playback & freeze frame only.

With the Mk 3 there is a seperate magnetic record/playback console with a multitude of facilities such as mixing different inputs on film with dual magnetic striping.

Lots of fun to be had in the fullness of time with these machines, I feel.

However, in the immediate future, I shall run them optically and judge how they compare. The beauty of this range of projectors is that they can ALL be modified or upgraded to do whatever you want.

I therefore am now the proud possessor of four 16mm Ampro machines:

Stylist New Educational
Stylist Major Mk 2
Stylist Major Mk 3
Stylist Major Mk 4

There was also simply a Stylist Major (Mk 1 if you will), but it was not equipped with the drillings and fitments to the casting to enable the inter conversion among the other Mks. The Mk 2 was introduced as a basic optical playback only machine, but with all the necessary facilities to convert it into a Mk 3 or a Mk 4.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 1337) on December 10, 2009, 10:22 AM:

If you ever find a homeless mag head, my Ampro would love to hear from you.

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on December 10, 2009, 10:29 AM:

I'll give it some serious thought, Damien.

Exactly which model do you have? Serial No. would be helpful.

Cheers.

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on December 10, 2009, 03:51 PM:

David,

How about some pics? Especially the Mk3. I don't think these models were every produced in the US or available to the US market. We were somewhat limited to the B&H 202, RCA 400 and the Kodak MK4 and MK5 (aside from a few professional machines like the Eastman 25 which was a playback only machine).

It seems that the Ampro lasted much longer outside the US, perhaps that was due to the "health" of the parent company.

Things didn't change until it was taken over by Singer and then Telex.

John

Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on December 10, 2009, 06:31 PM:

There were/are a large number of Ampros down here as at one time they had the supply of all the state run schools.
All the ones that I have and have seen have been made in the UK under patient from the US.
The most strange one I have had was a Ampro Premier 20 aka the sausage dog!
Patrick

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on December 11, 2009, 03:30 AM:

Patrick,

I had a Premier 20 sometime back, but unfortunately it was beyond repair, so I binned it. It was amongst a pile of electrical "junk" I picked up from a surplus store - a few useful and good items, but sadly the Ampro wasn't one of them.

John,

I'll certainly get round to some piccies during the Christmas period, and I'll try to write a short expose about each model.

Thanks for your interest gentlemen.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 1337) on December 11, 2009, 05:11 AM:

Hey David, I have the Stylist Major Mk. 2 in great shape, I am away from home so I haven't got the serial at hand.

Posted by Barry Johnson (Member # 84) on December 11, 2009, 07:13 AM:

Lucky find with the mag/optical version,would love one! I have a mint New Educational sitting in all its glory in my cinema room and it gets regularly used.

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on December 27, 2009, 03:41 AM:

Barry,

Check out my post today entitled "Did Anybody See....."?

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on January 07, 2010, 03:52 AM:

Damien,

I may well have a magnetic head assembly for sale, but it is quite a chunk of casting as it includes the mounting hardware.

You would have to remove the whole take-up arm assembly (very easy to do - 2 screws) mount the mag head assembly, and then replace the whole take-up arm assembly.

You also need to obtain a pre-amp, as the output from the mag head is quite low. The pre-amp fits into the well of the projector case. Unfortunately I don't have a spare pre-amp, but I do have the circuit diagram for it. Therefore I'm sure you could easily build one.

As you can imagine, these mag head assemblies are as rare as hen's teeth, so I am trying to set a sensible price for it. The one I have has virtually no wear.

Let me toss the ball back into your court and ask you how much one would be worth to you. Then perhaps we could negotiate.

Best,

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 1337) on January 07, 2010, 05:39 AM:

I will send you some further details about my projector soon including the serial to make sure the head is compatible. Something interesting to note is that i see you mention that the Mk 2 cannot freeze frame. My MK 2 has what I believe to be freeze frame, that little black clutch knob between the gate and lamphouse and a centrifugally activated heat shield inside the barrel shutter. Is this the still frame device?

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on January 07, 2010, 06:34 AM:

The Mk 2 CAN freeze frame.

Sorry for any misleading information - it must have been either a typing error, or else I was thinking about the Stylist New Educational......or some other excuse!!!!!!

Anyway, you are correct. The knurled black knob to which you refer is indeed the freeze frame facility. You simply screw it in until the film stops, leaving the motor and fan still running. The driven pulley has an internal clutch arrangement, against which the brake engages when you turn the black knob.

The heat shield does indeed work in the manner you describe.

Cheers,

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 1337) on January 07, 2010, 07:46 AM:

No need to apologise its fine. Anyway I will check my machine for compatibility and get back to you with an offer.

Posted by frank arnstein (Member # 330) on January 14, 2010, 08:04 AM:

Hi to the members on this Ampro Thread.

Thought as Patrick mentioned the Ampro sausage dog projector, I decided a pic or 2 was worth while posting for us all to see what these "dachshunds" look like close up.

I have a couple of these puppies in my collection but they are rarely allowed out of their cases. They are fascinating to look at from all angles.
dogtor

[ January 22, 2010, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: frank arnstein ]

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