I'd been after a portable...

[piglit'n'rolf]

A few records from the boot sale this morning (pop those in a proper thread later) but this caught my eye - and my nostalgia - and it seemed like a shame to leave it behind. We had one very similar to this when I was at school. I remember listening to a series of records documenting the history of music - which seemed to dwell on "Blueberry Hill" for far to long; and the school term was too short to get to the interesting stuff. Love to get hold of those records now.
Works a treat. Little valve amp inside and Garrard 4SP on the top. Which means that 78s and 16 rpm can be easily accomodated. Love the guidance in respect to "tone". Pity it don't take batteries as well.

[Magoorty]

That's lovely.
I'd like to find something like that and getting a wee 78s collection going.

[peter sundae]

Nice work piglit, what a beauty !!!

Dig out those 'listen move and dance' records

[eclectiktronik]

Nice find, but here are a few things to be aware of:

-any piece of valve equipment of this age should be checked for leaky wax and Hunts capacitors. these can explode, or at least go s/c and damage the rare transformers in the amp! personally I wouldn't use it until it has been checked and if need be overhauled.
-the pick up cartridge should be checked, as should the tracking weight, as you will ruin modern stereo records if played on a mono stylus and its heavy pickup.

Fortunately I don't think the cartridge is is the original 'turnover' type , since in the pic the knob on the end of the arm/headshell is missing, having been replaced by what looks like a 1970s BSR ceramic cart (ST 10 or ST15 stylus probably - cheap and readily available on ebay )

hope this helps. Ben.

[Joe M'geek]

Nice find, but here are a few things to be aware of:

-any piece of valve equipment of this age should be checked for leaky wax and Hunts capacitors. these can explode, or at least go s/c and damage the rare transformers in the amp! personally I wouldn't use it until it has been checked and if need be overhauled.

I know this is technically true, but for what it's worth, I've used loads of old valve things without testing them first or replacing anything, and I've been fine- apart from an old oscilloscope that had a spider in it, and blew up (when i wired the inputs to the mains in a dope stupor)

If it was a £££ leak valve amp or something...that'd be a different story, but for turntables like this I think it's worth just plugging it in and hoping for the best

Sorry to quibble eclectiktronik...

[cellardweller]

built like a battleship..

& with a careful owner from the school's music dept, you're unlikely to find it unduly distressed... my music teacher never rocked the discotheque, & guarded the turntable with esp.

[eclectiktronik]

I know this is technically true, but for what it's worth, I've used loads of old valve things without testing them first or replacing anything, and I've been fine- apart from an old oscilloscope that had a spider in it, and blew up (when i wired the inputs to the mains in a dope stupor)

If it was a £££ leak valve amp or something...that'd be a different story, but for turntables like this I think it's worth just plugging it in and hoping for the best

Sorry to quibble eclectiktronik...

A lot depends on whether or not the gear has been used frequently. if it has, chances are bigger capacitors etc. are in reasonable shape; or the unit will have been serviced and original parts already changed to more reliable equivalents. however, with boot sale finds of unknown history one should err on the side of caution. At the very least, don't just plug 'em in - wire a 60-100 w bulb in series with the live wire, to limit the destructive current and see if there are shorts. Components left standing in a loft or shed for 30 years tend to go bang upon having 240 volts shoved up 'em out of the blue!

[eclectiktronik]

I picked up a Dansette Tempo late last year which was in reasonable nick on the outside, with a nice clean white Garrard deck... thought about it, looked inside, closed it up, thought again, plugged it in, red light came on, no sound, unplugged it in a hurry when a fizzing noise and a faint burny smell started coming from inside....

..this is exactly the kind of scenario I was trying to allude to above!
had you connected it via the series bulb, it probably would have glowed brightly indicating a short , and avoided the fireworks!

anyway, if it helps, you will probably need to replace the main smoothing capacitor. look for a largeish cylinder/can, either silver or with a blue plastic coating. if you're really unlucky the selenium rectifier will have gone tits up too. thats a sort of flat square /rectangle with 4 cables coming out.
-Ben

[eclectiktronik]

Aye, I was thinking capacitor problems. They do seem to be the no.1 component to go pop. Even my BBC Micro needed a couple in the power supply (and a chopping transistor... oh yes, I know all about it now...)

I'll get 'round to it at some point. It's quite cute, and I want something to play 78s on. I think that bell wire type mains lead needs ditching as well... oof.

i think we should take this discussion to a more relevant forum plenty of help available here!

[cellardweller]

snapped this for you turntable freaks