Flea Market, Yard Sale, Pawnshop And Local Finds 2019

I've got a set of those around here somewhere. Back in the 1970's my late wife had a job where she used them.

 

We'll see if they're still working or can be made to work without too much effort. The multimeter is an absolute trip. I'm not even sure how to describe it except that it uses tubes to displays the numbers. It definitely powers on. If the tube tester works than the whole lot of stuff is probably worth what I paid.

 

Nixies? Meters like that are great, only thing is they are not autoranging so you have to twist the knobs to be on the right scale. I have 2 B&K very similar to that, i use 1 for measuring plate voltage, other screen or cathode voltages. Bet it works.

That's a great haul. Some tv tubes there but i did see the 12au7, others are hiding.

I can remember my dad taking the Bell and Howell course early 70's. He already had the TV repair shop and crap loads of stuff but i think he wanted the theory on it all. Tube tester looks minty.

 

Nice haul. I looked briefly at an Eico 666 or 667 a week ago at a flea market in central NY. It was simply marked “works”. But at $125 I passed it by.


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One of my customers gave me an old Newcomb AV-750 AM/FM tube radio today.

 

A quick look on the specs at www.radiomuseum.org shows a few familiar tube types. 6x4 rectifier, 6bq5 (el84), and 12ax7 plus 5 other tubes. I didn’t see a schematic but it may be a fun radio to restore or some good parts to launch you on a DIY build.


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Hey, I finally have something to report on this thread!

The other day, I was talking to the owners of a new bar in my neighborhood (which has rapidly become one of my favorite local bars - good drink selection; good pinball; only one TV screen and it's usually showing a movie; cool people). They wanted to have live music, and a backline, but they had virtually nothing to spend on it (typical new-business stuff) and didn't know much about doing it anyway. So I said, well, I happen to be in a band, and I know a little about backlines from playing around town, so let me see if I can help you out, at least with the guitar and bass stuff. I decided to focus on cabs, because they're (often) a little cheaper, and I'd rather a place had decent cabs than some cheap combos.

I remembered seeing an Epiphone Triggerman 4x12 on the local CL, so I got in touch with the seller, negotiated a price of $90, and ran over to grab it. It's capable of handling 280W in mono and (more relevantly) 140W on each side in stereo, so it'll work fine for two guitarists. And it has cool retro styling!




That left just the question of a bass cab. Checking CL again, I struck gold - a guy was getting rid of a 2x15 Kasino bass cab for the price of "free if you come get this thing out of my house"! Doing a little research, it looks like Kasino was Kustom's budget line for a while, and this cab probably dates to the early 1970s. I make no claim to it being a particularly awesome bass cab, but any 2x15 for free is a good deal. It looks like this except that it has plain grillcloth instead of striped. (That may indicate it was made near the end of Kasino's short existence, from what I can tell.)



It's not as stylish as the Triggerman, but throw a tablecloth over it and it can double as a lectern.

So $90 for a guitar cab AND a bass cab - not too shabby. The owners were blown away when I brought the gear over, and I traded the gear for bar credit, so everybody was a winner! The fact that now they are also slightly in my moral debt any time my band needs to play is just icing on the cake. As for drums, I talked to our drummer and bassist (because the bassist is the one who has the garage full of band gear) and they think they might be able to cobble a kit together out of what's in the garage, which would further cement our status!

 

Did you check the speakers inside? You never know what may lurk inside. Awesome finds.


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I did a quick Google search on this radio and read that it only had two paper caps and one can cap. The rest are supposedly ceramic. Not bad. Also read that they are extremely reliable and durable. It has an input for an amp or other audio source. It also has a 1/4" mono speaker output. And, it has an input (?)a for a multiplex (whatever that is).
I think I'll test it and replace the paper and can caps, and use it.

 

Awesome! I have a 60w Triggerman combo which I love! Looks great, sounds great!

 

I hauled an old RCA victor console from the curb the other day. I can’t say as I would normally be interested in spending effort on these sorts of things but I did it anyways because it was a 1/4 mile from my home. There isn’t much to report as it’s a salvage and parts project at best. The wooden console cabinet is a wreck and the field coil speaker is at best, not useable without a re-cone. But on the upside there is some heavy iron hosting a 18watt power amp (best estimate) and some 12 combined tubes. The PT is feeding 375v to the OT and a pair of 6F6G (predecessor to the 6L6 and 6V6). Now I’m not looking for any more projects to sit and collect dust. I’m just dismantling it for parts. Schematics are very available though and it has potential if completely rebuilt




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6f6g 0.7a filament, 6l6, 0.9a filament. I would say since you are not going to be using all those tuner tubes, you have enough current to run a pair of 6L6GC'S, or 5881's. There's a bunch of old Valco and Supro schematics running 6l6's at 15-20 watts, the tubes will last forever not being pushed to the max. Good head project. The one i built was 6j7 into 6sl7 (6sn7?) and a pair of 5881's.

 

Ya absolutely. I counted up the heater draw and got 4.1 amps. It has plenty of room for some more demanding tubes. I still haven’t proved it with a meter to see if it has signs of life. Fingers crossed. While the cabinet looks beat and as though it sat in a barn for the past 50 years, the chassis is remarkably clean all things considered. So we will see.

I didn’t take a photo of this thing yet but here’s a colorful illustration. For size reference, it’s bigger than a 4x12 cabinet. It barely fit into my car



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I went ahead and made a current limiter and tried the radio out.
It works. I'm going to replace the can cap and paper caps and replace the external FM antenna connection board (one terminal is broken out of it and missing.
The speaker sounds bad, especially with the tone knob turned toward the treble side.
I found a ground strap from the tuner to the chassis that has a failed solder joint.
I'll fix that too. Then, I'll see if the sound issue is the speaker, or something else.
4"x8" speaker doesn't look like the easiest thing to find a replacement for.
I did find a new one at Crutchfield for $90. Ouch.
The sound is a lot better through an external speaker, which is why I'm thinking it's the speaker that is the problem.
BTW, it's LOUD. I was surprised at how loud that old radio is.
I'll have to get some 300 ohm dipole antenna wire to replace the original, since it's broken where the antenna terminal was broken off.
Thought about selling it after I fix it, but that model doesn't bring much money.

 

Awesome . Ya I don’t think any of these things are worth much except to a real radio enthusiast. If I had to guess, that crowd already has too many radios as well. Some of this stuff is pretty fascinating though, even if it’s not worth resurrecting or refurbishing.

That’s cool that you built the current limiter. I’ve found mine very useful too.


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Scored this locally over the weekend. From 1972 and built like a tank! (Not my pic, mine is more beat up than this one)

 

Used to have one of those, worked great

 

I love the current limiter. I need to buy some lower wattage bulbs, for lower wattage/solid state devices.
I looked at Home Depot yesterday, and all they had were LED bulbs.
Looks like Amazon is going to get some more of my money.

It's already told me that the 1956 Newcomb HiFi amp will need some work.
It powers up, but the bulb gets very warm and glows dimly.
Not surprising, since I already figured all the old paper and electrolytic caps are nothing but slightly resistive short circuits to ground, due to its age.
It has a metric ton of them, too. It has a lot of ceramic disc caps also. Lotsa caps. So many caps.

The radio has 2 paper and one electrolytic can. Everything else is ceramic disc. Much easier job.
Guess I'll try some of that speaker rubber cement before shelling out $90+shipping for a new speaker.

After I repair the radio, I need to drag the old Gibson Thor home and test it out.
I wouldn't be surprised if all the electrolytics need to be replaced. It's about as old as I am.

 

Those ceramic disks usually don't go bad. Wax caps, always change them. Poly or plastic looking ones, varies, sometimes they are good for another 50 years. Sometimes, they crack and split and leak like a sieve.

 

My Great-Grandparents had one exactly like that in their living room. It had world-band radio, which the idea was so cool to me as a 6 year old. BTW, my GGP did not own a TV - that was their version of a TV.