Miscellaneous

Here are some miscellaneous radios and other items that are not vintage tube radios.

Electric Guitar Amplifier

Manufacturer: Unknown Canadian maker
Model: Unknown
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: 1960s
Type:4 tube
Tube lineup: 12AX7, 50L6GT, 35Z5GT
Status: working
Where purchased: Rescued from garbage around 1975

Guitar Amp

Description

I salvaged this electric guitar practice amp from the trash when I was in my teens. It was working and has never had any parts replaced other than the line cord plug. I used it for years as my practice amp when playing the electric guitar.

Given its age and the fact that it uses tubes, it is now quite a nice little amplifier. It has simple volume and tone controls and one speaker. I modified the circuit so that the output can be switched to an output jack to allow using headphones. It had three inputs, but now has two as I stole one for the headphone output. There is no indication of the maker other than that it is made in Canada.

Guitar Amp

The case could use some work to clean up the places where the black finish has worn off, and the line cord should be replaced.

I traced out the schematic and drew it with the open source GEDA program. The 12AX7 is a dual triode, so it has two stages of audio amplification following by the power amp (providing at best maybe three watts of audio output power).

Guitar Amp

Grundig Heinzelmann

Manufacturer: Grundig
Model: Heinzelmann
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: 1990s
Type:transistorized, replica of old radio
Tube lineup: n/a
Status: working
Where purchased: PBS TV auction

Grundig Radio

Description

This radio is a modern replica, made of Grundig, of the popular Heinzelmann model, one of the first table-top radios made in Europe after World War II. This is quite an accurate replica, except for the internal electronics and that it includes FM reception. For a comparison with a couple of original Heinzelmanns, see the images below:

Grundig Radio
Grundig Radio

Heathkit GR-38

Manufacturer: Heathkit
Model: GR-38
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: 1960s
Type:transistorized AM clock radio, kit
Tube lineup: n/a
Status: working, not restored
Where purchased: Rescued from trash

Heathkit Radio

Description

This is an AM radio that was sold as a kit by Heathkit. It has a clock radio with timer outlet on the back controlled by the clock. Despite being solid state, it is built like a tube radio -- metal chassis, big tuning cap, big IF transformers, etc. -- probably because the larger components made it easier to assemble for a kit builder. Most of the components are mounted on a printed circuit board. The clock movement is made by Telechron.

It is bright orange which I imagine was popular when it was sold in the 1960s. It works and only appears to need a good cleaning. I'm looking for a copy of the manual or schematic but it seems no free copies are around so I'll have to pay for it.

10-Jan-2006 Update:

I bit the bullet and ordered a manual from Vintage Manuals. I now have a copy of the complete assembly manual. The radio has been aligned as per the instructions (which does not require any instruments but I used a signal generator and vtvm to do a more accurate alignment).

Rogers-Majestic RG958B

Manufacturer: Rogers-Majestic, Toronto, Canada
Model: RG958B
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: late 1950s?
Type: Transistorized Superheterodyne AM/SW band radio
Status: working, restored
Where purchased: Estate auction as part of box lot

Rogers RG958B

Description

Unlike most of the other radios in my collection, this one is solid state. It is interesting because it is an early transistor model and is a Canadian brand. I'm not sure when Rogers-Majestic stopped manufacturing radios, but this must have been one of their last models.

It features AM broadcast and two shortwave bands. There are external speaker/headhone and external antenna jacks. There is a two position tone control. It is powered by 4 1.5V D cells.

An interesting feature is the two "CD" markings on the dial, which indicated Civil Defense radio frequencies. This was common in radios made in the cold war era.

The radio was working when I received it. The only restoration done was to clean it up. The battery compartment was a mess due to batteries having leaked at some time.

AES Power Supply

This is a power supply I built from a kit purchased from Antique Electronic Supply. It it built on a wooden breadboard and provides 'A', 'B', and 'C' supply voltages for old battery-operated tube radios.

American General Supply FAX-61

Manufacturer: American General Supply of Canada, Montreal, Quebec
Model: FAX-61
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: early 1970s?
Type: AM/FM Stereo Tuner and Amplifier
Status: working, not restored
Where purchased: gift

This is a tube tuner/amplifier made by America General Supply of Canada, manufactured in Japan. It has AM and FM (stereo) tuners, tape and phono inputs, and stereo speaker outputs. There are 13 tubes, consisting of the following:

Power amp: 6BM8 (2), 6CA4
Multiplex decoder: 6BA6, 6U8, 6DT8
AM front-end: 6AL5, 6BA6 (3), 6BE6
FM converter: 6DT8
Tuning eye: 6R-E13

It works except for a problem with the input selector switch, it lost some of the switch contacts.

I don't know how to date this equipment. Since it uses tubes I doubt it could be older than very early 1970s, but it has printed circuit boards and other components that are quite modern. The tuning eye also seems to be an anachronism from radios of many years ago. Maybe it was built as an audiophile amplifier for fans of tubes. I haven't found any information about the manufacturer except for a reference to them having their name on some tubes.

I do not have a schematic but traced out the power supply and final amplifier stages.