Voice of music, antique or reproduction?

[kenpeter]

Parts inside date stamp from 1931 to 1942.
Yet I see details that look way too modern...

Phillips screws, a tagboard, what year were
6AU6, 6AQ5A, 6X4 ??? Didn't all these come
later? Or was VOM just that far ahead of the
curve?

Its in really good condition, except for some
scuffs, and an old cap or two letting a bunch
of hum bleed through. Needs a fuse added.

Model 162 or 163, not sure which is which.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Sure can't answer about the tubes but the Phillips screw is that old.

 

[Miles Prower]

Parts inside date stamp from 1931 to 1942.
Yet I see details that look way too modern...

Looks like the 6AU6 (or at least types with the same pinout) were introduced in 1939 (B7G). That's not out of line for the dates claimed. Phillips heads and tagboards aren't that new. PCBs and Torx head screws would be pretty suspicious. Transistors way so.

 

[kenpeter]

Alright... We got us a cap, with no tabs.
Four cloth covered wires coming out one
end, sealed with beeswax or whatever...

VM-12109.
RED 40MFD 300VDC
GRN 30MFD 300VDC
BLU 10MFD 300VDC
BLK COM. NEG.
338-852 75-C

SeventyFive-C??? Is that Centigrade???
Yet the whole thing was supposedly made
in Michigan. Why is temp rating in Metric?
Or is that last line not the Temp rating?

When did we go Metric for temperatures?

 

[Tom Bavis]

Models 162 And 163 are covered in Sams folder 465-16, 1959. I MIGHT have a copy if you need it.

6AQ5 and 6X4 were introduced in 1946, 6AU6 probably about the same.

 

[kenpeter]

The schematic pasted inside the box is quite readable.
It really looks too new (on the inside) to be as old as
it probably is.

The outside looks a bit banged up, but not weathered.
Possibly only recently abused. Likely by the junk dealer
I just liberated it from. Carting his many wares to the
local flea markets.