Telefunken smooth vs.ribbed plate 12AX7

[owsley]

On the subject of Telefunken, I must share my experience the other day. I am a newbie to the tube world but knew enough to get a hard-on when the following situation occured 2 days ago.

A couple of weeks ago I bought an old Conn organ and pulled the amp out of it. It runs 2 GE6l6GB's (one of which I broke and had to get another set off ebay.) The tone generators included 54 12au7's, all american made. Well my wife was not at all amused by the idea of me bringing home another organ, but when I heard this kid plug in an old Estey at the same thrift store, I was blown away by its sound. I asked the man at the counter if I could purchase the organ, pull out the guts and have him discard the rest. He obliged. I popped the back off the organ to see if it was worth my efforts (the place closed in 20 minutes and I had to hit an ATM and rip the unit apart.) What I found made me wet myself. The amp had 3 12ax7's and 2 12au7's. It's power tubes were el84's (G.E.) and the tone generator had 20 12ax7's and 5 12au7's. ALL 12au7's and 12AX7's were TELEFUNKEN (save one Baldwin tube)

I ended up with 7 Telefunken 12au7 smooth plates, 3 Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plates and 19 Telefunken 12ax7 ribbed plates. almost all of the labels on the tubes are perfect, all tested great for emissions with no leakage and a reading of 90-95 on my mighty-might Sencore VII.

My total cost was 40$ (plus tax)

Ripping it appart in such short time was a small undertaking, but it was well worth it!

[Tubes4e4]

I ended up with 7 Telefunken 12au7 smooth plates, 3 Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plates and 19 Telefunken 12ax7 ribbed plates.

And not to forget a butchered organ. Cool, man, you are an admirable, most unselfish hero in preserving fine old tube tech.

Tom

[owsley]

you are right. The organ had already sat for several months with its price reduced. I should have let it sit for a couple more months before it was sold to an elderly couple to be played twice a year. Then those tubes and the amp could collect more dust! It must sicken you that the amplifier is now used every day. It is well maintained, and all of the tubes will be used by people who appreciate them.

[Brian Beck]

Owsley,

Don't let anyone drag you down. If you can breathe new life into old parts by reusing them for audio, that's a noble enough cause. Think of it as an "organ" transplant. Sorry...

Did you salvage the iron too? I often strip old boat anchors for magnetics and tubes. Usually however I let ancient caps and resistors slip into the dust bin.

Recently I acquired a couple of trailers worth of boat anchors - ancient test equipment and radio gear used for the MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System) program. These are no longer practical for any service other than as parts donors. One-by-one I am "digesting" them for parts for future audio projects. I have built a sizable collection of lovely power transformers and chokes by disemboweling boat anchors through the years. Magnetics like these are often the most expensive part of a tube project, so salvaging makes sense.

Good luck with your tube projects and keep us posted on what you do.

[EC8010]

Originally posted by Brian Beck
Think of it as an "organ" transplant. Sorry...

If we haven't already got a rule about awful puns then it's time we had one.

Nevertheless, I also hope the iron was salvaged.

[owsley]

Sorry, I'm just learning tube audio terms. Iron meaning the chokes and transformers? Yes, I have a sleu of them. And thanks for the encouragement. I also know a woman who owns a second hand store in the area. She sold a Hammond M2 to a kid who worked next store. When the business he worked for went under, he left the organ outside where it has set for at least a year. The speaker and tubes had been removed, but I took the amp out of it yesterday. I figure something has got to be reusable on it even though it has sat through a winter outside. We'll see...

[Brian Beck]

Sorry, I'm just learning tube audio terms. Iron meaning the chokes and transformers?

Yes, "iron" here means chokes and transformers (power and audio), also referred to as "magnetics". Lots of copper in there, too!

[2004ex]

I read from one of the dejanews entries long time ago that in
the far east, people seem to think that "...For TFK 12AX7, the best version is the ribbed plated with small logo and "jumping mica"...".
Anyone know what the author meant by "jumping mica" and how it looks like?