Blown stereo

[Rucyrius]

I have an old Columbia console record player from the early 60's... The amp blew out recently and I smelled a good burning smell.... I was going to trash it but then took it apart and the rectifier tube was burned out its a 6x4. Does that usually mean the whole amp blew or do you think if I replace the burned tube it might actually still work
Thanks
John denicola

[HollowState]

John,
When you smell something burning that usually means there is a short circuit somewhere that caused the odor. Tubes dont make smells when they go bad, but their failure can be the result of something else that burned. Or they may have caused something to burn. So you must determine just what it was that made the odor, and fix that before replacing the tube. And this could be a lot of things from a resistor, capacitor, transformer or even the tube socket itself.

[dgta]

Originally Posted by Rucyrius

the rectifier tube was burned out its a 6x4.

6x4 is nothing but glass and metal. What exactly do you mean by "burned out"? Post a picture and explanation and you will get more useful advice.

[Rucyrius]

here are some photosphoto copy.JPG

photo.JPG

photo copy 2.JPG

[HollowState]

Yup, tube is bad and socket is burnt. Replace them both and you'll probably be OK. Test the other tubes and filter capacitors for shorts to be thorough.

[ke4mcl]

rebuild it and fix what other poster mentioned. if you're not so inclined the amp has value to some folks. post it up for sale on craigslist or ebay and let somebody get a crack at saving it. dont toss it.

[rmyauck]

To make it reliable you must replace most capacitors as they have limited life span of usually 20 yrs.

If you don't you risk burning up a the transformers.

Check the value of the resistors as the old carbon composite can drift of spec greatly from heat or damage when something else fails.

Next clean and tighten all tube socket pins with a dental tool or similar. Don't have to replace unless really in bad shape as some of the new ones have poor quality metal witch doesn't hold tension well.

Good to clean pots and switches too.

Finally get some extra tubes to sub in as needed etc.

After all that it will sound much better than if patched up too!

Post some pics of the under chassis and top. Also tubes used.

If you get the model # it may not be hard to find a schematic.

Anyway if you want to learn how to repair tube equipment it probably would be a good first project!

Randy