Bell Sound Systems Old Gem

[uncoolcentral]

I've had this Bell Sound Systems 3710A for a few years. It resided in a Masonic Temple - probably used as a PA - until it was given to me by the building owner. He didn't even know what it was! I've searched far and wide, but here's all I know about Bell:

Columbus, OH
-Made radar etc. gear for WWII
-Made consumer amps, PAs, rell-to-reel, radios etc. until late '50's or '60's
-Usually made a quality product
-Yadda

Regardless, here's the skinny on the amp. (See huge picture - almost all of this is visible.)
-serial# 80524
-2 amp-3AG fuse
-117 volt - 50-6- Cycle
-80 Watts
-Coax microphone and phono inputs
-1/4" instrument input
-2 old school 4-prong variable impedance speaker outs
-2 - COM - 8 - 4 on one
-500 - COM - 16 - 4 on the other
-phono and micro volume control
-tone control doubles as AC on/off switch
-All GE Tubes - 6V6GT - 6SJ7 - 5Y3GT - 6V6GT - 6SL7GT
-big Sangamo B-20048P-28 dry electrolytic
-Larger of the transformers is stamped B-20076
-Smaller transformer has DD 107 32 in orange ink on paper around the coil & is stamped B-20231
-big Mallory Metal Tubular Electrolytic TC-75 under chasis
-also several marroon sangamo rounded cylinders - likely caps?
-and about 10 color-coded beehive striped caps/resistors

I just located a guy who will make photocopies of documentation he has for this model, though I'm not sure what he has. Could be interesting.

The unit powers on. Pilot light works fine. I quickly turned it off b/c it had no load and god knows how long it'd been since it was last used. Got a decent variac on eBay for respanking the caps. But haven't done that yet. What I need is advice.

This amp is beautiful. I don't want to hurt it.

Questions:
Which components, if any, should I replace outright - i.e. just assume they're bad, or getting that way?
Are the beehive things strictly caps?
What about the maroon things?
Where can I find a good online primer for recharging caps?
Is that what I should do?
What do you call the speaker jacks?
Who sells connectors for them?
Or should I just rig my own?
Would I just connect one wire to the com and another to whatever resistance I want?
Where can I find more Bell Sound Systems info?
Should I just rig a speaker, plug in a guitar and see if this thing works?

Please discuss. I can point you to higher res pics if that helps.

Thanks.

[planet10]

Picture?

dave

[karma]

yes picture please

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

He's a new member. For some reason pics by a new member don't get posted right away. I think the forum must be afraid of something - porno?

[planet10]

Originally posted by Bill Fitzpatrick
He's a new member. For some reason pics by a new member don't get posted right away. I think the forum must be afraid of something - porno?

Pictures attached to posts in moderation get put into a separate queue, and sometimes posts get cleared and the mod forgets to also clear the attachments.

In this case there is no picture.

dave

[uncoolcentral]

As this was my first post, I had to wait several hours b4 it went live. Guess DIY doesn't trust the newbies

Here it is. (in two parts)

[uncoolcentral]

Yes, this moderation thing is killing me. Looks like these pics won't show up for a while.

I added one originally - but then previewed the post - and then submitted - and noticed that the attachment didn't make it through the preview-then-newbie-post debacle.

[uncoolcentral]

I hope this'll just post... Anybody know how long it takes to remove this annoying newbie limited posting status? The time-delay is killing me (and this thread). Regardless, please take a peek and advise. Thanks.

[karma]

long it takes to remove this annoying newbie limited posting status?


everyone gets it. its so no one spams the forum

nice amp

[uncoolcentral]

yup. it's a beautiful amp. Just found caps and diagrams etc. Anybody care to advise? What would you do? (other than blow the dust off)