Hey Michael,
That stuff is what I began my tech career with. Usually not too bad to fix. I'm surprised it didn't need a belt!
Anyway, I love it! I wouldn't use or listen to it, but I love it!
Just finishing a Carver M-4.0t on the bench. Was into another shop in the 'States and was not even close to running properly! I can't believe they released it - and to a foreign customer on top of that! I won't name the shop, but they are supposed to be a place that Bob Carver recommends.
-Chris
That stuff is what I began my tech career with. Usually not too bad to fix. I'm surprised it didn't need a belt!
Anyway, I love it! I wouldn't use or listen to it, but I love it!
Just finishing a Carver M-4.0t on the bench. Was into another shop in the 'States and was not even close to running properly! I can't believe they released it - and to a foreign customer on top of that! I won't name the shop, but they are supposed to be a place that Bob Carver recommends.
-Chris
Like nostalgia?
I mentioned that I recently worked on a cute little "toy" reel to reel from 1964.
Adorable little chassis, and built with all metal too. An ACME model 1500.
So then I recorded on it an appropriate message....
An original of - "Good morning Mister Phelps..... blah blah blah..... this tape will self destruct in five seconds, good luck Jim...."
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Hey Pano, too bad you couldn't get George's (Tubelab's) 6 X 9 speakers with the crushed velvet grille cloth. They'd have been a prefect match.
But on the other hand, all you have to do is sew that rip in your bell bottoms, polish those Keystone mags, and you're ready to go!
Hey, real Naugahyde and Crushed Velvet from a Bean Bag Chair and Waterbed factory, scrap plywood from my neighbor's roof repair, some Jensen Triaxial speakers, and the best craftsmanship I could muster in 1974. What's not to like. They were my studio monitors until bought some "real" monitors in the 90's, Yamaha NS-10M Studios. I still have those.
I hade 4 of these, but some low life stole a pair out of my car right after they were made. These lived long and prospered until I had to move everything 1200 miles on about 3 weeks notice in 2014. These didn't make the cut, and that vintage blue foam surround was all over my driveway after a few minutes of my guitar playing.
Keystone.......I prefer Cragars. I still have a tie dyed Pink Floyd shirt around here somewhere. It came from the DSOTM tour stop in Hollywood Fl. (Miami) in 1972. No bellbottoms left though.
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I built a lot of speakers during the two years that I ran the service department at an Olson's Electronics store. This was 1971 and 1972. The store was next door to the ticket office, and at the end of Frat house row at the University of Miami, a rather pricey private school. Olson's sold raw speaker drivers, some of which were pretty good. The Olson's branded guitar speakers were all made by Utah, and some of the HiFi drivers were made by Eminence.
The 6X9 car speakers in a box were popular in dorm rooms, and 4 X 12 inch Utahs were popular with the guitar players, but my brother stumbled onto our biggest hit quite by accident.
He stuck a single 15 inch Olson's by Eminence woofer in a box of about 4 or 5 cubic feet. This was long before the Saturday Night Fever days, but Latin Disco was already growing in Miami and that big box covered in some outlandish colored Naugahyde, Velvet, or even shag carpet put out a boom that was a hit on the dance floor.
My last go round with the portable box was made right about the same time that the 6X9 speaker boxes hit the trash, about 10 years ago. These are about the same size, but can eat the output of a 125WPC tube amp at full crank being used as the PA for an outdoor music concert. Guitars, vocals, and keyboards were all fed through them. We didn't mic the drums, nor feed the bass guitar to them as they were loud enough already. They are relatively flat to 75 Hz then drop like a rock. Several people asked how they were so loud. They were surprised to find that the total driver cost was $50 per speaker.
I use them to test amps that could blow a good speaker. I was cranking a TI class D EVB at near clipping (over 200 WPC) when one speaker started sounding funny. Autopsy revealed that the bolts holding the drivers in had loosened. A wrench and some Loctite made everything good again.
I also made some FH3's and EZ10's before leaving Florida. I still have the FH3's, but sold the EZ10's due to their size......wish I still had them.
The 6X9 car speakers in a box were popular in dorm rooms, and 4 X 12 inch Utahs were popular with the guitar players, but my brother stumbled onto our biggest hit quite by accident.
He stuck a single 15 inch Olson's by Eminence woofer in a box of about 4 or 5 cubic feet. This was long before the Saturday Night Fever days, but Latin Disco was already growing in Miami and that big box covered in some outlandish colored Naugahyde, Velvet, or even shag carpet put out a boom that was a hit on the dance floor.
My last go round with the portable box was made right about the same time that the 6X9 speaker boxes hit the trash, about 10 years ago. These are about the same size, but can eat the output of a 125WPC tube amp at full crank being used as the PA for an outdoor music concert. Guitars, vocals, and keyboards were all fed through them. We didn't mic the drums, nor feed the bass guitar to them as they were loud enough already. They are relatively flat to 75 Hz then drop like a rock. Several people asked how they were so loud. They were surprised to find that the total driver cost was $50 per speaker.
I use them to test amps that could blow a good speaker. I was cranking a TI class D EVB at near clipping (over 200 WPC) when one speaker started sounding funny. Autopsy revealed that the bolts holding the drivers in had loosened. A wrench and some Loctite made everything good again.
I also made some FH3's and EZ10's before leaving Florida. I still have the FH3's, but sold the EZ10's due to their size......wish I still had them.
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I see in tubelab's photos something I also have...
That 1962 Magnavox twin-speaker AM/FM radio.
Mine's parked on a shelf right below my classic 1980 Panasonic Platnum Series boombox.
And did you know, that Magnavox was also a prop in the dining room shots on the Dick Van Dyke Show?
That 1962 Magnavox twin-speaker AM/FM radio.
Mine's parked on a shelf right below my classic 1980 Panasonic Platnum Series boombox.
And did you know, that Magnavox was also a prop in the dining room shots on the Dick Van Dyke Show?
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I got that somewhere cheap many years ago. I have never taken the back off of it and it still works pretty good. It picks up both of the FM stations that can be received here in the basement. I had collected about 25 or 30 antique radios over 30 years or so of flea market, yard sale, and hamfest shopping. Most were bought for $5 or $10.
When my 41 year career was in Florida was winding down I started selling them off along with anything that I didn't want to move 1200 miles. Nobody wanted the old Maggie and it worked, so it's still here. I figured that it would die one day and I would see what's in it, but that hasn't happened yet.
There was a pirate radio station about two blocks away from me in Florida. I left the Maggie tuned to his frequency and turned on a lot just to see what he was up to. I rarely missed the live play along guitar lessons though. I could crank it up loud enough to be heard in their garage studio sometimes.
When my 41 year career was in Florida was winding down I started selling them off along with anything that I didn't want to move 1200 miles. Nobody wanted the old Maggie and it worked, so it's still here. I figured that it would die one day and I would see what's in it, but that hasn't happened yet.
There was a pirate radio station about two blocks away from me in Florida. I left the Maggie tuned to his frequency and turned on a lot just to see what he was up to. I rarely missed the live play along guitar lessons though. I could crank it up loud enough to be heard in their garage studio sometimes.
You'll find that the 4uF cap in the FM discriminator will cause weak lousy FM reception.
Mine was free, and I re-capped it once I got it about 15 yeears back.
Plays very nicely.
I had a go on old microwave, never worked with the cover off. Dumbfounded to why it wasn't working, I gave out and by pure chance, there were some inside microswitches next to the case cover screws which disabled the MW. End of story it was cheaper to buy a new $50 MW and keep all your hair intact. If someone ask me for a MW repair, I recommend a new unit quicker than they finish their sentence.
1Pascal=94dB
When I was a smoker in my day, working in a calibration/repair laboratory. My trick was get a long tubing starting under my work bench to another bench, I would place the end of the tube under his opened gear he was working on and coming back from lunch, he gets ready to switch it on the unit and I would blow smoke down the tube from under my bench. He yelled Jesus and his fright was priceless! and laughter all round.
1Pascal=94dB
Nice unit, sadly I threw out the double tape dubber ghettoblaster as they were called in those days. Very retro to walk around with one one on your shoulder. They were getting bigger and bigger till the Sony Walkman made it's mark.
1 Pascal=94dB
Hahaha !!! Good one.
Recently an old friend passed away, with whom I used to work long ago in the shop at the local music store. He did repairs on guitars & band instruments; his bench was across the room from our electronics bench. On the occasion of his passing, some of us were telling old war stories:
One of our electronics techs was of the opinion that any music that wasn't classical was crap. He couldn't stand the guitar guy's little transistor radio which was always tuned to some local rock station.
One day the classical fan ran a wire from the output BNC on the SoundTech FM alignment generator, up the wall and across the roof trusses to the area near the rock guy's bench, then put on a Bach record or similar. This was easily enough signal to obliterate the rock music.
After a bit of head-scratching, the guitar guy would tune to another local rock station. Classical guy would wait a few minutes, then retune the SoundTech to the new frequency, and the cycle would repeat.
Classical guy was cagey as hell with this little scam; he'd lay off for a few days, then run it again. It went on & off like this for weeks before the ruse was revealed. Guitar guy was actually pretty impressed, heh.
Oh, we played tricks on some of the techs at the shop too.
When they went out for lunch, we'd solder a small value resistor across the AC line in the stuff on their bench, or rig a cap in backwards.
The smoke and loud pops was enough to make them crap their pants!
Hehhehehehh!
The senior electrical meteorologist was sick of staff going to his lonely laboratory for a chat, via through a double door airlock. So he wired a wind-up Megger test to the last door to his lab. I see him cranking up the generator and I then look towards the guy opening the door. Never saw him move so fast!....hehehheh!
I was once testing an impulse tester, adjustable to 8kV. it stored a lot energy and you press the test button with the isolation probe to check landline telephones if it can handle lightning strikes.
Once I discharged the probe to rubber static bench top, the guy on the next bench jumped up from his stool. Boy it was funny, I used to play around with the techs when I hold up my probe gun in Dirty Harry style, come on, make my day!
The following year, the same guy got his turn to calibrate the impulse tester, but I kept my elbows off the bench all day. Unfortunately, he has to discharge the probe prior to opening the case for adjustments, he slowly moved the probe to the metal bench leg to discharge but his kneecap was too close. Never saw a knee jerk reaction as he drop the probe in pain. He quietly walked to the back room toilet and everybody was really concerned about his mishap. He come out smiling with head shakes, saying I thought my Jack Daniels was burning. Lucky fella! and all is working well.
We had apprentices, they would catch cockroaches in the lab and we use the impulse tester to vaporize them under a clear box along with other electrical components.
We pulled tricks like that when we were teenagers all the time. Then one day the prof. sat us down and explained what could happen to another human as a result. Everything from bad gashes to heart attack.
So I never pull that stuff anymore. Funny as hell, but could be fatal. Involuntary body movements can open a deep gash quick as you can blink an eye. Takes the fun out of the prank pretty quick.
I have cut myself badly working on the inside of a TV chassis that was off for days before. Shock - jerk - sliced myself open. Brought home the point the prof. was making.
-Chris
So I never pull that stuff anymore. Funny as hell, but could be fatal. Involuntary body movements can open a deep gash quick as you can blink an eye. Takes the fun out of the prank pretty quick.
I have cut myself badly working on the inside of a TV chassis that was off for days before. Shock - jerk - sliced myself open. Brought home the point the prof. was making.
-Chris
I still have a scar from 50+ years ago. Color TV with no picture. I go poking around inside with a grounded screwdriver looking for HV. The HV found me before I found it. My clip lead had come off the chassis and found me for it's ground. The resulting zap launched me across the room, but the convergence board had snagged on to my arm leaving a 2 inch long 1/2 inch deep gash. A trip to the ER got me stitched up, but the resulting infection caused a re-opening and drainage about a week later.
Of course, I was usually the person behind the typical electrical prank in high school electronics class, and at the Olson's electronics store. Some got a bit carried away, or went too far. Stuff was always exploding. Smoke clouds followed me around, and my nickname became Zappa, no relation to Frank, just the sound that seemed to follow me around.
Teachers were afraid to plug things in (solder around the prongs of the plug). Fuses were always blown on movie day (some Shakespearean junk followed by a test), but the best "prank" was on HS graduation day when the principal's farewell speech to the seniors was blasted out by Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. (120 watts of audio power fed into the system onto the 70 volt line).
My pranks never hurt anyone, and were just harmless fun. The A-hole who dumped a carton full of BB's down the stairwell during class change putting 7 people in the hospital, however had a rough life for the rest of his school days.
My job at Motorola taught me how to up the prank game. Remember flash bulbs? Wire one across the output of someone's power supply. Turn it off first.
The ace tech who could fix any dead HT220, I fooled him a couple times. The ultimate stumper, the resisto-fuse. I took apart the fuse in a radio and put a small resistor inside it. The radio acted normal, but just wouldn't quite make rated RF power. He was stumped until the fuse started smoking.
Like the classical music trick, I set a sig gen on the frequency of a radio he was working on and ran a wire from it's output to near his bench. As he was tuning the receiver I would randomly jam him with 400 Hz modulation, so he could never get a decent Sinad reading. Out laughter eventually gave us away.
Gold plated quarters randomly came from the change slots of the vending machines. Nobody would do anything about the rat problem until dead rats turned up in the strangest places. Filling little plastic bottles with liquid nitrogen can make a very BIG BANG........
Our ultimate prank, made the 11:00 news on Miami TV. "UFO's seen over western Broward county." In the early 70's LED's were not common place. Attaching a hand full of red LED's and AA batteries to some trash bags filled with helium from the CO2 laser and launching them from the loading dock one night made the TV news. It seems that on one of those windless humid summer nights one of out UFO's hung out over the golf course behind a local retirement community...... The truth is out there, trust no-one.
Modern equivalent, A blue glow stick and some helium party balloons inside a white trash bag makes for some neat effects on a similar night. The trick to both is to get the right buoyancy so that the UFO doesn't just fly away.