I'm starting to think "knobophobe" is a misnomer.
The Fat of the Land
- Thread starter J. Frum
- Start date
It's bleedin' ironic is what it be.I'm starting to think "knobophobe" is a misnomer.
Spent $75 and drove 200 miles total today to pick up a Zenith console and Baldwin organ.
I was expecting that the Zenith would have a pair of 49CZ802 drivers and hoping the organ would have Sylvania black plate 6BQ5 and Raytheon shiny black plate 12AX7A, or, as long as I was dreaming, one of those battleship two-channel 6L6 amps.
The extreme cold prevented me from doing as thorough a job picking them clean as I’d have liked, but even taking that into account, the haul is pitiful for the expense and time.
Both pairs of power tubes are mismatched. The 34 shiny black plate Raytheons are 12AU7, and the 26 12AX7 are gray plate Sylvania. The amp chassis is a rat’s nest built on a plate. The expected 49CZ802 pair is a single 49CZ836, unknown to Google.
Some days you get de bear. Some days de bear get you.
I was expecting that the Zenith would have a pair of 49CZ802 drivers and hoping the organ would have Sylvania black plate 6BQ5 and Raytheon shiny black plate 12AX7A, or, as long as I was dreaming, one of those battleship two-channel 6L6 amps.
The extreme cold prevented me from doing as thorough a job picking them clean as I’d have liked, but even taking that into account, the haul is pitiful for the expense and time.
Both pairs of power tubes are mismatched. The 34 shiny black plate Raytheons are 12AU7, and the 26 12AX7 are gray plate Sylvania. The amp chassis is a rat’s nest built on a plate. The expected 49CZ802 pair is a single 49CZ836, unknown to Google.
Some days you get de bear. Some days de bear get you.
Last Orga-Sonic I had (many years ago) had just the opposite. A bunch of Raytheon 12AX7 and Sylvania 12AU7. The Power tubes were all excellent testing RCA black plate 6L6GC. The one I missed out on was a full size organ at a thrift that was full of Tung-Sol 6SN7
Saturday, I drove 150 miles and paid $50 for the privilege of playing psychopomp to another Baldwin organ, this time a dilapidated 1963 Model 47.
Once again, my fantasy tube load eludes me, but I can’t be too mad. The 86 Baldwin-labeled tubes come from Sylvania (8 6BQ5, 43 12AU7A) and Toshiba, imported under the auspices of Raytheon (2 5U4GB, 30 12AX7A, 3 12AU7A).
The weather has been nice, so I picked every comeatable part I wanted to keep or thought I could sell. Crucially, I did this without unloading the organ from the back of the truck.
In addition to the tubes, I harvested the three-channel amplifier, a 15” Rola speaker, a pair of CTS 12” speakers, a power switch, a bag of cloth-covered wire scraps, a nifty chassis, a handful of Sprague capacitors, and a few wirewound resistors.
The carcass was deposited at the transfer station yesterday, and I’ll shortly be selling the amp and speakers, hoping to recoup the cost of the organ and gas.
I should factor my time into the investment, but the truth is that these solo morning jaunts around the state are valuable to my mental health, and I often find time to do a little touristing. Saturday, I went to a couple of thrift stores, had a fine lunch at Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in downtown Columbus (Chicago Style veg dog), and on the way home I stopped at the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall in Springfield. I bought a couple of records, including a French 1991 pressing of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” that I picked up for substantially under the going rate.
Once again, my fantasy tube load eludes me, but I can’t be too mad. The 86 Baldwin-labeled tubes come from Sylvania (8 6BQ5, 43 12AU7A) and Toshiba, imported under the auspices of Raytheon (2 5U4GB, 30 12AX7A, 3 12AU7A).
The weather has been nice, so I picked every comeatable part I wanted to keep or thought I could sell. Crucially, I did this without unloading the organ from the back of the truck.
In addition to the tubes, I harvested the three-channel amplifier, a 15” Rola speaker, a pair of CTS 12” speakers, a power switch, a bag of cloth-covered wire scraps, a nifty chassis, a handful of Sprague capacitors, and a few wirewound resistors.
The carcass was deposited at the transfer station yesterday, and I’ll shortly be selling the amp and speakers, hoping to recoup the cost of the organ and gas.
I should factor my time into the investment, but the truth is that these solo morning jaunts around the state are valuable to my mental health, and I often find time to do a little touristing. Saturday, I went to a couple of thrift stores, had a fine lunch at Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in downtown Columbus (Chicago Style veg dog), and on the way home I stopped at the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall in Springfield. I bought a couple of records, including a French 1991 pressing of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” that I picked up for substantially under the going rate.
Nice! I want to feel sorry for the organ but it was kinda ugly anyway, and what a haul of tubes.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes on audio-related runs for the good of their mental health. I still remember almost every one of my drives to get something, often better than I remember whatever that something was. This Sunday I drove to Kenosha to pick up an amp, about an hour and ten minutes north, and meandered around on my way there and back... time to myself, time away. Solitude! And also, cheese. Wisconsin cheese.
Congrats on the haul.
Easy peasy. Lift with your groin, bend and twist, presto sproingo!
I never said I did!
The key phrases when investigating an organ are “Is someone available to help load?” and “Are there any stairs involved?”
Reminds me of when I gutted an old Sears console in the parking lot of Salvation Army, tossing the record changer and cheap crappy solid state amp/tuner. Actually I guess its the opposite of this...I kept he carcass, ditched the rest. Basically so that I could lift it by myself into my wagon, where I"d take it home and put better stuff in it. I just liked the looks of it, the electrical contents were terrible.
Gravity. Wouldn't the organ carcass buffer and protect the tubes within from deleterious effects of mgh? It is testable. Edit: I am, of course thinking of an upstairs organ.
