[Amps] Panasonic tube radio

[Will Matney]

Jos,
I got into doing antique radio restorations when I graduated also. A 
mentor of mine who went to school with my mother, now would have been 
about 82 years old (sadly passed on), gave me his set of Ryder manuals 
and books as a graduation present. Before I stated my own shop, I worked 
for him full time about a year. He had a radio repair shop, and back 
then (1984), there was still a large amount of tube equipment around. I 
actually worked part time after school for him when I was 16 on till my 
shop. I met Ed Delaney through him who most know manufactured the D&A 
amplifiers. He was a ham, and an instructor at a correspondence trade 
school. His picture used to be in several radio magazine ads. I can't 
now think of the name of that school, but he lived in Nebraska. He 
talked me into getting into amplifiers along with Abe Brewer of Brewer 
labs. Most know what they manufactured without getting into that here. 
There knowledge was deep and sure did help with anything I wanted to 
know. Ed died not long after I met him, if I recall with cancer. I 
offered to buy the remains of D&A at one time from his widow but she 
wanted to much. I think she priced it at about $75,000+ and that was way 
too much money for somebody my age back then (1984?). It ended up going 
out to several surplus houses I heard. Anyhow, tubes were what I cut my 
teeth on.

I have an old "push button" Zenith B&W here I've kept as an antique. 
Push button back then was a Rube Goldberg contraption. To change the 
channels, you pushed in a big button on the cabinet where the tuner knob 
would have been. A stepping motor inside turned the 13 channel tuner. 
That was once touted as a major advance in television, Har Har! I still 
fire it up every now and then, but the caps are going to have to be 
changed as the verticle hold is starting to get screwy. I have an old 
Zenith floor radio here too I overhauled. It's one of the tall wooden 
ones from back in the late 40's or early 50's. To be very honest, I like 
the sound of the thing.

Besides RF amps, I like tinkering on tube guitar amps. I've had Marshall 
Plexis, Ampeg Porta-Flex's, Fender Bassmans, etc. all come through here 
from local bands and others. I've had request, on top of request, to get 
more distortion out of some. After working on them I generally get a 
free jam session to test drive them so to speak. I had a complete 
bluegrass band here at the shop one time. Needless to say, I didn't get 
much work dome but it was fun. I'm not able to do a lot with them now 
like I did, but sure enjoyed it.

The prices some are getting for these "new ones" is ridiculous. Tabletop 
models with the tubes showing just for the looks, are running at war 
prices. I've thought awful seriously in getting into these, but haven't 
yet, as I just don't see a market that well here. There's not that much 
to one to get a couple thousand bucks out of it, and folks are paying it 
evidently! There's a new tube tester available, specializing in audio 
tubes, and the price for it is ridiculous too! I know one thing, they 
can be built for about 1/8 the price and be sold for 1/4 of the going 
rate. There's some transformer-choke manufacturers stating theirs is 
better than others for audio quality, and you'll pay that quality price 
for them. If they're designed correctly ( for audio service), there 
shouldn't be any difference. One sales gimmick after another to get that 
extra buck.

Will Matney

hermans wrote:

>Hi Will,
>
>23 + 16 = 39 ..... not that much .
>I still remember that 304-TL....
>I just started with a 6V6gt 6L6gt 807 1625 813 832 829 or our QQE06/40
>the last one was a 4X250A in a coaxial cavity,plate and screen modulated
>with a pair of 807. semis came in the early seventies 2n3632 and the
>BLY.. series 
>Time goes by Will.
>
>73 Jos on4kj
>
>
>-----Message d'origine-----
>De : amps-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces at contesting.com] De
>la part de Will Matney
>Envoyé : dimanche 12 septembre 2004 18:52
>À : amps at contesting.com
>Objet : Re: [Amps] Panasonic tube radio
>
>Luckily,
>While I was in Vo-Tech, our electronics training included tubes as much 
>as semis. Our instructor was an avid ham and seen we were taught both. 
>We had several tube type, television trainers made by Motorola on the 
>bench. Plus, some tube ham gear there. We were taught home brewing also 
>as we had a small, shear, brake, drill press, and a lathe. Not doing 
>something then was no excuse. It's funny that I learned on those old 
>tube Motorola trainers and then took over a Quasar dealership after I 
>graduated. Remember the "works in a drawer"? Those used to be tube, 
>tube-hybrid, then all solid state. I used to have a ball working on that
>
>stuff and everything was heavy built, steel chassis. I had shelves of 
>tube power transformers salvaged from Quasar, RCA, Sylvania, etc. sets. 
>I'll have to say, Sylvania was the toughest, even in their first modular
>
>sets. I remember in my first year of school, at the ripe age of 16. I 
>had a 304-TL and a 572B in each hand and the instructor telling me he 
>could get way more output out of the 572B. The physical size of the 
>304-TL (round) made me think it was larger in power back then =) All 
>those days are about gone, and how much I've learned in the 23 years
>since.
>
>Will Matney
>
>
>When I got into ham radio in the late '50s it was more common for
>transmitters to be homebrewed than bought, especially if you include
>kits as "homebrewed".  Thinking back on all my friends from those
>days, not one had a commercially made transmitter.
>
>Receivers were a different matter.  Nearly all were commercial or
>modified war surplus, which there was a ton of back then.
>
>Ahhhhh... the good ol' days.   :-)  
>
>--
>73, Bill W6WRT
>
>
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