Fairchild 240 preamp

Soli528

New Member
Greetings everyone,
I just moved houses and found a couple of items that were sitting in storage, tabled for future projects. One such item is a Fairchild 240 preamp, pulled from my passed grandfather's collection (which also yielded a mint MX110 and MC240- the heart of my current system) that is in relatively very good condition, considering it's at least 50 years old. Here's the weird part- the power cord was corroded and brittle and gave me the "handful of bees" feeling when I bundled it up in one hand. I can't imagine there's current stored in the caps or anything after all of this time, but there's no mistaking that sensation. Anyway, I cut off the cord and took a look inside, and it looks pretty clean, considering. Does anyone out there have any experience with these, or know a value for one in good condition? It has the oddest/coolest potentiometer (bass/treb) knobs I've seen- very 50's. It does need the powercord replaced. I really have no use for it. please advise if anyone has an interest. Best wishes to all-
Soli
 
hi soli ,

first let me say welcome to ak.second it seems your grandfather had some great taste in audio gear.leaving you behind a nice mc240 and a mx110 surely shows this.the fairchild preamp is just icing on the cake.sure would of ben nice if he left you 2 of them but i suspect that when he upgraded to stereo he went to the mcintosh gear and discontinued the use of the fairchild preamp. :sigh: (just speculation)fairchild was a company that was more into the profeesional broadcast gear than the consumer "hi-fi" gear that was quickly becoming widely available.they dived into the consumer market as so many other companies also did at the time(altec, ampex, etc..)to try and grab a piece of the pie but ultimately the stay was short.i will say though as being a avid fairchild fan their gear was built with the lowest distortion specs i have seen from any gear from the 50's. the build quality is also something to behold.i myself have and use a pair of fairchild 260 amps along with the fairchild 248 stereo preamp which can be seen here.my fairchild gear

i do too have a mx110 that i used with a pr of mc30's that i enjoyed for a long time before i concetrated on the fairchilds with the fairchild preamps but if you replace the power cord on the fairchild i might suspect that you'll be looking for another one in the not too distant future :D .i alos suppose though that i should of stayed home from work today and monitored ak then i might of had a chance to get this fantastic piece of gear but i suspect that wc beat me to it but thats ok as it was ak where i got my fairchild 248 from.

if you need the owners manual and schematic for the 240 drop me a pm and ill be glad to send it too you .


greg ,

thanks for letting silo know :thmbsp:
 
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It looks like I came to the right place

Wow, thanks for the thorough info! radioactive, if the "wc" you referred me to is wcarroll, he actually referred me to you. The pre is still avilable at this point, though I'm not familiar with the protocol here- I know this isn't really a sales forum; is there a best way to offer this, i.e., ebay, audiogon, private offers, etc..? If it's not really worth much, perhaps a donation or trade is in order. I'd like to take on the hunt for another and keep it in the collection, but I really think someone who really knows and loves the Fairchild line would appreciate it more. It's funny, I was pretty close to my granddad, but I never knew he was even interested in audio until I got into recording engineering and saw a bunch of Mac gear on a shelf in his old house! Thanks again everyone, it's good to hear from all of y'all.
-MS
 
Hopefully this isn't too far off-topic, but this can help give an insight into how well made Fairchild gear was. I have a single-speed model 412 dual-belt-drive turntable made around 1958, and one of the ORIGINAL drive belts failed just this past Saturday night! Happily though, I can get new ones. You have to have a record absolutely, perfectly centered on it or you will handily know if it's not! It's that wow-free, thanks to its concrete filled aluminum platter. I'd love to find a schematic with full specs that would allow me to build the oscillator/power amplifier that was used on the 4 speed version (with 5% pitch control!!), so I could convert mine to being a 4 speed model. State of the art, 1957 style!

Google Sherman Mills Fairchild for info about the man behind the company (and Fairchild Semiconductor too).
 
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Wow, thanks for the thorough info! radioactive, if the "wc" you referred me to is wcarroll, he actually referred me to you. The pre is still avilable at this point, though I'm not familiar with the protocol here- I know this isn't really a sales forum; is there a best way to offer this, i.e., ebay, audiogon, private offers, etc..?

we do have the ak classifieds which are free to post in if you want to offer it up for sale there and theres even a trade section that you could post it in.i dont know how the 240 sounds as a preamp but if its anything like the 248 that i have it'd probally be worth keeping and hunting down another one.on the other hand you've got an already nice setup with the mx110 and mc240 and that should keep you happy for a long time .the only thing is that the 240 has the difeerent eq settings for the various record curves of the day which the mx110 doesnt.

hi jay ,

wow someoneelse here using a fairchild t/t.alhough i dont have a 412 i do have a 440 that i plan on using once i find a decent arm to throw on it.i was just wondering what arm are you using on your 412?
I'd love to find a schematic with full specs that would allow me to build the oscillator/power amplifier that was used on the 4 speed version (with 5% pitch control!!), so I could convert mine to being a 4 speed model. State of the art, 1957 style!
i'll dig through my brochures and stuff and see if i have any info on it and ill get back to you .
chris
 
fwiw heres a scan of a ad for the fairchild 240
 

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Lowery designed the exterior. Love that guy's designs. His Studebakers 60 years later are still so beautiful and have not aged at all. This guy was in my HO about as good as anyone ever in the eye for developing timeless packaging.
 
On my Fairchild 412-1 is a Shure M216 integrated arm/cartridge. Not my pick--it's what the previous (original) owner had installed on it when he bought the components new. (Aside: what else he used with it--all mono: Dynaco PAM preamp, Mark 3 amp, FM-1 tuner and Acoustic Research AR-3 speaker. He had built a switch and two RCA jacks into a cut-out small juice can screwed on to the inside of the turntable base, so that he could use it mono at first, then upgrade to stereo down the road!) Wish I had an SME, Micro-Trak, Rek-O-Kut or Fairchild 16" arm to use on it instead, so I could have better performance and the choice of modern cartridges and styli to use on old transcriptions.
 
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Thanks for everyone's interest. I'm shooting pics tonight and will post in the classifieds tomorrow. I'll drop a link in this thread as soon as its up. A couple of things I've determined since I got home tonite- Listed as Fairchild 240-2 Preamplifier-Equalizer on back panel. Serial number is 1413. Tubes include: V1- 12AT7 Amperex, Made in France V2- 12AX7 Amperex, Made in Holland V3- 12AX7 GE USA orange logo. Best wishes to all-
Soli
 
This piece is now listed in AK classifieds

Thanks again for everyone's interest. As promised, this unit is now listed in the AK classifieds, up for best offer. http://audiokarma.org/ads/showproduct.php?product=1469
I was only able to post three pics, but if you'd like some other looks, I'd be happy to email what I've got. I'll be out of town from this evening until Monday, but I'll be online, so feel free to PM if you'd like to discuss. I listed it for 7 days, as I won't be able to ship until next week. Best regards,
-Soli
 
fairchild 440 to slow

Good Day,

i've got a fairchild 440 and even with the pitch at max the speed is to slow, anyone got the same problem and how could we correct it?

thanks for any info you could provide

regards
Chris

Jay Pemberton said:
Hopefully this isn't too far off-topic, but this can help give an insight into how well made Fairchild gear was. I have a single-speed model 412 dual-belt-drive turntable made around 1958, and one of the ORIGINAL drive belts failed just this past Saturday night! Happily though, I can get new ones. You have to have a record absolutely, perfectly centered on it or you will handily know if it's not! It's that wow-free, thanks to its concrete filled aluminum platter. I'd love to find a schematic with full specs that would allow me to build the oscillator/power amplifier that was used on the 4 speed version (with 5% pitch control!!), so I could convert mine to being a 4 speed model. State of the art, 1957 style!

Google Sherman Mills Fairchild for info about the man behind the company (and Fairchild Semiconductor too).
 
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