Pilot 240 Curtain of Sound, opinions ?

[Justgotohm]

I picked this up last week, it was looking pretty rough when I bought it from a junk store. All I have done is remove and disassemble the face plate and trim ring cleaned them up and reinstalled. I was very careful on the face as to not remove the lettering, I used a microfiber cloth with warm water and dawn, same with the knobs. It was pretty dirty on the inside from years in a home with cats (cat hair) that where apparently heavy smokers. One tube is milky and I dare not try to power it up for obvious reasons. Anyone have any experience with this particular unit? I would love some feed back. My plan is to find someone qualified to drop this off to for a complete service. I actually have a Sansui 1000a that I would like to have serviced/upgraded as well, I've been sitting on it for a couple years. I reached out to a fellow I was pointed toward by a fellow AKer but he's a year out at least. That fellow was convenient geographically and had a trusted reference.

 

[Patrice B]

Looks pristine and I think Pilot made good stuff. No personal experience however...

 

[larryderouin]

Stick this into Google ( Pilot 240 integrated amp site:audiokarma.org )and you'll get a lot of links for the 232,240,245 (cousins) and a lot of opinions. Pilot back then was a good choice for those who wanted an integrated amp but couldn't afford a MAC, a FISHER, MARANTZ, H.H. SCOTT or other Tier 1 units. And they still are. Actually I've listened to a few and think they should have been TIER 1 based on Sound Quality alone. Fairly easy to work on when you have the schematic. No real unobtanium parts. A hell of a lot easier to work on than the 1000A.

 

[macyjrm]

I would get that Pilot fixed up in a heartbeat. Love the faceplate on that model. Also yours has the metal outer case which is a plus. Many of these were stuffed into wooden consoles of the same vintage without a top cover present.

 

[WhiteSE]

I have had numerous of those and all other Pilot hardware. That is one heck of a great sounding EL-84 Integrated Amp. That is the unit that got me interested in Pilot gear some 15 years ago. Sounds silly, but it is nearly impossible to find cosmetically good looking units, especially a Not Console Pilot. Yours seems excellent, so restore it and enjoy. Are the knobs metal or plastic?

 

[Justgotohm]

The knobs are metal, luckily I keep the little metal spring clips from damaged knobs, some of these knobs had paper stuffed into them to keep them in place now they fit like they should. Thanks, I'm looking forward to having it serviced. The trim around the face plate was gold, it was extremely dirty and had a thick film of nicotine. Im not sure if it was originally gold but I'm happy with they way it looks now.

 

[gadget73]

Pilot made very nice stuff. One thing I will warn you about is the gold tone on the faceplate trim though. If you hit that with metal polish, it becomes chrome trim very quickly. Its basically just chrome with a gold tinted clearcoat. I guess if you can find a gold tint lacquer it could be redone but I've never tried.

 

[primosounds]

I picked this up last week, it was looking pretty rough when I bought it from a junk store. All I have done is remove and disassemble the face plate and trim ring cleaned them up and reinstalled. I was very careful on the face as to not remove the lettering, I used a microfiber cloth with warm water and dawn, same with the knobs. It was pretty dirty on the inside from years in a home with cats (cat hair) that where apparently heavy smokers. One tube is milky and I dare not try to power it up for obvious reasons. Anyone have any experience with this particular unit? I would love some feed back. My plan is to find someone qualified to drop this off to for a complete service. I actually have a Sansui 1000a that I would like to have serviced/upgraded as well, I've been sitting on it for a couple years. I reached out to a fellow I was pointed toward by a fellow AKer but he's a year out at least. That fellow was convenient geographically and had a trusted reference.
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Pilot tube gear is very good. Right up there with Scott and Fisher. I have this model and the components if original are mostly German resistors, and the usual type of capacitors. So, if the trannys are good, mostly changing out the caps and cleaning and lubing the pots should get you out the door.

 

[Justgotohm]

Pilot tube gear is very good. Right up there with Scott and Fisher. I have this model and the components if original are mostly German resistors, and the usual type of capacitors. So, if the trannys are good, mostly changing out the caps and cleaning and lubing the pots should get you out the door.

If that's the case I may replace the capacitors, clean the tube sockets, Deoxit the pots, replace the bad tube and see what happens. It does have a sticker on the bottom stating it was serviced in 1996.


I actually took the gold finish off the trim ring and am happy with the look of it.

 

[gadget73]

Did the same with my FA-590 and my Stromberg ASR-433. The gold on both was blotchy, and it looks better chrome than appearing like the gold has leprosy.

 

[multichamp12]

I'm a pilot collector and have the Pilot 240, it's a fantastic amp. That being said, the 240 is probably the most common pilot amp you see for sale today. A lot of other pilot models are super rare and they almost never come up for sale. I replaced all the electrolytic caps and the coupling capacitors on mine, and left the circuit original.

 

[Justgotohm]

I had a fisher 460a with EL84's, I wanted something integrated but did very much like the sound and power the little fisher put out. I found this in a very rural town, I seem to have good luck in rural areas, to much competition in the city's. I will be (busting my cherry) on this amp as far as working tube equipment goes. I'll leave the Sansui 1000a to a professional. I do have a really nice Lafayette 230 all tube receiver, incredibly clean and appears to be updated. It has a nice sound to it and performs well.

 

[N8Nagel]

Def. power up on variac or DBT so you don't blow anything up. My Pilot came up OK but I got a Scott 340 that came to me with a dead short on it and a burned power switch, you don't need that in your life.

I have a 654 (7591 receiver, I believe yours is a EL84 integrated) and love it

yours will be lower powered so is best in small room or with sensitive speakers e.g. Klipsch, old Wharfedale, etc.

I bet you'll like it.

 

[N8Nagel]

also:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/pilot-240-schematic.250335/

 

[Justgotohm]

Awesome, thanks for the link I had not even looked yet.

 

[LexDM3]

If that's the case I may replace the capacitors, clean the tube sockets, Deoxit the pots, replace the bad tube and see what happens. It does have a sticker on the bottom stating it was serviced in 1996.

I would suggest that you test all of the tubes before you start testing it. If one was bad, another may be bad as well.

I'm sure you can find many threads here and elsewhere on bringing up an old tube amp for the first time in a long time. I do it with a variac starting at 40% power and slowly going up over a few hours, watching/smelling/feeling for hot caps, etc. If the amp is generally healthy, you should start hearing some music at about 60%. A DBT is great for solid state stuff but a variac is the ticket for tubes.

Pilots are really nice. Enjoy this one.

 

[Chris McColm]

I have some Pilot Gear .... 602M receiver ,,, FM only. I have been using this for many years now . 6BQ5 outputs -15WPC... nice sound... Tuner is good . THe circuit design they ues was the "williamson type" design with simplimatic tube balancing which was required on t this design . (I built and use a pair of Wiliamson's . ) I also have an Pilot A904 Mono amp and Pilot Pre amp tuner combo in a custom made console . Using a University Tri -Axial Speaker in the ported cabinet in the console .. it gets the job done nicely .. The amp has the original KT-66 tubes , Pilot made great stuff from Long Island New York . Get Pilot stuff if you can find it . They went out in 1962 .

 

[Chris McColm]

I picked this up last week, it was looking pretty rough when I bought it from a junk store. All I have done is remove and disassemble the face plate and trim ring cleaned them up and reinstalled. I was very careful on the face as to not remove the lettering, I used a microfiber cloth with warm water and dawn, same with the knobs. It was pretty dirty on the inside from years in a home with cats (cat hair) that where apparently heavy smokers. One tube is milky and I dare not try to power it up for obvious reasons. Anyone have any experience with this particular unit? I would love some feed back. My plan is to find someone qualified to drop this off to for a complete service. I actually have a Sansui 1000a that I would like to have serviced/upgraded as well, I've been sitting on it for a couple years. I reached out to a fellow I was pointed toward by a fellow AKer but he's a year out at least. That fellow was convenient geographically and had a trusted reference.
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[Chris McColm]

THat Pilot amp is a good one . CK all tubes and leaky electrolytics .. otherwise , more than likely it will work fine .. replace damaged(milky) tubes . These Pilot products are over engineered and robust . Rumor had it that Saul Marantz worked for Pilot . They made lots of gear for the Government , even early TV . You will enjoy it . ABout 15 WPC is what you can expect if it has the 6bq5 tubes in it .

 

[Justgotohm]

Thanks, I'm glad I picked it up. I just had it serviced and am dealing with a small hurdle in another post. The transformer is vibrating and producing an audible hum.