(RCA VPT70E) Radio and Amp not powering on - my first restoration of a solid state radio, looking for help.

[hennery]

Hi! I recently picked up a RCA VPT70E (circa 1970) from FB marketplace and was looking for some guidance on where to start with restoring a solid state radio. From my understanding they didn't make many of them, so it's hard to find documentation for them. It's a stereo console with a turntable, cassette deck, and radio. I'm attaching some pictures of the one I have disassembled for reference.

When I plug it in, power gets to the turntable and cassette deck but the radio won't power on. Where should I even begin? I've worked with tube amps, where replacing bulbs and capacitors would revive a dead amp but I'm wondering if that would have a chance at working here too. One of the capacitors was visibly blown, so I replaced it but that didn't fix my issue so I was wondering if it would be worth going through and replacing all of them.

I think it's a problem with the amp, and not the tuner but I'm not sure

I'm doing a full electric and cosmetic restore and hoping to get all the original electronics working well. Thank you for any help!


the original marketplace listing - it sat in a garage for years so i'm not sure if that would introduce outside factors



bottom of amp chassis

top of amp chassis



tuner

 

[gadget73]

Schematic would help a ton here. Sams has one for download at $22, but you may be able to find one somewhere else for less. I've often found original Sams folders on ebay for a few dollars. Its folder 1146-6 if that helps you any.

often stuff like this used a switch inside the turntable and/or mode selector switch to route power around. The amp would shut off when the turntable hits the end of the stack. In tuner mode thats bypassed. Could be that switch has failed and not letting anything switch the amp power.

might also be a blown fuse. Not absolutely sure but that item in black plastic tubing on the bottom side of the amp may be a fuse. If its blown, something caused it so you may have some further troubleshooting to do here.

 

[hennery]

Schematic would help a ton here. Sams has one for download at $22, but you may be able to find one somewhere else for less. I've often found original Sams folders on ebay for a few dollars. Its folder 1146-6 if that helps you any.

often stuff like this used a switch inside the turntable and/or mode selector switch to route power around. The amp would shut off when the turntable hits the end of the stack. In tuner mode thats bypassed. Could be that switch has failed and not letting anything switch the amp power.

might also be a blown fuse. Not absolutely sure but that item in black plastic tubing on the bottom side of the amp may be a fuse. If its blown, something caused it so you may have some further troubleshooting to do here.

I cut away the black tubing and it's a blown fuse. I looked for fuse but somehow overlooked that. Based on how large it is I'm assuming it's carrying power for the amp and tuner so replacing that is a great first step. Thanks for pointing that out!