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South African Pilot consoles

Danie

Danie

New Member
Are there anybody on AK that know some of the Pilot tube consoles that were sold round about 1959 to 1965 ?
I have a few old tube radios and 2 consoles. The consoles were butchered and I'm trying to salvage some of the parts to build a single ended stereo amplifier but cant get any information on the OT's.
 
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You're in the right spot, so welcome to AK.

There are many folks here who can help, just a matter of time until they see this thread.
 
Hi, Welcome to AK!

Are we talking Pilot Radio Corporation? If so, like most of the brands of that era, they sold numerous different models. From mono phonographs to stereo consoles...

I would post some pictures here....so we can figure out what you have.

Or you could see what the Tube (s) driving the amp are....then work back to what type of OutPut transformer that tube would use. Also....once you post some pics...then someone may have the correct SAMS Photofacts which would list the OPT and their model numbers.
 
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This is What I have. I want to use the 12AX7,2X EL84's,OTP's and mains transformer. As you can see in the pictures the radio chassis has been wrecked but at least it wasnt me.
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RY=media, 15771]20180718_080443 by Danie posted Jul 18, 2018 at 9:01 AM[/GALLERY]
e pictures the radio chassis has been wrecked but at least it wasnt me.
 
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Leland47 said:
Hi, Welcome to AK!

Are we talking Pilot Radio Corporation? If so, like most of the brands of that era, they sold numerous different models. From mono phonographs to stereo consoles...

I would post some pictures here....so we can figure out what you have.
Click to expand...

My guess is no, I can't fathom that Pilot would be exporting consoles all the way to South Africa. To the OP who has posted since the question was asked can you check anywhere on the console or equipment to see where these were manufactured? I'm interested to know.
 
Hm, those look a lot more European than the Pilot stuff we had here in the US. I wonder if its a completely different company, or if Pilot was having a Euro maker brand stuff for them to sell overseas.
 
After a lot of research on forums it seems that South Africa built sets under the name of Pilot and there are some discussions that Phillips or PYE were used and branded as Pilot. At the time Phillips were well supported here. Only problem is that when I got
these consoles they were butchered and no identification numbers were found. Only prominent
thing on one are Dual-Stereo.
 
I thought there was a European/English maker also called Pilot that did radios so consoles aren't much of a stretch.
 
I tried to make a schematic of what was left of the chassis but nothing made any sense. If anybody are interested I can post it and they can see if it make sense to them?
 
If you've got the OPTs out of a console...and I see a couple EL84 tubes. If they came out of the same unit....then that is what you have .... a SE EL84 set up. And the transformers should be OK for that.

I would bet that the Speakers are 4 ohm...but that is easily checked too.

You could ask for help to build a from scratch SE Amp with what you have. Or find some sort of Schematic that is suitable.

Quite a bit out of my league...but I'm sure someone else could help you.
 
Hi Danie, Have you also asked on the AV Forums SA website? The SA members might be able to help with a model number. The small black caps in the Output Transformers are made by Hunts in the U.K. (and are usually faulty by now) so this might have been a UK import.

As others have said you should be able to build a new SE amp, but a schematic would help a lot.
 
Those are 100% South African Philips transformers. Many brands were made locally under license from the parent company, but not always using the parent company's original components. Locally made Philips transformers would have been far cheaper than imported Pilot ones.

The O/P transformers are basic: no interleaving or layering of windings, but the single-ended ones do have an air gap.

I'm seeing a Garrard model 209 without its cartridge: almost impossible to find those - a Ronette 105 or 106 with custom Garrard neck. IF you are dumping the 209, please let me know!
 
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Dandy said:
Hi Danie, Have you also asked on the AV Forums SA website? The SA members might be able to help with a model number. The small black caps in the Output Transformers are made by Hunts in the U.K. (and are usually faulty by now) so this might have been a UK import.

As others have said you should be able to build a new SE amp, but a schematic would help a lot.
Click to expand...
The schematic is my main problem. I first have to figure out the OPT specs to accommodate the schematics I already have.
 
steerpike2 said:
Those are 100% South African Philips transformers. Many brands were made locally under license from the parent company, but not always using the parent company's original components. Locally made Philips transformers would have been far cheaper than imported Pilot ones.

The O/P transformers are basic: no interleaving or layering of windings, but the single-ended ones do have an air gap.

I'm seeing a Garrard model 209 without its cartridge: almost impossible to find those - a Ronette 105 or 106 with custom Garrard neck. IF you are dumping the 209, please let me know!
Click to expand...
We can get in contact about the Garrard. I'm not going to restore those units.
 
Danie said:
The schematic is my main problem. I first have to figure out the OPT specs to accommodate the schematics I already have.
Click to expand...

I own this below (Made by the Tesla Radio Corporation of South Africa, my parents were friends of the director), which is also based on similar looking Philips transformers and single-ended EL84s with an ECC82 per channel for tone & pre. I have the circuit drawn out somewhere - I'll search. It uses Philips AD3800M woofers and Lorenz electrostatic tweeters. The RF blocks were made by Torotor in Denmark.

Do you know what speakers were used with those transfrmers? If they were Philips types with a A, B or C sufffix, you'll run into difficulties (unless you stick with the original speaker) since those speakers are all very high impedance types.
Interior1.jpg
 
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