Yeah!! How could I forget?!!! That stupid board used some kind of different solder that was bubbling as soon as you take the iron off. I had a fun time for sure!!!
Statesman S-70 Console/SA100/202T--20 questions
- Thread starter FireGuruMN
- Start date
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- Tags
- 202t console fisher sa100 statesman s-70
FireGuruMN
Active Member
It's not a DB. But we will leave all that for another thread.
FireGuruMN
Active Member
Rainy day here in MN so I got some work done on this project.
I have the SA100 all recapped and working again. Not much drama thankfully. I was beat up after spending an afternoon in the boat bilge fixing a trim pump.
I used Solen caps for the high voltage connections, Sprague Atom for the others. Hayseed for the multicap can. Hey Hayseed guys: Any chance you could start making transparent labels for the cans? It does not look authentic to have a green hayseed label on a 1960's amplifier. It would be nice to have something that looked like it was stamped into the metal like the original but still identified the manufacturer and the values. I'd even pay extra for it. But I do like the shiny finish on the cans now that I see it all finished. I might have to polish the shields on the preamp tubes. . .
I had to deoxit the volume pots. They were making popping sounds when I plugged in the RCA connectors.
New Sovtek tubes sound good. I did start it up with the original tubes (some original Fisher and some RCA replacements). The original tube sounded pretty good but I wanted to save the life that was left in them. I have not yet tried the amp out on big speakers in the big room but any amplifier that can make me enjoy listing to music on a pair of Minimus 7's is a keeper.
Interestingly the bias did not need to be adjusted after all the changes. I checked the voltage coming off the bias circuit and it was 26v before and after replacing the selenium diode. I went through the bias adjustment in the manual. The original readings were .622 (or so
) and I tweaked them down to .590.
One of the original preamp tubes came loose in its socket as the amp heated up. I noticed the volume dropping in that channel.
This amp really does get hot as many people have said. I added some taller rubber feet under the chassis to provide a little venting.
I checked all the values of the components I pulled out. Almost everything was still well in spec. Even the multicap can was good. The only things that were far off were the little pink caps. the capacitance was very high and the ESR was several ohms. My phone died so I did not document any of the exact values for posterity. My meter does not seem to provide the best ESR values on small capacitances so don't put too much value in the ESR readings.
I tried out my Hakko solder sucker on point to point wiring. It did a fairly good job removing most of the solder but I still had to heat up the terminals to get the wires off. So it was worth using it but it was not a perfect solution. I did have to use my soldering pencil and the Hakko to generate enough heat to bond the capacitor to the chassis. Next time I'll have to borrow a light saber.
I'll post pictures if I ever recover them off my phone. But that is another story.
Based on my readings of the "dog turd" capacitors in the SA100 I am probably going to skip replacing the piles of caps in the 202t. There is little joy in pulling those out especially since all the ones I pulled out of the SA100 tested fine.
I finally landed a Dynaco ST70 after years of searching for one that was sanely priced (came with AR3a's and a MAC1700). The chassis is almost mint but someone has done some modifications underneath that I do not understand. So I've ordered the bits and pieces to make it back to original. It even has original Dynaco tubes for some of the outputs! But the getter is a goner on at least one of them so they will be eye candy. That project might come before the 202t. Just saying.
And new carpet is coming to the basement so EVERYTHING has to move out of the workshop. I'm making custom shelves for everything before it goes back in.
I have the SA100 all recapped and working again. Not much drama thankfully. I was beat up after spending an afternoon in the boat bilge fixing a trim pump.
I used Solen caps for the high voltage connections, Sprague Atom for the others. Hayseed for the multicap can. Hey Hayseed guys: Any chance you could start making transparent labels for the cans? It does not look authentic to have a green hayseed label on a 1960's amplifier. It would be nice to have something that looked like it was stamped into the metal like the original but still identified the manufacturer and the values. I'd even pay extra for it. But I do like the shiny finish on the cans now that I see it all finished. I might have to polish the shields on the preamp tubes. . .
I had to deoxit the volume pots. They were making popping sounds when I plugged in the RCA connectors.
New Sovtek tubes sound good. I did start it up with the original tubes (some original Fisher and some RCA replacements). The original tube sounded pretty good but I wanted to save the life that was left in them. I have not yet tried the amp out on big speakers in the big room but any amplifier that can make me enjoy listing to music on a pair of Minimus 7's is a keeper.
Interestingly the bias did not need to be adjusted after all the changes. I checked the voltage coming off the bias circuit and it was 26v before and after replacing the selenium diode. I went through the bias adjustment in the manual. The original readings were .622 (or so
) and I tweaked them down to .590. One of the original preamp tubes came loose in its socket as the amp heated up. I noticed the volume dropping in that channel.
This amp really does get hot as many people have said. I added some taller rubber feet under the chassis to provide a little venting.
I checked all the values of the components I pulled out. Almost everything was still well in spec. Even the multicap can was good. The only things that were far off were the little pink caps. the capacitance was very high and the ESR was several ohms. My phone died so I did not document any of the exact values for posterity. My meter does not seem to provide the best ESR values on small capacitances so don't put too much value in the ESR readings.
I tried out my Hakko solder sucker on point to point wiring. It did a fairly good job removing most of the solder but I still had to heat up the terminals to get the wires off. So it was worth using it but it was not a perfect solution. I did have to use my soldering pencil and the Hakko to generate enough heat to bond the capacitor to the chassis. Next time I'll have to borrow a light saber.
I'll post pictures if I ever recover them off my phone. But that is another story.
Based on my readings of the "dog turd" capacitors in the SA100 I am probably going to skip replacing the piles of caps in the 202t. There is little joy in pulling those out especially since all the ones I pulled out of the SA100 tested fine.
I finally landed a Dynaco ST70 after years of searching for one that was sanely priced (came with AR3a's and a MAC1700). The chassis is almost mint but someone has done some modifications underneath that I do not understand. So I've ordered the bits and pieces to make it back to original. It even has original Dynaco tubes for some of the outputs! But the getter is a goner on at least one of them so they will be eye candy. That project might come before the 202t. Just saying.
And new carpet is coming to the basement so EVERYTHING has to move out of the workshop. I'm making custom shelves for everything before it goes back in.
Disconnect the TT from the preamp and power. feed the wiring thru the back. Reach underneath the drawer and you'll find it's most likely open. Locate the 2 tiedown bolts and feel for the flip catch. Once you feel it, with your free hand, push straight down on the turntable, and flip the catch vertical so it'll fit thru the bolt hole. Do the same for the catch on the opposite side. Lift the turntable off the drawer. It should all come out without too much problem (the wiring hanging up is the biggest problem.)