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Tube Amp - Capacitor Cross Reference?

jpatti75 said:
Well, file this under “you can’t fix stupid.” The reason I am getting the vibration from the “grill cloth” is I installed Tolex wrap and not grill cloth. The wrap was mixed in with the grill cloth on the site I purchased it from, and I wasn’t smart enough to know the difference. I still have two more yards of it left to remind me of my shame. :rflmao:

So, it looks like I will be pulling the speakers back out and re-wrapping them with actual fabric this time. I really like the look of that darn Tolex, so I am hoping to find something similar. I’ll chalk it all up to a good learning experience if I ever do another one of these.

But for any other “newbs” out there reading this, Tolex ain’t grill cloth. Save yourself a $50 mistake!!
Click to expand...
Wow, you've done an awesome job restoring that console!

Your story about mistakenly using tolex in place of grill cloth reminded me of a similar Motorola console I found at an estate sale. I have no room for consoles but I occasionally pull the amps from them if they're in rough shape.

The one I came across was in decent shape so I passed on it figuring that someone would buy it. I returned to the estate sale on the last day just before they were about to leave and the console hadn't been sold. They planned on taking it to the dump so I bought it for parts.

When I asked if it worked they said it did, they had played it earlier, but the sound was very weak and muffled. Turned out that the wife had painted the cabinet using some ivory colored paint to match some other furniture in the room. When she did she painted over the grill cloth, so the only sound that could be heard was coming out the back of the cabinet which was against the wall. It had probably just been used as a table for many years.
 
Painted over wood makes me cringe. Its usually a bad paint job over what would have been a nice finish.
 
Thanks for the kind words, Fla. Charlie. I just replaced the Tolex tonight with fabric and plan to get everything reassembled tomorrow. Hopefully anyone doing their first restoration that is reading this thread will learn from my mistakes. I enjoy working on the actual components so much more than all the cosmetic stuff with the cabinet, but I have been taking my time in the hopes it will all look good in the end.

Speaking of no room for consoles, I was just offered another one by a coworker. My wife said we have no room and if I get it, we’d have to kick our eldest son out of the house to make room. I’m really going to miss that boy. :naughty:
 
Got the tolex replaced with fabric grill cloth, and as you might expect, no more crazy vibration. I don’t like the look as much, but it is somewhat close to what I had before.

Grill-cloth.jpg


One question on the record changer before I put the back on the cabinet. It may be perfectly normal (it’s been quite a long time since I used a record changer), but it seems very “bouncy” due to the springs. The foam that originally filled each spring’s center cavity had completely disintegrated. Was the foam meant to dampen some of the spring action, or did it serve another purpose? When I turn the dial to “Reject” the changer really moves around a lot. Curious if “re-foaming” the springs might be worthwhile?
 
The foam acts like a shock absorber in a car. It dampens the springs so it settles down more quickly. I've run them without, but I find it acts better with the foam in place. Any soft open cell foam will do the job, just has to be something you can very easily compress or it will end up coupling the changer to the rest of the box and you may have feedback issues.
 
Thanks, Gadget. I think I have some leftover soft foam from another project I can use. It sure seems wobbly now, so I am glad to hear the foam might calm it down a bit.
 
Wow, adding the soft foam made a world of difference! Thanks for the recommendation, Gadget.

With that, I was able to button everything up and get it ready for relocation to my living room. Here’s a little test run for your enjoyment.


Thanks to everyone who offered a helping hand to get me through this project! What a great community on Audio Karma!

JP
 
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