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"Zenith" tubes made in Holland?

RogerKulp

RogerKulp

Super Member
The thread on Magic Eyes and Zenith made me go pull the tubes from my console and look at them.They are in lovely shape,but two of them,the 6BQ57/EL84s are marked Made in Holland.I see a number of places on the web,that say these are rebranded Amperex.Could this be a clue as to who made the very European looking changer?

The 5Y3 GT looks a lot like a General Electric tho...
 
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If the tubes are made in Holland, they are made by Philips. Philips was the only manufacturer of tubes in Holland.
 
Chances are the changer in the Zenith was made by Voice of Music. They made probably 80-90% of the changers in DOMESTIC BRAND consoles, with the exception of Magnavox.

www.thevoiceofmusic.com Click on "Do I have a V-M" and see how to determine the model #.
Larry
 
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Look near the bottom for a two-line etched code - first line is tube type code, second is plant and date. The Phililips Holland plant marked with a "delta" code (right triangle - looks like number "4"). Amperex (a division of Philips) didn't make 6BQ5, they imported them from other divisions. They DID make some 6DJ8s and 6922s, but most of those were imported too. Likewise Mullard (another Philips division) made many, relabeled others. The codes tell the tale...
 
Tom Bavis said:
Look near the bottom for a two-line etched code - first line is tube type code, second is plant and date. The Phililips Holland plant marked with a "delta" code (right triangle - looks like number "4"). Amperex (a division of Philips) didn't make 6BQ5, they imported them from other divisions. They DID make some 6DJ8s and 6922s, but most of those were imported too. Likewise Mullard (another Philips division) made many, relabeled others. The codes tell the tale...
Click to expand...

Actually, the delta code indicates Heerleen plant manufacture while an "X" indicated the Sittard plant.

What you need is the list....

http://www.audiotubes.com/mullcode.htm
 
Tom Bavis said:
Look near the bottom for a two-line etched code - first line is tube type code, second is plant and date. The Phililips Holland plant marked with a "delta" code (right triangle - looks like number "4"). Amperex (a division of Philips) didn't make 6BQ5, they imported them from other divisions. They DID make some 6DJ8s and 6922s, but most of those were imported too. Likewise Mullard (another Philips division) made many, relabeled others. The codes tell the tale...
Click to expand...
Delta 2J2

If this means 1962,it would fit with the date of the console.

I just did some looking on the web,and I found this picture

zenith_cobramatic_1.jpg



My changer looks just like it,except it has a Micro-Gram 2g arm,and does not say "Cobra-Matic"
 
Jeez,just looking on the Bay at the prices of a matched pair of Philips 6BQ5s...

Damn nice console,too nice to be dumped in the street like this.
 
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