Mystery Valve Amp

[alternativeroute]

A friend of mine picked this up as part of a job lot of stuff.

Any ideas of what amp it could be? Maybe homebrew?


Mystery Valve Amp by arclients, on Flickr


Mystery Valve Amp by arclients, on Flickr


Mystery Valve Amp by arclients, on Flickr

[Family_Dog]

Might be homebrew, but that is exceptionally well-built! Very nice job indeed!


-F_D

[Shonver]

Wiring looks very Thalia-like...

[Family_Dog]

Whatever it is, it is British-based, judging from the Caps & the Bulgin Mains Connector. The Brits also liked using lacing twine as well.


-F_D

[LAV]

I would not say it's homebrew. I see a selection jumper (mains input voltage?) - IMO few homebrewers would worry about catering for multiple mains supply voltages.

[Family_Dog]

Good point. All my homebrew amps mains transformers are wound with 0 - 220 - 250v Primaries, because in days gone by Jhb was 220v and Pretoria was 250v mains. It seemed to make sense to have the transformers wound that way at the time. Nowadays, I think the whole country is a nominal 240v so I have set my transformers to the 250 tapping. I have measured up to 245v being available locally. But I never used a selectable switch like the example above, I simply solder in the correct wire tapping and insulate the other.


-F_D

[ghostinthemachine]

It is a PYE tube amplifier of some sort.

See the attachment. Its a pic of a PYE PF91 amplifier I have in my "archives". PYE was of course from England and that explains the Bulgin and Jones plugs.

[Hi-Phibian]

If it is English then it would not be Tube, but (electron) Valve.

[ghostinthemachine]

If it is English then it would not be Tube, but (electron) Valve.

Ja ja ja... 

[Hi-Phibian]

 not trying to knock you. The builders of yore were very serious about this mis-naming on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
In my mother tongue dutch the american rot has now set in too, they were "Lampen Versterkers" but these days all speak of "Buizen Versterkers".

[ghostinthemachine]

not trying to knock you. The builders of yore were very serious about this mis-naming on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
In my mother tongue dutch the american rot has now set in too, they were "Lampen Versterkers" but these days all speak of "Buizen Versterkers".

Okay okay. Personally I use the term "tube amplifier".

In town there was an electronic repair shop owned by a "traditional afrikaner omie" - he referred to valves/tubes as "lampies". Quaint. Closed shop a few years ago... miss the old place I must say.

[alternativeroute]

It is a PYE tube amplifier of some sort.

See the attachment. Its a pic of a PYE PF91 amplifier I have in my "archives". PYE was of course from England and that explains the Bulgin and Jones plugs.

Looks like we have a snap!!!!

Thanks Mr GITM.

Any idea what their main use was? Well other than amplification 

Standalone or built into a radiogram? What modern use could the amp have given that it is mono? A pure mono setup?

[Hi-Phibian]

Good question, finding a mate I think is low odds..
PC amp and single speaker? we sit to close for a real stereo image anyway, one larger speak could work. Maybe a centre speaker above the monitor?

I once ran a stereo radford valve amp for fronts, mono for centre and a set of quad II for rears. dolby digital 5.1 valve surround. More novelty then for sonics wrt rears.

[ludo]

If there is a turntable that plays 78s also... It's partly just an oddity, but there is fine music on shellac. Can be real time-machine stuff and not usually an expensive endeavour.

I hope that amp still works. If JAN 55 means what I think it does it would be quite something if you can switch it on with impunity. Valve fundi + variac might be a good start? I recall firing up a mains regulator with a broomstick on the power switch. Caps had "1964" on them. It worked well enough, which was a great relief.

PS. You might have to add an output tube.

[alternativeroute]

PS. You might have to add an output tube.

Its not mine... Belongs to a buddy... Quite funny though. We are both pretty clueless when it comes to valve/tube electonica, but know enough to know that plugging it in is not a good idea... So what do we do? We turn it over and ogle the neat point to point wiring...     

An all mono system would be the best. I think he picked up a single vintage Tannoy driver with the job-lot and a coupla old Connoisseur turntables... A little too retro for my liking but there are people out there that might enjoy such a set-up. (and have the media to enjoy such a set-up)

This thread did touch on a mono set-up a bit: http://www.avforums.co.za/index.php/topic,5393.0.html

I do have one of these tone arms:


Garrard 301 & Decca FFSS tone arm by *Tom*, on Flickr

Every time I have bid on a cart for it on Ebay they go for too much - average of about £100 (functional) and about £50 (needing a Soundsmith re-tip)... Like I say. I only own about 10 mono discs...