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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 1st Aug 2020, 1:47 am   #1
radiograham
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Default Anyone know what this is out of?

Hi,i know this is a long shot but wondered if anybody recognises this circuit board,have taken a couple of pics and the only other clue is date on electrolytic is oct 59,there is a pot core of some sort and what i think is a output transformer.
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Old 1st Aug 2020, 2:05 am   #2
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

It looks like the audio output stage and bias oscillator from a tape recorder.
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Old 1st Aug 2020, 4:49 am   #3
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

The pot core is the give away. There is a large-ish switch for record/play mode, and there looks to be an angled extension board to carry a socket for a magic eye.

Fee fo fi dum... I see a few red and black Plessey electrolytic capacitors which would seem to rule out Philips, and possibly Grundig

So who else was making cheapish tape recorders in 1960? Probably one of the British radio brands, maybe early Elizabethan?

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Old 1st Aug 2020, 5:03 am   #4
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

If you could identify the logo on the bottom (approx middle of board - lightning flash over a speaker grill?), it would tell you brand.
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Old 2nd Aug 2020, 12:34 am   #5
radiograham
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

Hi, I thought it was a tape recorder as well, it's one of those things I have had kicking around for years, no idea where from, am planning to use the transformer at some time.
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Old 2nd Aug 2020, 12:52 am   #6
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
there looks to be an angled extension board to carry a socket for a magic eye.
David
I've seen arrangements like that on pcb s in cheap tape recorders to carry the output valve horizontally and save height. Often had a blacked metal sleeve around the valve to dissipate heat with sprung tongues to secure it to valveholder. It does look strangely angled to hold a magic eye...

Mike
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Old 2nd Aug 2020, 6:37 am   #7
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

That's likely, Mike. Those retainer springs and the lack of another socket.... I'm assuming it was an (ECC83 or EF86) + ECL86 sort of thing. 1960 would be a bit early for automatic recording level control, so I guessed there would have to be an eye around somewhere.

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Old 2nd Aug 2020, 10:54 am   #8
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
That's likely, Mike. Those retainer springs and the lack of another socket.... I'm assuming it was an (ECC83 or EF86) + ECL86 sort of thing. 1960 would be a bit early for automatic recording level control, so I guessed there would have to be an eye around somewhere.

David
A magic eye wasn't the only method used back then for cheaper tape recorders if you were paring down the costs. My first TR (1962) just had a simple neon on the front panel which "struck" when maximum recording level was reached. AFAIR it just had ECL82, ECC83 and EZ80. The ECL82 (amp + output valve for playback and HF oscillator for record) was mounted horizontally as in OP's photo.

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Old 5th Aug 2020, 9:33 am   #9
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

It wasn`t just cheaper machines - my HMV 3030 console only has a neon record level indicator and I doubt that it was at all cheap back in 1957.
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Old 5th Aug 2020, 10:36 am   #10
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of.

I always associate neon lamp level indicators with North American machines, and I can't recall seeing any continental or Scandinavian machines with one. Where they more prominent in the UK back in the day?
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Old 5th Aug 2020, 12:23 pm   #11
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of?

It's ironic that the only magnetic recorder I own with a neon lamp as the level indicator is an Agaphone wire recorder from ... you guessed it ... Sweden.

I was reading a 1960's Practical Wireless magazine last night and it had an article on recording level indicators. It gave an example circuit using the EM84 valve, one using a single neon, and one with 2 neons (correct level and distorting). So I guess they were not unheard-of in the UK.
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Old 5th Aug 2020, 1:25 pm   #12
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of?

The only one I've seen with a neon was a cheap and cheerful British Portadyne machine, presumably mid-1960s, with a TD2 deck.

Very simple, but surprisingly effective.
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Old 5th Aug 2020, 2:20 pm   #13
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Default Re: Anyone know what this is out of?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
The only one I've seen with a neon was a cheap and cheerful British Portadyne machine, presumably mid-1960s, with a TD2 deck.

Very simple, but surprisingly effective.
Mine was a cheap machine with the name "Knightrider" on it - which I've never come across before or since. Had a BSR deck with a decent mains xformer and Mullard valves throughout. My father got it through his company employee purchasing scheme, and a neighbour who was in the trade told me that it was produced locally (Kent?) by or for (AFAIR) EAR. Interestingly there is a "Knightrider Street" in Maidstone, so maybe there was a connection there. As others have said the neon indicator seemed to work well for such a simple machine, and the TR gave me years of innocent fun!.

Mike
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