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Old 11th Dec 2019, 2:24 pm   #1
MurphyNut
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Default Bush SRP30C record player back in action

With my loft sort-out I came across the said record player, It must have been up there for well over 20 years, to be honest I'd forgotten all about it.
When I plugged it in it actually worked, but only on 78's, at the other speeds it just didn't have guts to move the platter. The problem was with the rubber Idler wheel.
Unfortunately it wasn't left in the 'off' position (my fault) so the rubber wheel have been pressing against the drive shaft for all those years and had an indentation in it.
So in operation, it was very noisy, not helped by hardening of the rubber on the edge of the wheel causing it to slip occasionally, hence not getting up to speed.
After trying a few things I found the most successful way of sorting this out was to attach the wheel to a drill and while it was rotating at speed carefully shave a fraction of rubber off the edge with abrasive paper, I used 800 grade wet and dry.
This made a dramatic difference, the edge became softer and gave near silent operation with a good grip on the inside of the turntable platter.
The three grey rubber grommets that suspend the mechanism and chassis from the cabinet had completely hardened, I replace these with suitably sized new ones.
The amplifier seemed to be ok, no distortion or hum but I couldn't get much volume out of it. On inspection it looked as if it still had all it's original capacitors. A odd mixture of those little brown hunts and larger orange waxy ones. I decided to change them all, this didn't make much difference to the volume but it did bring to life the bass and treble controls that before made no difference.
The smoothing capacitor was reading very good so I left it.
I found out from this forum that the cartridge was probably to blame for this lack in volume. Being a crystal one (I guess like capacitors) they take on moisture and deteriorate.
I wasn't 100% happy about buying another old stock/second hand cartridge as a replacement, my way of thinking was, as it would be aged I could end up with one no better than the one I have.
So I took a gamble and bought one of those new but really cheap ones frequently offered on Ebay. Well it wasn't much of a gamble at £2.70, I wasn't going to lose any sleep if it didn't work!
Obviously this isn't going to neatly fit into the head-shell, so I made a bracket out of a sheet of aluminium, with a lot of measuring managed to get the cartridge and stylus to sit the right position.
I needed to increase the pick up weight as this new setup was lighter than the original. Though it tracked ok it would jump at the slightest vibration.
A bit of a bodge I know, but by progressively adding small amounts of blue-tac under the head-shell I got the weight right.
I can't believe how good this cheap little cartridge is, it works very well with plenty of volume.
After I had done all this, I discovered I actually had two old BSR cartridges tucked away in a box one with it's bracket. Curiosity got the better of me and I thought I'd try one of these out. I used the BSR type X3H, this is a high output cartridge and it's certainly louder than the earlier one I fitted. There is little difference in the sound quality when you play back at the same volume. In the end I decided to stick with the BSR set up because it has the benefit of a flipping stylus. I can play 78's or LP's without the trouble of having the remove and change the stylus.
The case needed a good clean and some of the fabric covering gluing back in places. Now the record player looks and sounds much better than I could have ever imagined.
I've been out and about buying up old LP's and having a great time discovering music from the 1950's and 60's.
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 7:57 am   #2
AD360 Rob
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Hi Clive, these are a fantastic little record player and sound very good, I had the SRP30 that doesn't have bass and treble controls but still sounded good. The original cartridge worked fine on mine. Congratulations and I hope you enjoy it for years to come.
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 1:44 pm   #3
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

I totally agree with you Rob, the sound quality is well above my expectations. I remembering reading somewhere someone moaning about the smallish speaker in this particular model.
This isn't an issue if it's working properly, it'll fill a room with a rich detained sound with no problem. It makes for very satisfying listening experience.
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 3:39 pm   #4
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

I bought one of these from the NVCF bring and buy, it sounds exceptionally good for a small record player it is perfect to listen to 78s on.
You have made a good job of that one !
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Old 12th Dec 2019, 9:24 pm   #5
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

It looks very good.

At first glance it looks exactly the same style as a certain Philips R-R tape recorder from the late 50s.

Being interested in vintage stuff, I'm surprised that you haven't got yourself one of those little vintage Garrard stylus pressure gauges for setting your tracking weight properly. They're good little gauges with a spirit level on the bottom that slides off and are absolutely accurate (I checked mine with some small laboratory grade weights) and I've had mine for decades. They used to sell on ebay for a couple of quid, although I haven't checked lately. There was a forum member who had a whole collection of them and decided to sell them all on this forum a couple of years or so back, although I think he was asking a little more than two pounds each for them - he had quite a few and probably still has several left - a forum search will probably find the original advert if you're interested.

Last edited by Techman; 12th Dec 2019 at 9:50 pm. Reason: Typo etc.
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Old 13th Dec 2019, 5:29 pm   #6
MurphyNut
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techman View Post
It looks very good.

Being interested in vintage stuff, I'm surprised that you haven't got yourself one of those little vintage Garrard stylus pressure gauges for setting your tracking weight properly. They're good little gauges with a spirit level on the bottom that slides off and are absolutely accurate (I checked mine with some small laboratory grade weights) and I've had mine for decades. They used to sell on ebay for a couple of quid, although I haven't checked lately. There was a forum member who had a whole collection of them and decided to sell them all on this forum a couple of years or so back, although I think he was asking a little more than two pounds each for them - he had quite a few and probably still has several left - a forum search will probably find the original advert if you're interested.
Thanks for that, I see there are digital stylus pressure gauges on ebay for around £8. With regards to my record player I don't know what the weight should be in the first place. I would imagine not at light or critical as more sophisticated later set ups.
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Old 16th Dec 2019, 10:26 am   #7
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

What a sweet little machine. It goes to show that you don't need to spend weeks saving something from a skip - someone else would have dumped it thinking it didn't work. I'm impressed the covering looks that good.
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Old 16th Dec 2019, 11:31 pm   #8
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Well done Clive. A lovely record player from before the era of single valve, live chassis amplifiers.
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Old 17th Dec 2019, 9:52 am   #9
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Clive noting your comment in Post #6, the tracking weight should be c. 5grams.

The player looks superb. In theory the cartidge is not ideal, but if there's no apparent overload - then fine. And it's stereo-compatible.
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Old 21st Dec 2019, 3:14 pm   #10
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Just made a little video, it captures the look of the player well but the sound doesn't give the player full justice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dezDizzxUkU
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Old 29th Dec 2019, 10:58 pm   #11
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

I see you already had a look at my video Clive
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Old 29th Dec 2019, 11:38 pm   #12
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Default Re: Bush SRP30C record player back in action

Sounds pretty good without the uber base Clive and the "run" at the end gives a sense of full depth-great! I didn't know "Had A Dream Last Night" somehow!

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