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Success Stories If you have successfully repaired or restored a piece of equipment, why not write up what you did and post details here. Particularly if it was interesting, unusual or challenging. PLEASE DO NOT POST REQUESTS FOR HELP HERE!

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Old 6th Jul 2013, 2:50 pm   #1
AD360 Rob
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Default Bush SRP30 Preservation ?

Afternoon all,

I promised a little while ago to write up my Bush SRP30 record player as a success story so here goes.
I bought it on the strength of one very poor photo and a brief description on eBay. It was local to me so I didn't have to pay the rather high postage costs of £30 to get it to me, I won the auction for £16 !
When I got it home I immediately stripped out the motor board, loudspeaker and electronics to give the cabinet a good clean as it was filthy, covered in big paint splashes and smelled very musty. Also it had been home to a rather large spider as evidenced by several fly carcasses and one dried out spider carcass. Everything was cleaned with spray on upholstery foam (car interior type) and the paint softened enough to scrape off, the end result was something that looked and smelled much better but will never win any concourse competitions as there are a few gouges in the rexine covering and 1 or 2 areas where it had lifted (on corners) and shrank also the handle whilst still strong, is a bit past it's best.
A good coating with furniture polish brought what was there up reasonably well.

During the time it took ne to sort the cabinet, I had ordered some new capacitors for the amplifier, all the low value, high voltage ones were replaced with nice new Vishay yellow ones, the mains smoother was checked and found to be prefect so I decided to power up and see whether an sound could be reproduced using my mp3 player as a source. I got a resounding nothing at all, no hum, no crackles, dead as a dodo or so it seemed. Valves were lit up, and HT was present, touching the meter probe on the grid of the EL84 output valve produced the expected hum so things were looking up. Touching the grid of the EBC81 first stage and got nothing at all. Voltage measurements around the EBC showed that the valve wasn't conducting at all so I carefully rechecked my work and measured all the relevant resistors out of circuit, they proved to be acceptable if not quite the stated values so I reluctantly began to suspect the valve it's self, I obtained a known good one, fitted it and with fingers crossed turned it on. This time, all voltages around that valve were very close to those given in the service data so I fired up the MP3 player, this time I was rewarded with very nice sounding music, crystal clear with no hum or distortion, even the Grundig electrostatic tweeter was performing well.
Now on to the record deck.
This model uses a Garrard 4SP-A single play unit with a detachable headshell. Of course, as is common on these units, the speed selector was seized solid, no movement at all, motor was free and smooth and the idler looked in good condition. I tried a lot of things to get the speed selector apart for cleaning and relubricating but the only thing that worked was a small hub puller and judicious application of a blowtorch. Once free it was a simple matter to clean and relube it and it now works beautifully, a quick clean and relube of the rest of the mechanism completed that, I then noticed the drunken angle that both the deck and motor were sitting at. . . yes, the rubber mountings had perished. . . where the heck am I going to get those from I thought and searched online until I found a company in the states that sells all sorts of goddies for old decks including a range of motor mountings of various sizes. Now, as mine had all but disintegrated there was no way I could take measurements and be accurate, it would be a guess at best so I left it for the time being whilst I checked on the state of my bid for a Dansette Prince. Whilst on eBay, I did a search for Garrard 4SP and lo and behold, up pops a listing for the very mountings I was after, UK seller and at only £3 odd a set so I ordered 2 sets that arrived within a couple of days, I fitted them and reassembled the whole thing, connected up the deck to the amp and powered up. Turntable rotated smoothly and on all speeds so I thought I would try a record. I found my 2 remaining Mono lps (This still has its original GC8 cartridge so I wasn't hopeful) stuck one on and gently lowered the tonearm down to the groove. . . . Well, surprisingly enough it worked ! all be it somewhat distorted so a new set of Stylii were ordered and fitted, same record tried again. . . What a difference ! perfectly clear sound and quite loud too so the cartridge is obviously in fine fettle.

As I type this up, I'm playing "Stars in Brass" with Harry Mortimers all star brass band as it's mono, still sounds surprisingly crisp even after a life of being played to death on my granparents ALBA stereogram complete with BSR TC8S cartridge.

Heres a link to a video of it working

http://youtu.be/0W3hCflHWJI

P.S. the last pic is as I bought it.
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Last edited by AD360 Rob; 6th Jul 2013 at 2:51 pm. Reason: Additional info
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Old 6th Jul 2013, 6:17 pm   #2
bobbyball
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Default Re: Bush SRP30 Preservation ?

What a nice story.

You have done really well with your little player, even the turntable mat looks good.

It wouldn't be too hard to find another headshell and put a "stereo" cartridge in it so you could enjoy your stereo records too.
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Old 6th Jul 2013, 8:41 pm   #3
AD360 Rob
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Default Re: Bush SRP30 Preservation ?

I've got my eye on one on eBay at this very moment that has what looks like a BSR stereo ceramic installed, if that cart works I may leave it in place or get one from these people http://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catal...t_overview.asp as they have some EV turnover carts that would look the part and EV have a good reputation (I use their PA speakers exclusively)
The turntable mat is in very good condition for its age with just the very outside edge starting to go hard. Again, I think I could source a replacement but it would be grey instead of burgundy.

Rob
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Old 7th Jul 2013, 3:03 pm   #4
Steve_P
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Default Re: Bush SRP30 Preservation ?

Nice unit and nice story about the restoration. It's odd for all the voltages to be OK and for there to be nothing out of the valve - emission of Zero! Must have led a hard life...

Glad the cartridge was OK...

Cheers,

Steve P.
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Old 7th Jul 2013, 11:39 pm   #5
AD360 Rob
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Default Re: Bush SRP30 Preservation ?

Hi Steve, and thanks for your kind words, it's always nice when a fellow enthusiast is appreciative.
I've never encountered a valve that behaved like that one did with absolutely zero emission, especially with the heaters lit and I worked exclusively with valved equipment for about 10 years, you would usually get something from them but not in this case. The anode volts were more or less at HT (should have been around 75V, cathode at zero (should have been 0.9V) and grid at zero, I have a feeling that the cathode had become disconnected from the pin internally just didn't have enough magnification in the glasses to confirm it !

Rob

Last edited by AD360 Rob; 7th Jul 2013 at 11:44 pm.
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