Dansette Junior deluxe

[Kernow17]

Hello all, recently picked 2 of these up to try to make one good one and also donate part of the grill to a Major I bought.
Frankenstein is now up and running after swapping some parts around but the sound quality is a bit disappointing compared to the clarity of the Major. It's a light distortion heard mainly when the vocals are prominent, doesn't seem to alter with volume or tone. I'd like to move this one on but would like it a bit better than this to avoid any comebacks etc Am I being too fussy, is this as good as they get? Not having heard another I've got nothing to compare to.

[Edward Huggins]

There were 2 versions of the Dansette Junior.
The Dansette Junior "DeLuxe" should have a 2 stage amplifier using UCL83 and UY85 valves. It might be that you have the wrong cartridge fitted and it's overloading the amplifier. The cartridge for the 2 stage amplifer version of the Junior should be Brown and marked BSR TC8M.
But, if you have made one working player from out of 2, you might have used an orange cartridge marked BSR TC8H. If your amplifier only has one valve (EL84) then you must revert to using the TC8H.
So it's the TC8H for one valve version, TC8M for 2 valve version.
Do let us know how you get on.

[Steve_P]

If the cartridge and stylus are OK then change any capacitors on the main board. These are cheap units and usually have one valve amplifiers. The capacitors go leaky and cause distortion.

You can get the circuit here: http://www.service-data.com/section....junior-de-luxe

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Kernow17]

Thanks Edward, yes it's the 2 valve version, I've tried the TC8R from the Major and it was still the same, is this similar to the H? The cartridge fitted is an ACOS GP91 3SC, I'm assuming this is a generic type.
Steve, I did wonder given the smoothing capacitor problems these have whether these would affect the sound quality. This has the 3 in 1 32/16/25 uF but doesn't have the loud hum concern. Would you recommend changing all of them?

[Steve_P]

What valve does it have - if it is a UCL83 then it might not have survived - it is the grid capacitors that give problems and they can affect the valve too.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Edward Huggins]

For the UCL83 amplifier you should use, as advised, the brown BSR TC8M cartridge which was originally fitted by Dansette to your "Minor De Luxe". By the way, TC8R is not a cartridge number. The number is on the side of the cartridge and it should sya BSR "Ful Fi" TC8M. The cartridge removed from a Dansette "Major" will not be suitable. ACOS GP91-3sc is a better cartridge as it's stereo-compatible, but is still liable to overload the amp.
Of course, the amplifier may still be faulty....
My original suggestion is that building one player out of two players may have caused a cartridge MISMATCH which will give the symptoms you describe.
Don't rush to change all of the capacitors or you may compound the problem. Check the cartridge match first - i.e. by using a medium output and not a high output type as advised above. High hum is usually due to a faulty 32+16+25uF smoothing cap. .which you do not seem to have

[Kernow17]

Yes on the UCL83, the other is a UY85.

I've swapped both from the other board with no improvement. I'll try the capacitors and see how we go on.

Looks like posts have crossed due to the newby moderation thing.
The number for the Major cartridge was on the other side, it's a TC8H. Both Juniors are 2 valve type so would they both have had the same type cartridge fitted? One of them had no cartridge at all. Is there a more readily-available/cheaper item that'll do the job?

[Edward Huggins]

As advised the Dansette "Major" cartridge (BSR TC8H) will not suit your 2 valve Minor(s). If both of these are two valved, they would have had the same BSR TC8M cartridge fitted when new.

I have already ready explained much of this earlier, so I hope you are now not more confused.

A suitable replacement cartridge is a BSR SC11M, SC12M or SC12H or a Ronette (copy) TO45V, but these latter have not reviewed well.

If you want to keep as orignal as possible you can buy a re-built BSR TC8M for £49.95, but this will not be suitable for stereo pressings.

[julie_m]

The "Chinese red stylus" generic cartridges will work quite well with a UCLxx (or ECLxx) type amplifier valve, since these contain two stages of amplification in one valve (the UY85 is just the power supply); although you may need to use some creativity actually to mount the cartridge in the tonearm. You can sometimes find these cartridges with 12.7 mm. mounting brackets, which may fit some tonearms. It's a shame that they just don't have quite enough "oomph" to give good volume from an ELxx or ULxx type amplifier valve, with only one stage of amplification.

[Edward Huggins]

An excellent reply.

Have Members noticed just how many Posts in the last 12 months have been about cartridges, their output, their connections, what stylus, whether mono or stereo - and much consequential confusion in spite of all those well interntioned Stickys!

I'm just about getting fatigued with just typing the same old, same old, responses......

[Station X]

Edward.

There's nothing to stop you starting a new thread and posting all the info you have in it.

You could then just reply to queries by posting a link to that thread.

If it's good enough we could make it a sticky, but there's no guarantee that members will search for it and read it.

[Edward Huggins]

Graham, that's sensible advice I know. Yes, I do find it irksome, but I do try to make the response as relevant to the OP's original query as possible.
I do often refer to Stickys as you know, but often the same question will come back again.

[Kernow17]

Ahem...anyways, thanks for all the advice thus far. I've already been in the cartridge sticky section, but none of the PDF files on this site will download on my Android device. Is this another newby thing or a platform glitch?
Plan for now is to go with the cheapest option (capacitors) which are on order, and go on from there. Seems many repairers bin them on sight because if they haven't failed by now, they soon will.

[Station X]

Thread reopened at member's request.

[Freya]

just to conclude this thread,
The OP asked me to take a look at the player for him, initial power on had a background buzz and the volume distorted when turned up.
Looking at the board the dual main smoother and remaining wax capacitor had been changed already leaving only ceramic disc types, resistors checked ok, valves tested perfect with no heater cathode shorts.
What was odd was that in taking the PCB off the speaker board I had created far more hum with the thermistor starting to cook, the only obvious thing was the metal saddle clamp between the tone and volume control was not now fitted.
Fitting a link between them cured all the buzz and distortion.

The fault was inadvertently created when the negative three legs of main smoother was removed, this open circuited the two half's.

[Station X]

Removing the original smoothing capacitor can, replacing it with individual capacitors, then failing to link the three negative connections, which would have been linked by the can, is a common problem.