[MrFixr55]

My office, basement, and my garage, (aka archeological dig).  This spring, I am going to need to organize and thin the herd a little, as some of this stuff is worth money, especially the Fisher, Scott, Heath and Dynaco stuff.

The following is not a current offer to sell, so I guess the post can stay here.
The Fishers include an 800 (keeper) and a 400 (last tube Fisher, will sell), a Scott (unknown model power amp, will sell), another Scott (unknown model, integrated amp, will sell), 2 Scott FM stereo tuners that need alignment or other repairs that I don't have the instrumentation for (will sell), a Scott stereo preamp (unknown model, will sell), a Scott 299 (may keep), a Dynaco Mark 4 (will sell), and 1 each Heathkit WA 3, WA 4, WA 5 (incomplete), WA6 amps, WAP2 preamps FM3 tuners.  Unfortunately, no pairs, I will eventually fix, clean up and sell.  All of this stuff was either given to me or found at the curb. (Yeah, if I see a Fisher 400 or 800 at the curb, I am stopping, even if I have to circle the block!)  That's how I got the 2 Fishers!

This does not include the TVs, all require restoration:
RCA CTC24 color "roundie" last of the roundies
RCA 721, 10" B/W CA 1947
Admiral 12A20 10" consolette ca 1946/1947
DuMont RA112 19" with Indutuner, my grandparent's set
RCA Portable, ca 1954 (14" 70 degree tube)
RCA portable, ca 1956, 114 Degree 17" tube,

This plus the about 80 radios, hearing aids, etc., from 1921 - current.  Listed in the attachment, all keepers.

Strohsnitter Radio Collection by Make.pdf Size: 468.91 KB  Downloads: 163

And the PA equipment that I use for the Choir.

Yeah, where DO I keep this stuff!!!???

Strohsnitter Radio Collection by Make.pdf Size: 468.91 KB  Downloads: 163

[DaleHCook]

This spring, I am going to need to organize and thin the herd a little, as some of this stuff is worth money ...

I've already thinned out the electronics herd over the last few years. There isn't anything left to sell there of any value. I do have some duplicate parts donors that I should give away.

The rest of the house has a lot of stuff to thin out. Some of it has some value but is strictly yard sale material, like about 10,000 books which do not have significant value.

I do need to get going on eBay with things like my late mother's "collectable" dolls, which in an online auction are worth maybe half of what my father paid for them ~30 years ago.

[rfeenstra]

Hmmm. "Vintage Basement". I like the term! I have one that qualifies, and a storage building that is full of vintage organ parts. Totally worthless unless someone needs something!

[462ron]

Some of you guys like MrFxr and Dale have some impressive uses for your basement. My basement isn’t necessarily vintage but more of a collection of shops. When we were first married 41 years ago I went through a phase of woodworking and furniture making so along with that came various tools. Table saw, radial arm saw, shaper, bandsaw, drill press and jointer. Now it mostly sits because doing any kind of project creates so much dust which isn’t good for our furnace plus my wife isn’t fond of all the dust on her laundry equipment. Then there is her super sensitivity to any kind of odors that come from finishing a project. So now if I ever sell the house some of the bigger equipment is going with it. Too old now to try and wrestle that stuff up and out of the house. Then there was my radio shop. When I complained it’s too cold to work on anything my wife came up with a solution I never thought would happen. She said just move your shop into our son’s old bedroom!! So now our basement is mostly a collection of woodworking equipment and tool chests for working on our cars and my wife’s laundry equipment! It’s now just a dungeon in need of a serious reorganization whenever the mood hits me.

Ron

[RodB]

Maybe the admins can take these posts and open a new thread called "Vintage Basements". Looks like everyone has one.

[MrFixr55]

Hi Dale,

How does the RCA 77DX mic compare to such mics as the Shure SM58 or some of the large diaphragm condenser mics. A cool, iconic mic. If memory serves me correctly, that is the model that sat on Jonny Carson's desk. The Collins reminds me of my days at the college (carrier current and PA) "radio" station. We had 2 studios, one containing a nice Harris stereo console, the other containing a late 1930s RCA board that came from WOR radio. Would love to have one of those RCAs or a mid 1930s rig used for "remotes". Would also love to have an RCA 44A but I am on a budget. I have modern mic mixers including 2 Shure M287s and 2 Yamahas; an MG 12/4 and an MG16/4. The MG16/4 is mounted in a road case with 2 Quad wireless mic receivers. The whole rig is powered by 2 24V power tool batteries and 2 14V power tool batteries. I use this rig, along with 6 100W wireless portable PA systems to provide sound reinforcement when our church choir performs outdoors, about 3 times per year.

[MrFixr55]

Hi Ron,

Dale has an interesting use for his basement. Mine is an archeological dig. At least my office has some semblance of order to it. Someday I will get more organized.

"Whenever the mood hits me".

[DaleHCook]

The 77-DX is indeed the mic on Carson's desk. There were also many of them hung above the audience. The SM58 (I also own one of those) does not compare to it. The latter is a capsule mic, the former is a much more expensive ribbon mic. I use the SM58 as my test mic in the field and as my Zoom mic. In my home studio I use a Sennheiser MD 421 U-5.

[MrFixr55]

I was wondering more about fidelity. Teah, the SM58 is a vocalist mic meant to be within 6" of the person, where velocity mics ae more sensitive and more expensive.

My budget (and the outdoor environment) does not allow for condenser mics or ribbon velocity mics. My performing "live sound" for the choir is totally volunteer.

Our choir is involved currently in making a recording of Christmas music. The "venue" is our 2000 seat Cathlic church, built around 1963 in the style prevalent then with a main section, 2 transepts, an organ gallery / choir loft and 2 organs; a 1500 pipe one in the sanctuary area and a 3500 pipe unit in the organ gallery. Either or both can be played from either console. The acoustics are fantastic. The music ministry consists of a 35 voice adult Chorale, a teen "Scola Cantorum", the Children's Choir and the "Cherub Choir" The engineer recording it is using 2 Tascam DR40X pocket digital recorders, one in the organ gallery and one in the main area of the church, using its internal mics and 2 Sennheiser Large diaphragm condenser mics (I don't know the model number). These recorders are a marvel. 2 built in condenser mics that can be aimed, 2 inputs for either XLR or TRS connectors, phantom power capable (dunno how high the voltage as the thing runs on 3 AA batteries), 4 channel capable and USB output to a computer. The songs are recorded in snippets and the best takes for each snippet will be "assembled" using a DAW software package such as Garage Band. This was done because of extraneous noise such as a cough, a member of the children's choir dropping one of those wonderful metal water bottles, ice falling from the roof, trucks, motorcycles and loud cars passing by, etc. We spent 6 hours yesterday recording about 30 minutes of music.

We did this once before with fantastic results. We also did 3 "Virtual Choir" programs during CoVID, with each member at home literally "phoning it in". Each member watched a video of the director and a listened to the accompaniment, and a voice from their section (Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass) and performed into their smartphones, recording audio and video. The files were then e-mailed to the director who assembled them using Garage Band software into a rather remarkable performance. The link is here for anyone interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1a9Zhl...=1&t=2230s

(This is being placed to show what technology can do; I am not trying to proselytize or sell recordings.)

[DaleHCook]

I was wondering more about fidelity.

A stage mic like the SM58 cannot be expected to have the fidelity of a condenser or ribbon mic. The SM58 is a fairly durable mic, and can withstand handling, rough transport, loud close micing, and possibly relatively high sound pressure levels, which could cause problems in more expensive mics.

That said, I would expect better results from an SM58 than from the mic in a phone. It is for good reasons that the SM58 is the world's most popular live vocal microphone on stage.

Dale H. Cook, Retired AM/FM/TV Chief Engineer, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
https://plymouthcolony.net/starcityeng/index.html

[DaleHCook]

Along these lines, as opposed to the high-end condenser and ribbon studio mics, I would cite the Electro-Voice 635A. It was designed for ruggedness and reliability, as well as low sensivity to hand noise during interviews, pop resistance, and dust immunity. It was designed for the most demanding field use, such as radio news gathering. Years ago, at the National Association of Broadcasters annual show, staff in the EV booth would demonstrate the ruggedness of the 635A by using it to hammer a nail into wood. They would then plug it into an amplifier to show that it still worked. It has very good fidelity considering its design considerations, but nothing as good as a fine studio microphone.

Dale H. Cook, Retired AM/FM/TV Chief Engineer, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
https://plymouthcolony.net/starcityeng/index.html

[TV MAN]

I've had the same problem with cassettes and some reel tapes, so far, the only time I've had problems with VHS tapes is when they've been in a damp enviroment. I've been working to copy my old VHS tapes to DVD (digital) to preserve. I have some old cassettes I made when I was a kid that I want to try to save for no good reason. I restored a VM reel player years ago but need to re-restore it. Belts and rollers bad again.

[rfeenstra]

I now have both of these machines in excellent working order.  I had to order and use an alignment tape from Magnetic Reference Laboratory (expensive!) to get the heads properly aligned and the frequency response set for the 2 equalization standards.  I also have transferred all  of my master tapes to digital so the purpose of getting the 1/2 track in the first place has been fulfilled.  Kind of fun to record music on quality tape and use it to entertain myself.  My aging ears cannot hear the difference between the original and the recorded copy.  These are fairly high quality recorders so that's not surprising.  It's sort of like listening to our old, rebuilt AM radios.  Much easier to listen to other and better sources but not near the fun or satisfaction.  Once my fascination with these machines is over, I'll probably put at least one up for sale.

I have a consumer grade Akai machine that I think I'll start on next, while I'm in the swing of tape machines. Might be disappointing, though, after working on the semi-pro machines.

[rfeenstra]

After a few months....  I have the Akai GX220D Finished and calibrated with the Magnetic Reference Laboratory tape.  I'm actually quite impressed (of course, as I said before, my ears aren't what they used to be.)  This is a  1 7/8, 3 1/2 and 7.5 ips machine with auto reverse in both directions, with a maximum 7" reel capacity, and 3 motors. All capacitors have been replaced and the speed calibrated.  Akai used a pot metal pully on the motor which had totally deteriorated.  I had to make a new one out of brass on the lathe.  Getting the diameters correct for the speeds required a bit of trial and error.  The heads on these machines are "glass and xtal" (an Akai innovation) and were not worn al all.  No lapping necessary.

I have the machine calibrated for high output tape at 3db over the original Ampex standard.  I find, though, that with the higher magnetization of the tape, track cross talk is a bit more than I like.  I may re-calibrate to 0db. All in all, frequency response is great and music sounds great, especially at 7.5 ips.  I have recorded a few tapes of music with auto reverse in both directions.  I will just let them play over and over while broadcasting on WROB (my local FM station for just me) while working in my workshop. Fun!

Rob

   

[rfeenstra]

So, while I'm here and posting,  here is a curbside find.  Another Akai.  this one was produced in the 70's while R2R, 8 track and the "new" cassette format were all in production.  This machine has the 7" R2R, a cassette player and an 8 track player!  The original owner bought it from the PX while in Viet Nam.  When he last tried it, it didn't work, so he cut the cord off and left it.  After passing, his widow decided to get rid of it and set it by the road for the trash man.  I saw it, the widow came out and told me the story, and was pleased to see that someone wanted it to restore it to working condition.  The picture that follows is of it partially disassembled.  I forgot to take pics before.

Rob