General Electric console??

[William]

I'm not sure if this classifies as a console or not. It's wood, has attached speakers sort of. It can sit on a table, or have legs attached, or hang on the wall. Anyway, it belongs to the local antique guy. He has been telling me about a record player that he has in the barn. He said one of these days he would dig it out so I could see it. Well, one of these days was last week. I brought it home, fired it up on the Variac, and it worked. Sort of. I took a photo of it with the back off so you can see how it's made. Let me know what you think?

Photos to follow:

Bill

[William]

Here's the photo with the back off.

[William]

Here's the front.

[William]

Here's a photo of the speakers.

[TC Chris]

I've got one that's very similar but with attached speakers. Let's see if I can insert a photo. Nope, file too large."
Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

Nice find Bill! Somewhat unusual to see a Garrard changer used in a GE?
Is this the model with a 6CA4/12AX7/6AQ5 x 2 tube lineup?
If so the amp section is virtually identical to the BOL GE console w/o tuner that I got off the curb last Spring
that didn't have a Garrard, it had I think a low model Collero with a broken arm, and the cabinet was trashed,
so I saved the electronics and gave away the rest.

[19&41]

I remember when those were on the market. I wanted one as a kid. I don't see too many multisection caps like that very often. Antique radio supply carried some.

[William]

Chris, the speakers attach and are feed by the hinges. You can also extend them away from the main unit using a double male RCA plug/wire.

Roger, it actually does have the 12AX7, but it uses a 5Y3, and a pair of 7189's. The Garrard must have been a budget model. It has a 2 pole motor. It's the first Garrard that I have seen with a 2 pole motor. It does have a detachable head, and the center spindle comes out so you can use the stubby spindle for manual play. It also has the 45 adaptor. Each speaker contains two 8" woofers and a tweeter. This thing was pretty deluxe and must have been fairly pricey in its day.

Rex, can you remember what they retailed for?

I actually belongs to the local antique guy. I have scrubbed it up, cleaned out all the cobb webs, powered it up with the Variac and it played, sort of. Lots of dirty controls, and a changer that is slow and sluggish. Even after a good scrubbing it still smells of dampness/mildew. I need to work on that!

Bill

[19&41]

Unfortunately Bill, I don't remember. I do remember it was too expensive to make an appearance under either my older sister's nor my Christmas tree.

[hermitcrab]

Neat set, my GE has the same changer in it .

[Firedome]

That IS a pretty deluxe model. The record player I had as a kid in the mid '50s to mid '60s was a cast off old '40s RCA floor radio with AM, and funky (RCA?) changer that probably ruined a lot of LP records over the years. I'd have loved a real stereo like this one!

[William]

It is a cool unit, it's too bad it isn't mine. I guess I could buy it from him, but I'm not a big fan of printed circuit boards. They scare me!

Bill

[electra225]

That set is the ultimate Trimline model and the only one with a Garrard changer. That chassis and tuner was used in cheap consoles. I have those guts I got out of a ratty console. They have full stereo tuners. They also use 7189 tubes, rather uncommon for a cheap instrument. Pretty good performers for what they are if all the crossover caps and those little 3" tweeters are good. Most of those used 6X9 woofers. The filter caps are always bad on those things and they are commonly found with a bum power transformer because a shorted cap took it out.

[Motorola minion]

That is one of the better GE combinations except for the PC boards, of course. A better set of speakers might make a big difference, considering the limited size of the stock units. I have a CHEAP console from that same model year with same tuner, 6AQ5 SE amp and a V-M 1200.

Those tuners (TU-221) were OK as I recall them in many TV combos, later models used a solid state amplifier that had high-impedance speakers with coupling caps (not transformers) and Germanium transistors. I have a GE combo that uses the same tuner and a slightly larger but similar looking PC-board amp with push-pull 7355s, which IIRC was the most powerful GE. To restore it, I could make a sub-chassis with 4 octal tube sockets and pigtails back to the PC board.

[William]

I have always considered GE electronics to be mediocre. Nothing special, but they worked and depending on the model sounded ok. Now that I have had a few apart, I have more respect for them. What I really like is the fact everything unplugs. I have yet, had to unsolder or cut wires to get something apart in order to remove it from the chassis. Why didn't other companies do that. GE spent a few extra pennies to make it convenient for the tech that had to work on them. What a concept!

Bill

[electra225]

I worked on a GE RP-1590 for my friend Don in 2014. The PCB in it was so baked around the output tubes it was split into two pieces. I finished splitting the chassis into two pieces, used epoxy to put the two halves back together, then hardwired the chassis from component to component, with the wires roughly following the original traces. I used an Exacto knife to cut the traces where they were broken so they wouldn't short. Surprisingly enough, it still works just fine. Those cheap GE PCB's were thin and not very good quality, but they still work and made for a compact package. I don't know whose idea it was to hang the tubes upside down so all the chassis heat would flow toward the PCB.

[Firedome]

Actually for a few years GE made some truly excellent stereo component amps mono and stereo that were made here when GE had an audio division in Auburn NY. I've had a couple of them, the 7600 and 770 series, that could rival any console amp. See pics. The weakness was the flimsy plastic front panel that was easily cracked. I can honestly say though they could give a Fisher or Scott amp of the period a run for the money.
These had 7189 PP and were excellent amps.

[TC Chris]

And don't forget the GE P-780, a truly excellent AM portable radio. I'm always surprised at how good it sounds (and mine are unrestored). Read here:
https://radiojayallen.com/ge-p780/

Read the links at the end to the interviews with the engineer.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

My stepdad was a GE dealer and a GE fan. He had some of their high end electronics and it was very good. The stuff I have is not the high end stuff and all has PCB's like I've been talking about. They perform well for what they are, built to a price point. I'm glad to have mine. They are anti-Magnavox as you can get, but I have fun with them anyway.

[William]

Well, I'm here to report the GE is done....I hope! Since this unit belongs to the antique guy, and, he didn't want to spend a lot of money on it all I did was replace the electrolytic filter caps and do checks on everything else. Much to my surprise, everything was close enough to hopefully not cause problems. It did need a rectifier tube, a cabinet light, and I installed a fuse. Controls were cleaned twice, and a switch that is called "Balance Null" was cleaned about 6 times. I'm not quite sure what it is supposed to do, but, what it does when pushed is kill the volume. It's a spring loaded switch so it only is activated as long as you hold it on. It gave me fits. Half the time it was engaged all by itself. As you can imagine, it did not sound nice when engaged. Does anyone have any idea it's purpose? The cabinet got scrubbed 4 times and then treated with Old English scratch remover and polish.

I can report, this GE sounds pretty good. It has bass without turning it all the way, and the treble is nice and crisp. Vocals are natural, and, pretty much all types of music come thru as it should. I'm impressed! If it continues to behave itself I might be able to get it out of the laundry room and back to the antique guy sooner than later. Keep your fingers crossed!

Bill