On wobbly valve bases, and being in the right place at the right time

Firstly, I've had a good day.

I spotted a mono Quad setup with FM tuner & Collaro record deck from the 50's/60's in a 'bespoke' cabinet at my local house clearance auction gaff, together with a 'bespoke' corner cabinet based upon a Tannoy design. Waited around for about 2hrs for this item to be auctioned, and got the lot for a tenner. I was the only bidder . Corner cabinet contains a much sought after 12" Tannoy Silver. Ch-ching!

Speaker sounds great so no probs there, the Quad stuff is generally very grubby and a had what can only be described as suicidally bad wiring - no way I was going to plug it in straight away, put it that way. Didn't look as though it has been used for many years. Anyway, the Quad II has Osram KT66 output valves but the glass swivels around a bit in the brown bases. Does this mean they're knackered? I'm reluctant to power this lot up if the valves are shot in fear of blowing something else up.

I don't have any other suitable output valves to try. Any suggestions? The controller looks physically OK btw. Also, I don't have a variac so can't power them up slowly, whaddya reckon? Shall I just plug them in and stand back?

 

No ....get them checked over

The kt66 have probabley lost there vacuum ? I don't think you can use anything other than kt66 but may be mistaken.

If you have a good meter you should be able to check everything bar the valves.....check for leaked black gunk a sign of over heating.....I bet most of the caps will need changing if its an old unit ....the resistors have also been known to "decay" can't think of the right word.

But you have a fantastic deal ............its worth spending some money on getting it sorted. That lot should go for £500 on ebay !

 

Thanks for the reply. Yep, as I thought really, I'll leave it unplugged for now. The condition of the Quad underneath is visually mint, but the valves do seem dodgy.... Some 6L6's work in the Quads I believe, as I used to have a pair that came with EI 6L6GC's, but although I swapped them out I then gave them away some time ago. Doh!

Actually if I'm honest it's all going to be ebay bound, I particularly love vintage Tannoys but I need the money and silvers can go for silly money due to rarity value. I may even sell the Quad II as an untested item with an honest description that includes that state of the KT66's, and let someone else have the fun of restoring it.

Still, happy days, it'll help to keep me afloat for another month!

 

Sovtek 5881's will work but the amp will sell for more with KT66's in it. Knock up some araldite and glue the basses back to the glass. I reckon it will all still work. Try it first without the valve rectifier and see if all the heaters come on. If that worked I'd put the rectifier in and see what happened. Be ready to turn the power off at the wall if anything untoward does occur.