killdeer43
Reverential Member
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Anyone remember Heathkit?
- Thread starter adorshki
- Start date
coastie99
Enlightened Member
Hey Tom. Nice start to my morning. I've never known that Pat had done a cover of Wuthering Heights. She did it well too.
Walking Man
Member
Mentioning Heathkit brought back my memory of "Bogan" equipment sold at the local "Olson Electronic " store. That's where the (monetarily-challenged)neighborhood hung out to see what was and to get a feel for what was around the corner.
'73/'74 catalog link below...
http://www.americanradiohistory.com...llaneous-Manufacturers/Olson-1974-Catalog.pdf
'73/'74 catalog link below...
http://www.americanradiohistory.com...llaneous-Manufacturers/Olson-1974-Catalog.pdf
adorshki
Reverential Member
Thanks for the memory!
I got a microphone from Olson when I joined my first (junior high school) garage band, '69.
The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
Bogen brings a lot of memories for me also!
If anyone saw the thread a while back about old photos, I posted a bunch of stuff from my Dad's days of running drag rac. After Old Bridge Drags closed he ended up with a ton of electronic equipment. Being the crafty sort he was, he built me a guitar amp from a Bogen PA head from the racetrack!
It started out like this:
It ended up looking like this:
(Sorry the top is cut off!)
The Olson catalog was cool. In our house we got the Lafayette Radio Electronics catalog:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Allied-Catalogs/Lafayette-1968-Spring.pdf
Wow, those catalogs are a serious trip down memory lane! Thanks much.
adorshki
Reverential Member
And speaking of memory lane, and toys which actually required a bit of technical skill and educated at the same time:
OK, "passing the shoe..."
:friendly_wink:
The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
We had all three of those you posted.
I had the Cox Baja Bug and my best friend had the Dune Buggy.
My older Brother was into the rockets big time. Both Estes and Century (?) We visted one onf the plants back in the day.
I've done all the slot cars from HO to 1/32 to 1/24. I have and HO track in my basement as I type!
I had the Cox Baja Bug and my best friend had the Dune Buggy.
My older Brother was into the rockets big time. Both Estes and Century (?) We visted one onf the plants back in the day.
I've done all the slot cars from HO to 1/32 to 1/24. I have and HO track in my basement as I type!
adorshki
Reverential Member
OK I am finally almost jealous.
Had the Revell 1/32 set with the white '63 Corvette and the red Ferrari GTO.
Handed down to my brother..years later when I realized how cool it would be to have it, asked my mother about it, she couldn't remember what happened to it.
Of course, when I was a kid the "real" players bought those 1/24 scale bodies and chassis kits and hopped 'em and bought those ultra-calibrated hand controllers to race down at the local slot-racing shop... (sigh...)
taabru45
Enlightened Member
In the early 60s I built a stereo amp and tuner. It had heavy transformers and 6L6 tubes I think. IT sounded great and would heat the room in no time flat...lol
adorshki
Reverential Member
Was it a Heath or one of the "other guys", no disprepect intended.
There were Allied (early Radio Shack IIRC) and Knight-kit and I think Lafayette, and probably even others I never heard of.
A quick google of Heath amps yield some interesting results.
Still a lively tube-amp market out there....
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taabru45
Enlightened Member
Heathkit ..tan finish..weighed a ton. But would blow the walls out with a couple of big wharfdale cabinets.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Yep, 20 watts is plenty if they're good watts (and high-efficiency speakers)...:friendly_wink:
taabru45
Enlightened Member
Stereo was new so there were those sound effect records with exaggerated separation. Crank it up and close your eyes and enoy the train driving through the room or the sounds at the racetrack...especially if you had a center speaker...wow !
Oren Hudson
Junior Member
When The Kingsmen were playing Louie, Louie live in the early 60's, bassist Norm Sundholm, inquired as to how he could get louder bass than his 40-50 watt Fender Bassman was delivering. It was suggested that he build a Heathkit amp and run JBL speakers. The rest is history. With his experimenting, he developed Sunn Musical Gear with his brother Conrad. So Heathkit had a hand in Sunn gear development. Sunn amps are some the best bass gear ever. :semi-twins:
adorshki
Reverential Member
I learn something new here almost every day!
powerwagonjohn
Member
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I had a Heathkit receiver/amp when I was a kid. It was a huge upgrade from my Lloyds phonograph. Later in the early 1980's I bought a pair of 35W and a pair of 70W monobloc Heathkit amps that had been built in 1959 if I remember correctly The amps cost me 50.00 and along with the 4 amps came two preamps and all the assembly manuals. The amps were very cool with cages over the 6L6 tubes but they weighed a lot and took up a lot of real estate. I eventually got them up and running but sold them a few years back. Now all I have left are a pair of Macs.
Thanks John
Thanks John
adorshki
Reverential Member
The last time I looked, only a couple of months a go, there's still a healthy little eBay marketplace for that stuff and much of it is still functional.
:triumphant:
jp
Senior Member
Speaking of Heathkit, I just noticed this solid state TA-16 for sale locally, with reverb and tremelo. <no affiliation> Anyone have any build experience with one of these?
adorshki
Reverential Member
Not one of those, but what's the question?
Basically, if it's still functioning as described, it was probably built right in the first place, thinking about poor or corroded solder joints being the most likely source of problems and the most labor-intensive to diagnose and fix properly,
Was not a "beginner's kit".
Just inspecting the workmanship can tell you a lot.
Their components were top notch, bearing in mind that some resistors will eventually succumb to heatstroke and electrolytic capacitors age as well, but a transistor is forever.
Well, almost.
Compared to a tube.
Also keep in mind that Heathkit's warranty was that if it was built correctly and didn't function properly they'd repair it at factory for free, or give you itemized billing for what was corrected.
Also suggest picking up schematic and assembly manual (if possible, re the manual)
Google search shows a good variety of source material for the schematic:
https://www.google.com/search?q=HEa...ome..69i57.10561j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
The very first one to music electronics forum looks great although some of the info is 6 years old.