Dumpster Diving

[rickcr42]

So I'm loading up the dumpster at the office with construction debris and as will happen when there is a dumpster left unguarded 24/7 some knucklhead will toos their crap in but jeeze !

One mans idea of crap is anothers treasure and as proof,even though not exactly up to "treasure",as i was loading my junk in I spyed the tell tale of tube electronics chassis so in goes Rick (forty yarder so literally IN ) fora snatch and grab and once inside realise :

"hey dammit ! lotsa stuff in here I can use"

...and with me a notorious being a cheap bast*rd my "goody bag" was in the end very fulfilling 'cause i cam away with :

1-A working Dynaco ST-80 which is a non-voltyage regulated lower power version of the ST-120.No SQ monster but hey,the b*tch is fully operational,has no pitting on the chrome and best of all was FREE so I'm not bitching.I figure it would make a good backup amp,a test bench "utility" amp or even good enough for driving surround speakers OR if all else fails,palm it off on the kids,all good

2-A real enigma this puppy is.From what i can tell it was somehow used in the medical industry but so far my searches have come up pretty empty.It is marked "Sanborn Log Audio Preamplifier" and on the side tag reads "Sanborn Company,Cambridge Mass".This is the puppy that drew me into the "slop" because if there is a better "gut it and replace the circuits" small tube amp chassis for a sane price I have not seen it but I hesitate to rip into it until i know if there is value here or not so the search continues.

If I DO decide to gut it then as a bonus I end up with some "parts" for free,some useable,some not as but hey,i don't toss good tubes out so what the heck-into the drawer they go until i find a use (plus they all test good sooo....)

A-Two GE 12AX7's,never have enough 12AX7's
B-A single 5879 Sharp Cutoff Pentode,mostly used in the front end of amps I will no doubt cook something up with this puppy eventully
C-Tiny ass 7-Pin 6AL5 Dual Diode.Normally used for RF work but i seem to remeber a thread that suggested use for audio tube cathode bias (rather than a solid state dode or LED) so maybe usable.
D-This is where it gets weird because I ahve never come across a tube before that even LOOKS like this :two 9004 diodes.

That is the tube lineup.Better yet the power transformer is in very nice shape and as anyone knows who builds tube gear it is the "iron" that costs the most (then comes the metalwork which the chassis covers ).all i need do is run the numbers but considering how many tubes are being driven i can say with confidence there will be enough "heater" available for most if not any low power project.

Next ?

A set of three VERY NICE vintage Daka Ware knobs,knobs that I had already planned to purchase on the surplus/NOS market and that I NOW already have a home as replacements for the NOS RCA's currently on my line controller.

The current RCA's which look great on some of my gear but for some reason too "slick" looking on my control console



The "New" knobs (but that mine have a pointer mark instead of numbers)




I am short two more "knobs" to cover all the controls but with my original intent to replace one of the rotary knobs with a Daka Ware "lever" knob anyway :



the reality is I only need purchase a single knob

more ?

how about a really nice Cinema engineering 10 position 50dB range "Variable Attenuator" stepper at 100K Ohms similiar to the below :

www.surplussales.com/Equipment/AudioAttenuator.html


I only wish i had two of these suckers so I could actually use it as a sensitivity control for the soon to be "new" amp built onto the free chassis (single ended pentode it is looking like) but can;t have everything I guess.

all in all not bad day of "diving" all things considered

[robertkd]

What a find, amazing what gets turfed at times

[jkeny]

I've picked up a working Rogers Cadet III tube amp (since rebuilt) & 3 Samson 550 solid state amplifiers (260 watt - used for parts & chassis) at my local recycling centre. That reminds me, I haven't paid them a visit in over a year - I wonder what has been dumped without me inspecting it first?

[PinkFloyd]

Nice one Rick! I've had some good finds in the past namely a pair of Rogers LS3/5A bookshelf speakers, some Kelly ribbon tweeters and a large box of vintage capacitors (and a load of non audio related finds too!) Most of the stuff in my local skip (dumpster) was from house clearances where the old folk had died and the children just binned the contents of the house and then sold it (the house)...... some damned good stuff in there I can tell you!

Always worth "going in" for a look and I usually bring back more than I took to throw away

[rossman]

It's not dumpster diving but I did manage to get a Thorens TD160 from Freecycle. Changed the Din plug for phonos and put an AT cartridge that was on an old stack system that was in the electrical scrap at work. It's quite good as standard with the TP16 but will make a good base for upgrading now that the credit crunch is biting.

Jan 23, 2009 10:43:53 GMT PinkFloyd said:

I've had some good finds in the past namely a pair of Rogers LS3/5A bookshelf speakers,

I wish I'd kept mine that cost me about a tenner at a car boot sale instead of swapping them for the floorstanders I wanted at the time. Oh well the wisdom of hindsight?

[rickcr42]

When I was "young and dumb" and convinced by the electronics/audio press that "tube technology" was ancient thus severly comprimised technology I passed up so many oppurtunities I should be taken out back and pistol whipped

During this tubes to transistor "transition" period every damn conrner store,drug store,electronics parts vendor and hardware store had a tube tester and ALL went to the dump because they were just so much useless garbage.I can still remember all the alley ways and back lots filled with these "cabinet" that had tube testers on top then beneath tube storage for replacing a bad tubes and man,I wish I had the sense then that I have now because more often than not they just rotted until becoming an eyesore they ended up in the crusher.

The other "screw up" was not taking advantage of the local movie theater "upgrades" or in some cases "tear downs" because man,a treasure trove of horn speakers and triode amps the like of which i will NEVER have another shot at again in my lifetime in these days of ebay scavengers who swarm to anything old and free.

At least I caught on to ONE thing years back nd that is checking the Radio Shack dumpsters if and when they let you because folks,when something goes to obsolete and it sits too long on the clearance shelf they toss that bitch RIGHT IN THE GARBAGE and that no matter how much the original retail price so I have over the years ended up with a damn lot of free goods from parts to pro audio gear to gear racks to commercial grade ac distribution strips to.well damn near anything electronic but these days ?

They would rather see something go to the dump (ocean bubba ) than let someone actually make use of their discards so they no longer allow ANYONE anywhere NEAR the dumpsters which to me is just another example of how much ASSHOLE there is in modern time when it is better to add to the trash heap than it is to see someone actually make use of someone elses dicards and yes it does suck