Bell&Howell model 601
- Racing
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Bell&Howell model 601
Huh? Say wut?
A Bell&Howell 601 is an old cinema setup. Movie theater. Made in Chicago back in the day,which happens to be 1949. Thus the very art deco design.
So. An amp and a cab right,and the actual amp chassis is REAL small. Sports a pair of 6V6´s for power and yet a 6V6 for sync control vs the film. Then a number of small signal flasks to act as a preamp.
http://iloapp.elegic.com/data/_gallery/ ... esized.jpg
Yup. All there´s to the stocker.
Uhh... WOULD SOMEONE BRING THE MARINARA SAUCE PLEASE!
As i got it the thing worked,but that was about it. Output power..? Along the one watt mark or so i guess. In short this thing was up for retirement,and you guys know all to well how i handle that by now!
Yeah. That takes care of dating the piece i´d say. In turn there´s writing on the speaker chassis with a pencil that says yadda yadda...1949. So no argument there.
As this was an old US unit i couldn´t even retain the power transformer. Replaced that with a Hammond one for a DLR and done deal. Then..wiped the thing clean per usual,and that there in the pic is the stock tagboard just with new contents.
Yeah. The chassis is REAL small. Approx half the size of a regular Tiny Terror. As you can see i opted to replace it all. Retained the two 6V6´s and as it turned out replaced the stock tube rectifier with a 5V4 one. This to up B+ voltage vs had i used a 5Y3.
Fuses in turn. We like fuses,so there´s one for each HT tap and one for each heater tap and in turn of course a mains one.
A small piece of aluminium to close up all of them holes up front,then for install of noval sockets...in which resides a pair of russian made 6n2p. ECC-83/12AX7 approx,just with a tad better performance.
As you can see the build started to get rather cramped for space as things pushed forwards. Well,i wanted it to be a fixed bias amp as i wanted to extract every watt it was capable of so...
Uhu. That output transformer is REAL small,but measured the part so..go it is. This pic gives you an idea of size.....
Speaking of which,this is a regular noval tube in comparsion with the OT. Hello!!
Things started to come together,and albeit the very limited space i opted to go full retard as far as controls. One channel only alright,but with a fully expanded James control.
So that there is the 6 way switch inbound for the treble dial. Things started to get REAL cramped at that point. I´ll tell you that much!
´N yes. Here we go. 7 controls all in all and they ALL makes for a rather vivid difference. Them one watt i started out with has since been measured to a full 26 watts,that with the real small OT in the mix.
Amp can be dialed from Fender-ish squeeky clean to downright mayhem just by moving the dials around. Marshall crunch? Sure.
Happy?
Very actually. As it turns out the stock AlNiCo speaker even turned out not only to work but actually sound the part too! Now what i need to do is a pilot light and fresh knobs for the dials.
In turn figure out how to install the thing into the cab,the idea here is that you keep the amp within the cab while hauling around and then pick it out and install to the top of the cab as it´s time to let her rip.
Nah.
This turned into a real nice VERY small amp alright. Haven´t measured the dia of the speaker but it looks like a 12" where it sits alright.
- NoiseNoiseNoise
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
1 watt to 26 watts on the same output tube layout? Nice work!
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- Racing
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
Yeah! I know!
Friggin insane,but there ya go as far as leaking capacitors and what not.
Friggin insane,but there ya go as far as leaking capacitors and what not.
- NoiseNoiseNoise
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
Never mind that, where's the sound clip??!
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- smjenkins
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
That is so cool. Amazing work squeezing everything in there (esp the extra 6-way switch). Really inspirational to see something cool restored to being functional and sounding great. And speaking of that, I too would be into sound clips.
- wproffitt
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
Nice one!
Racing, it’s been a while since I followed one of these threads, but I’m loving this one. This makes me want to read more about the James network stuff you’re doing with the tone circuit. Where’s a good plane to start with that?
Racing, it’s been a while since I followed one of these threads, but I’m loving this one. This makes me want to read more about the James network stuff you’re doing with the tone circuit. Where’s a good plane to start with that?
- NoiseNoiseNoise
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
A quick google saw this at the top of my list. http://makearadio.com/tech/tone.htm
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- wproffitt
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
Thanks!
- Racing
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- smjenkins
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Re: Bell&Howell model 601
Thanks for posting. That sounds good. I like the lighter gain portion of the video better than the more distorted stuff personally, but just my preference.