Help Identifying GE Console Record Player?

I inherited this console record player & am trying to get it working. It is a General Electric, but I have looked it over inside & out & cannot find any kind of model number, name, or year. Any info you might be able to provide would be a big help. It is missing the power cord, so I would like to locate one of those as soon as I figure out what kind I need (or are they pretty standard?). I am located in Chicago; does anyone know of a good repair shop if it needs more than just the power cord?

Thank you for your help!
-Rachel

Rachel, that is a beautiful unit.

Everytime someone posts a new unit, I just wanna run out through the house and hug all my record players...LOL. Maybe jump around and speak in tongues for a moment. I don't know about you folks, but I just get excited about this old technology from yesteryear. They are in every room of the house, including the garage and second guest bathroom. Okay, maybe I need some counseling and enroll in a 12-step program.

I am completely guessing, but this looks like some type of early 60's tube model before Solid-State kicked in around the mid(?) 60's I think my oldest Astro-Sonic is around 1965, so your unit may pre-date that. There has to be some type of labeling up in that beast somewhere. As far as a power cord, could it be one of those non-polarized ones that just plugs into the back? Oh, wait...you're asking the questions, not me...LOL.

Good luck on finding a repair shop. With this plug-n-play society, mom&pop shops are hard to come by anymore. Let's hope it only needs a power cord, but it wouldn't hurt to have the turntable serviced, just in case it's acting finicky. It has the most moving parts and hard idler wheels, gummy linkages, etc., that may require attention.

I'm a little concerned about that bent spindle. Our turntables are similar and mine is not bent like that, and we should have similar 45 adapters. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Your console dates from 1960 and has the somewhat rare Vacumagic changer built by VM. This was Ge's top of the line Console for that year and is the
same one that is in the Cleaver's living room on the Leave it to Beaver show.
The Vacumagic has a hose in the tonearm that is connected to a vacuum motor in the cabinet that vacuums the dust from the record as it plays.
I see the hose laying on the turntable, someone has disconected it from the vacuum motor.
Power cords are pretty standard, the amplifier will proabably need to be recapped and the record changer cleaned and re-lubed, will be a great sounding
unit when it is all serviced properly. The spindle might be bent as Randy mentioned, but they are available from thevoiceofmusic.com.

With a set of that vintage, a missing power cord usually indicates the back panel is also missing, since it was usually interlocked so that removing the back panel removes the power. This is the origin of the phrase "do not attempt to defeat the interlock." The model number and other such information was on the missing back panel.

That is really a nice unit there. I have one identical minus the tuner mine has the reverb tank which is called resonance, I see you have the back cover for it. Shame you are not closer to Texas. It also looks like the trim piece for the stabilizer arm is missing from yours. I dont know how you got pictures to go on It tells me mine are too large. Whatever that means.

1Gelover wrote:That is really a nice unit there. I have one identical minus the tuner mine has the reverb tank which is called resonance, I see you have the back cover for it. Shame you are not closer to Texas. It also looks like the trim piece for the stabilizer arm is missing from yours. I dont know how you got pictures to go on It tells me mine are too large. Whatever that means.

it means...
Your photo file size is too large for the server to accept.

I've been looking for that same set for several years, saw the identical one on "Leave It To Beaver" also, and there is a scene in Beaver's Big Contest, fourth season, of June playing a classical record on it, and a good shot of the inside. Skagg's Electric, the big GE dealer in Fort Pierce, FL, had the identical set in the late '60s, probably a trade in. Sounded great, wish I could have gotten it then. There is some chance it's still in the area, and I look for it or a clone every time I'm out.

Rachel, I agree with Bobby ,great looking console and great piece of vintage furniture. Hope you can get it fixed and enjoy the awesome warm sound of vinyl.

Any more news on this beautiful console? I hope so!

rachel wrote:I inherited this console record player & am trying to get it working. It is a General Electric, but I have looked it over inside & out & cannot find any kind of model number, name, or year. Any info you might be able to provide would be a big help. It is missing the power cord, so I would like to locate one of those as soon as I figure out what kind I need (or are they pretty standard?). I am located in Chicago; does anyone know of a good repair shop if it needs more than just the power cord?

Thank you for your help!
-Rachel

Hmmm. very nice.
This is a good way to convey some message.

I have the same player. Mine doesn't work at all. I'm really interested in getting it to work. If I can't I plan on gutting it and re-equipping it with a new player, the console is just gorgeous!

Looking at Rachel's original pics, her back panel has been removed and is seated on the floor behind the unit. Look at the base just to the right of the power strip on the floor--BB

Bobby Basham wrote:Looking at Rachel's original pics, her back panel has been removed and is seated on the floor behind the unit. Look at the base just to the right of the power strip on the floor--BB

Yep.
Some people just can't keep their little paws out of those things -curiosity?
Messing with things they know nothing about - and it usually reflects on the bill $$$ when I'm done properly servicing them.

I have an identical GE Console that I don't need. I will keep the amplifier ant tuner and give away the rest. Anybody interested in anything? FREE. You pay the delivery
I live in California, Palm Springs 92270.
I did not test the turntable. the amplifier works ok with some hmmmm.
Console might need some attention.
It will go to Good Will in a week or so.
Please let me know.
email: jazzonhifi@yahoo.com

I bought one of these in Feb 1991 and it even had the service doc's

The unit is long-gone, but from memory:

It uses 7591's in P-P and produces approx (the one I had) 23 watts rms into an 8 ohm load.

The speakers were three way w/10" woofer with a mid and cone tweeter. Can't remember the sizes.

The arm used that Vacuum device which was intact. BUT the vac motor is located in the left hand speaker enclosure and has a "hat" of molded -asbestos- covering it to reduce noise. I removed it and did not use the vac whose purpose was probably equally suited to removing shavings from the very stiff Sonotone 8T (ceramic) pickup.

I replaced that pickup with a Pickering V-15 for changer service and added a preamp. The arm is massive and had a crude spring 'counterweight' but did track OK with the magnetic.

The turntable was rumbly -especially in stereo mode due probably to drying motor mounts and puck. But these changers were never very quiet due to a cheap two-pole motor.

Radio performance after alignment was really very good however selectivity suffered slightly as it warmed up. I sweep/scoped it and found that a small picofarad cap in the front end was thermal. After replacement it was more stable, but still shifted slightly. this was only noticeable when put to the test of receiving a weak rimshot from Connecticut between two strong Manhattan ones.

More interesting is the fact that this set has two complete RF-IF strips and a switching choice that can send FM to one side and AM to the other. This being a 1959/60 model the only way for providing stereo on radio (that was approved yet) was for an AM and FM station to each take one channel. Here in NYC I've read that WQXR did that on a regular basis till multiplex was approved in 1961.

Unfortunately I was never satisfied with the sound. the bass was thumpy and headache-inducing unless you kept it down and treble while much better in comparison to the low end but was still indistinct. The bass problem was typical of this sort of set and stemmed from cheap, stiff speakers in an open-back enclosure. The 1965 Magnavox i have is much better in this regard though the GE's tuner was superior and the Magnavox's treble is a bit "transistor-y" read: tinny.

I added some capacitance to the loudness contour taps and moved the boost down from approx 100Hz to around 70Hz and this helped somewhat. It's too bad that GE didn't use better speakers, the amp certainly had enough power and 'decent' power bandwidth.

I wonder if better woofers along with enclosing the backs and damping the enclosure would have helped here. As it worked out, I sold the set through an collectibles dealer in late 1993.

GE got within striking distance of true hi-fi with this set. Its service info was excellent complete with sweep curves and voltage spec's for every component. The designers obviously wanted a quality product, but I guess the need to maximize profit caused the usual compromises.

Rob/NYC