thebes Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Did something wrong last night and found myslef exiled by The Twins to the couch. Didn't sleep well and arose early. While perusing the morning paper I spot an estate sale about 5 minutes away starting at 8AM, unusually early in these parts. I head on over, one of the first in the door and peek under an old console. $36 later I walk out with a Fisher 500c. I now own three of these things. Tubes are all original, small tubes look great, power tubes not so great. Pull the bottom for a visual inspection, replace the automobile fuse that ws in it, wire up some speakers and run it through the Variac. No joy, probably the power switch which is notoriously bad on the Fishers. Not a Marantz 8b for $50 but still and all no complaints. Two different people got there a little late and were trying to buy it from me. One additional benefit, antique dust. Much better than the modern stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 Another pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 You and your estate sales! If you don't want the Marantz anymore, I'll take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwhaples Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Sweet deal! Fisher was my first intro to tubes. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Nice find there Thebes. Just think, you could have gone to work today. You probably made more money at the estate sale just in the value of those tubes.[] Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Nice, very nice! Antique dust is hard to find these days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul cbc Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 NICE![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 nice, my first was Fisher too[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 I have been hitting the estate sales lately but the only thing I've found is a John Denver and BeeGee's collection but I left it behind. I have also been going to the little antique stores half expecting to find something there and after talking to them they never buy the audio stuff when they go antique hunting now they have my cell in case they find something with tubes : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Since you seem to be collecting these why not put one up for sale on the Forum here........keeping in mind that we're all like family....really close family.[][] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonzo Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 The other day, my buddy bought a smaller, old, Wurlitzer Organ for $20 at an estate sale. RCA 12AX7's galore and only a few were marginal. Nice Eico Mono amp also, the bum. That Fisher's a great find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 Thank you one and all. Well I've tested all the tubes and except for one 6AU6 (and I've got spares of those) they all test good. This includs the 7991a power tubes, which is a real suprise because the silver stuff on top looks almost worn away. Everything underneath looks fine visually but no power so again I suspect the on/off switch because I have the same problem with a Fisher 400 and a Fisher x202b. Which leads me to a question, what's the best way or technique for de-soldering? I had really bad luck just last week trying to desolder a faulty Loudness Contour switch on a Fisher 400, basically melted the sucker. Did the same to the replacement switch. Soldering thge wires in place is pretty easy but how do I get the old stuff off and open up the holes the wires go into because that is where I am doing all the damage. I have a solder sucker, but it's awkward to use, seems like you need three arms to play with this stuff. Help me please. Don't want to fry this baby because it even still got the original lamp lights on it with the white paint over them and only one unoriginal tube (a RCA instead of telefunken). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 Oh and Seti, don't dispair, there's still stuff out there. In the last year and a half or so I have acquired the Marantz 8b ($50), a Fisher 400 ($125) and a Fisher 500 ($36) and a Bogen MO100a PA ($10) plus another Fisher 400 ($50) and a Fisher x202b ($80) off of my local craigslist, plus another Fisher 500c ($150) from a local want add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul cbc Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Thebes, Have you tried solder "wick" or "braid"? Heat up the area you are desoldering and use the braid to pull the melted solder away from the connection. Pretty sure you can get this at radio shack or at least a hobby store. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 13, 2005 Author Share Posted November 13, 2005 Thanks so much Paul. Saw your post as I was heading out the door for some grocery shopping, so I swung by Rat Shack and picked up a package of the braid. Works great, what a nifty invention! Desoldered the ower wires on the back of the on/off switch, twisted them together and brought it up on a variac. Plays great. Bought a seperate on and off switch at the same time, now all I have to do is figure out how to wire it in and I'm on my way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul cbc Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 thebes, Nice work! Glad to hearing it's working well.[] Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Thebes, You are one very lucky guy to have found such a treasure. I am yet to experience tubes with my Klipsch speakers and right now I'm just drooling over that lucky find, good pictures too. ..........take care, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 14, 2005 Author Share Posted November 14, 2005 Thanks for your kind words Pat. Hit a few estate sales when time permits and see if you get lucky. I actually figured out how to wire a new on/off swtich in, and played it for a few hours yesterday. For unrestored vintage it sounds very good, better actually than my other two Fisher 500c's. Have no idea why, except it may match better with my KG 3.5 rather than the KG 5.2's I was using for the other two. Warmer, detailed, plenty of headroom and not as brassy as the other two sounded. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Just when is this 500C madness going to stop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted November 15, 2005 Author Share Posted November 15, 2005 Just when is this 500C madness going to stop? Sure Paul, be that way, just because I won't sell the Marantz 8b to you pose a deliberately obtuse question.[] The way I see it you are asking 3, count them, 3 seperate questions: 1. When are you Thebes going to stop flogging to death this albeit minor thread like you so often do and let us get onto something more important. 2. When will this obession displayed by numerous members of this forum , Stereophile and others over the almost mythical quality fo this amp go away? After all this was simply a mid-level hi-fi rig from the good old days long since surpassed by more sophisticated true audiophile renderings of the tube amp. 3. Why do you need three Fisher 500's? This is certainly madness. OK. I have ansers to question one and three. One: because I am in love with the sound of my own voice. Three: I'm picking these things up for a song and they come in handy. Right now one of them is with a fellow forum member while his amp is being rebuilt and one will be going to my nephew as part of a system I'm building him for his college graduation. Also it's pretty cool resurrecting something that hasn't probably beeen turned on in 20 or 30 years. I'm playing the latest one right now and I could swear I hear LBJ's voice in the background talking about the Great Society, his ghostly voice trapped inside those capacitors for all these years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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