US made "Shell" high fidelity amplifier - Info?

pqrannes

pqrannes

Tubes warm your heart too
I've just found a "Dual 10 watts" American made tube amp by the "Shell Electronics" (Westbury NY). On the front plate it says "Northport" and underneath it says "Model 210P".

It looks like a single-end amp with two 7189 (el84?) as output tubes. Its equipped with ecc82s and ecc83s and an (broken) EZ81 in the power supply section.

The overall condition is not good, it's very dirty and rusty and even the brassy front plate is covered with rust.

But I like it! It's my first US made tube amp (Ive got a Dyna tuner sitting around waiting for alignment)

I haven't been able to find any info online on either the Shell Electronics or the amp it self.

Maybe some of you AKs got some info? Anything!

I'll ad some pictures later to night: got to feed the family first!

Peter, Denmark
 
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Well, the dish (Osso buko) is in the oven and here are the picture:


shell-1.jpg

The rusty front plate.

shell-2.jpg

And from above

shell-3.jpg

The label from beneath.

Peter Q.
 
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I just pulled two so called "bugle boy" (amperex) ecc83 from this rusty amp. It can't be that bad then?

Peter Q.
 
Yup - I saw that one at the market- and passed on it. Too much work for me to have it up and running in restored condition - but it sure is a nice thing. Didn't see the 7189's - yes they are a EL84-version - a very good one.

Regards
Freddy
 
fredmarantz said:
Yup - I saw that one at the market- and passed on it. Too much work for me to have it up and running in restored condition - but it sure is a nice thing. Didn't see the 7189's - yes they are a EL84-version - a very good one.

Regards
Freddy
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Hi Fredmarantz,

I guess this big world is very small. We could have knocked our heads together at the market yesterday in our hunt for tubestuff!:banana:

Peter (Denmark)
 
diamondsouled said:
Different Shell model up on eBay. Looks a bit like an HMV.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shell-Meadowbro...ryZ73369QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Thx diamondsouled!

We even have the address of the company "112 state street, Westbury" now and could have someone to go there and see if the company is still around:tresbon:!

The amp sure is a sibling to mine! And a nice looking one too - w. good iron it seems. Mine will never look that good, but maybe it will play some day!

Peter
 
Probably the best thing you could do is strip it down to the bare chassis, sand and paint everything, and then do an electronic rebuild. If the lettering on the face plate is recessed, then you may be able to get away with light sanding and polishing, and applying a coat of clear lacquer.
 
fsjonsey said:
Probably the best thing you could do is strip it down to the bare chassis, sand and paint everything, and then do an electronic rebuild. If the lettering on the face plate is recessed, then you may be able to get away with light sanding and polishing, and applying a coat of clear lacquer.
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Thx for the suggestions!

I guess it must the hard way if it's going to look good. The case could be sanded down and re-dyed and oiled.

The hard part is the rusty front plate; I can't see how to get of the rust without damaging the lettering on it.

The electronics doesn't look bad. I only see three caps and the power section cap to recap if necessary.

Peter
 
It was from an old 50s promotion................

Buy 12 gallons of gas at any Shell Service Station (10 gallons in Texas 'cause they only have 10 fingers)....and receive a FREE tube amp.

Steve
 
pqrannes said:
Thx for the suggestions!

I guess it must the hard way if it's going to look good. The case could be sanded down and re-dyed and oiled.

The hard part is the rusty front plate; I can't see how to get of the rust without damaging the lettering on it.

The electronics doesn't look bad. I only see three caps and the power section cap to recap if necessary.

Peter
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An option for the front plate would be making a hi-resolution scan of it in a flatbed scanner, and using photoshop or the gimp ( a free alternative) to make new water slide decals.

http://www.mcgpaper.com/decalpro.html
 
fsjonsey said:
An option for the front plate would be making a hi-resolution scan of it in a flatbed scanner, and using photoshop or he gimp ( a free alternative) to make new water slide decals.

http://www.mcgpaper.com/decalpro.html
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about something like that as the final solution.

It is strange with that faceplate. The backside is not corroded at all and can be polished with Brasso the usual way (the cloth becomes black).

But the front is more stubborn. Brasso doesn't really bite. I wonder if it is covered by some kind of clear coating. And it is thus the coating that has the 'rust'.

I've found out that the plate is drawn by a magnet so it is not pure brass.

Peter
 
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The output and power transformers are pretty big considering. My EICO AF-4 is smaller on both counts. In general with gear of this vintage, larger is better. I might be tempted to pull the iron and build it into a basic stereo amp rather than restore it.
 
soundmotor said:
The output and power transformers are pretty big considering. My EICO AF-4 is smaller on both counts. In general with gear of this vintage, larger is better. I might be tempted to pull the iron and build it into a basic stereo amp rather than restore it.
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It turned out that the front plate is iron of some kind. Brassy iron, I guess, and the corrosion is ... rust. I'm going to polish as good a possible and leave it there; 'in original condition' must be the description. I'll clean the chassis, I'll get an EZ81 and fire it slowly up.

If it plays I've got an American tube amp in working order!

PQR
 
About ten years ago I found two "Shell" pieces. They both worked perfectly. A small tube integrated and a FM tuner. One was called the "Hampton" and the other the "Manhasset".
 
Toasted Almond said:
About ten years ago I found two "Shell" pieces. They both worked perfectly. A small tube integrated and a FM tuner. One was called the "Hampton" and the other the "Manhasset".
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Thx,

It seems like they sticked to locations in naming their stuff!

PQR
 
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