The Bell 3D: Years Ahead . . . Years Ago

1953? That's bizarre -- I thought the era of stereo was a 1957 proposition, more-or-less. Good-looking amp, that much is for sure.

Wow......

Thank you, TheRed1...I found this to be a very informative, and interesting post..........

Great job of "stumbling onto" this info, and passing it on........I've heard of Bell stuff, always thought it was part of the "big" Bell...........

Thanks again.....willhowl:thmbsp:

I have a Bell Sound 2420 integrated amp that I am in the process of restoring. It has a classic 50's look to it, something like the dashboard of a '57 chevy. Very cool. Green faceplate with gold accents. I cant wait to finish the recap.

I have seen a few other postings around about them, but the Bell Sound amps don't seem to be very common.

Great post :thmbsp::thmbsp::thmbsp::thmbsp:

Very cool amp. I bet it has a nice phono section.

mike

These are fantastic scans, and a cool story. What a neat little amp, too... I lost one on eBay a few years ago - was surprised just how much it went for.

IIRC, Newcomb & Goodell also had similar units from roughly the same time period but I don't know which was actually first. Goodell also had a twin-cartridge tonearm that played special LP's with 2-tracks, one outboard the other inboard. You'd simultaneously play both tracks at once as one was L & the other R.

Good stuff!

hey man, nice post! do you have anything on my "2521" mono receiver?

Sams folder 453-4 - I'll see if I have it.

Read about some research back in the 1930's at the phone company (AT&T Bell Labs) on what we would call stereo sound today. One experimental result was that they could not reproduce a good "soundstage" with just two speakers. Guess that they needed better speakers and a good amp. And some low oxygen patch cords...

Good stuff, thanks for posting it up. :thmbsp:

cool man

Tom Bavis said:

Sams folder 453-4 - I'll see if I have it.

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my phono section squeals, i'd love to have a schematic to give to my tech. thanks man.

also rec'd

i'd also recommend a look into cook records/ emory cook, who made the binaural recordings- first early commercial stereo recordings and records that this amp was made for initially. his stuff was donated to smithsonian and i believe and has come out on cd.

very good stuff. some of it is musicology basically. i have a calypso record thats great! live recordings, not studio stuff.

My Dad had a Bell Reel to Reel. Very heavy and nicely made, with piano keys that went "ka-thunk". I'll be down in Indianapolis this weekend digging through the attic to see if I can find it, or the many tapes he recorded.

The big innovation Bell did was a tape duplicator that ran both tapes through one machine. You added outriggers for 10 1/2" reels. Both tapes went under the capstan but one went past the record head and the other didn't. Very Rube Goldberg.

A local shop had an amp/tuner Bell Carillon combo. Very handsome in that 58 Chevy sort of way.

David

I have one of these Bell units. Mine is a Model 3DT. The funny thing is that somewhere between 1953 and 1958 there was a second version of this amp. Mine has inputs for RADIO, AUX, MAG, TAPE. So it's not a 3D. Problem is, it's not a 3DT either even though it's marked that way. The 3DT has 2X 12AX7's tubes for the preamp and uses four more for AF Amps and Splitters. The 3D uses 2X 12AY7's for the preamp and then 2X 12AT7's & 2X 12AX7's. My 3DT has 2X 12AY7's for the preamp, and 4 12AX7's. I found this post to be a strange coincidence because I have literally been working on mine for the last three days. The problem I have is that I ordered a schematic for the 3DT, as it's marked that way, but the version I have is different and the schematic is just about worthless. It's a real funny situation to be in. I replaced the power supply caps and every other capacitor. All the Sangamo's were leaky as all hell. I then changed out any resistors to far out of tolerance. Cleaned it up but...
The big stickler is that the right channel has seriously lower gain than the left and I have been literally racking my pea brain trying figure it out. Couple that with my lack of know-how and I'm stuck. I did verify that it is NOT a tranny problem.
The side that works work well and I am literally foaming at the mouth to get this working properly. A 3DT sold on ebay just last night for $360 and it was in excellent cosmetic condition, but one of the 6V6's was glowing cherry ripe. These amps are extremely well built and the iron is MASSIVE. Mine is wired with cloth, color coded no less...
If you can find one I'd sya go for it. For now, can anyone in Huntington Beach CA give me some help. I can pay you or I have all the DIY parts and tubes a human will ever need. PM me if you know how fix this stuff.

Audiodyssey,

Sorry to hear your 3DT is giving you such a hard time. I'd noticed that model number when looking at the various Sam's on eBay. I guess that must be the modification that took place in 1956 the ad I posted was referring to; the 'T' indicating the added "Tape Head Input". Could you post some pictures? I'd be cool to see the actual item. Maybe someone on the forum can spot your problem.

I have been trying to ferret out more information on Bell's pre-Thompson Products years (before 1953) when Floyd W. Bell was still running the company. The company goes back to at least WWII when they were manufacturing various electronics for the war effort. I read somewhere that it was Bell Sound that manufactured the intercoms used on American destroyers during the war. (I'm hearing Robert Mitchum from The Enemy Below in my head.)

In the immediate post-war period they were producing art deco-looking PA amps that are apparently still sought after (particularly by harmonica players). They also made high fidelity amplifiers such as the model 2122 which came out in the late 40s. I believe they also made a product known as the Record-O-Phone; a record player/lathe for home use. And they were also an early player in magnetic tape recording devices, although that may have had its genesis after Floyd sold the company (but I doubt it).

Bell also continued to work on military contracts after the War. They developed an airborne infrared detector in 1951-52 that could spot "hot" targets such as Russian T-34s from up to 4 miles away. A very innovative company to say the least. I wonder if it was the pressure of "crash" programs, such as project REDBIRD, that promulgated Floyd's retirement. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find ANY biographical information on him - not even when he was born. So I don't know how old he was when he sold the company for what was believed to be in the neighborhood of one million 1953 dollars.

After the sale Bell seems to have focused their advertising on their styling. I don't know if that was at the expense of engineering - it doesn't appear that way but all I have to go on is schematics and I'm certainly no expert. Are there any Bell collectors with collections that span 1953 who could give an objective opinion? Maybe someone has a copy of this intriguing little booklet from 1958:

I did run accross this the other day about TRW aquisition of Bell Sound: http://books.google.com/books?id=O6...=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PRA1-PA165,M1

There's a Floyd W. Bell corporation in Columbus, OH selling small audible alarm devices (think of the ding -ding -ding when you leave your keys in your car) - that would be a far cry from their line of consumer audio gear.

speaker dave said:

My Dad had a Bell Reel to Reel. Very heavy and nicely made, with piano keys that went "ka-thunk". I'll be down in Indianapolis this weekend digging through the attic to see if I can find it, or the many tapes he recorded.

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A version of that tape deck with custom electronics (modified on the kitchen table in W Lafayette ) was installed in several language laboratories throughout the midwest in the late 50's. Deck had problems with the bronze capstan bearings which would freeze up after lubrication with 3-in-1 oil. Peace. Regards.