Who still owns MELOS tube gear?

[lorne]

A LONG STORY SHORT
Melos was a sort of eccentric brand that was the brainchild of one man (AFAIK). But, he filled his production facility and lab with excellent people — some of whom relocated and continued for a time to service broken units after the Melos company went into receivership. They did so without engineering data, schematics and other drawings because all documents went as part of the receivership. Years later, these came up for auction. By chance I spotted this opportunity; I had the idea to bid on the collection. Alas, baby needed new shoes and so on, and I let it go. Now, it seems all the stuff is lost.

LET"S STICK TOGETHER ON AK
Info, data and repair/restoration solutions are very sparse and rare. But, as for those of us who love our Melos stuff, I think we'd go the extra bit to keep these pieces alive. I for one am a long way from being able to afford anything as good, better or more versatile than my GK 1+1 preamp.

I think we should identify and introduce ourselves and share information and solutions. I have some stuff regarding the GK preamp series scattered around AK that could be collated here. If I see there are a number of us interested, I'll do just that and hope that a common effort can begin to create a comprehensive resource.

Best .... Lorne

 

[Todddo]

I have a Melos 200 Triode Plus amp. I think that is the correct name. It's in a closet and I would need to dig it out to verify. It sounded great when last used, but I have changed houses and speakers since then and I don't have a good place to set it up right now to get the most out of it.

I also did have a Melos SHA-1 headphone amp used as a preamp and I traded that in to Melos for a SHA-Gold. Both were great preamps but I no longer have them.

Once I had a tube die on my amp and I called Melos and George Bischoff answered the phone. We discussed it and he sent me a replacement no charge. Nice man. Great sounding gear.

 

[lorne]

Hi Todd: WOW! You have bags of power in this monster amp. I found replacements for the tube complement. Of course the ground is heaving with 12 12AX7's. I found NOS 12AT7's as well as the more expensive 6KG6A's. Members of Hi Fi Engine can download an instruction/owner's manual. I hope you can get all 63 lbs down the stairs from the attic and power it up on your system.

You wrote: "Once I had a tube die on my amp and I called Melos and George Bischoff answered the phone. We discussed it and he sent me a replacement no charge. Nice man."

Friends who were the previous owners of my GK 1+1 received a similar sort of complement along with a hand-written letter, which i think I still retain.

(Left: 6KG6A and European equivalent; Right 12AT7)

 

[primosounds]

My audio buddy dropped off a dual mono preamp that needs repair. I have not gotten into it yet. Problem is someone else got to it before me and unsoldered wires and who knows what else happened.

 

[savatage1973]

My tech/buddy had a whole bunch of Melos gear at his shop a couple years ago, in for service/tune-up. IIRC, the owner brought in copies of all the schematics/SMs. I don't know if he retained copies of them--might have--he files copies of stuff like that. I'll ask, the next time I talk to him.

 

[lorne]

My tech/buddy had a whole bunch of Melos gear at his shop a couple years ago, in for service/tune-up. IIRC, the owner brought in copies of all the schematics/SMs. I don't know if he retained copies of them--might have--he files copies of stuff like that. I'll ask, the next time I talk to him.

Short of torture, do anything possible — like beg to make copies or photos of those schematics. There just is NOTHING around.

I have a hand-drawn schematic for the GK 1+1 that is very hard to read because of poor digi resolution. I cannot remember where I got it from, and I cannot confirm its accuracy. And, it does not cover the power supply if I remember correctly. Nevertheless, I've used it for some minor stuff. Please see the next post.

 

[savatage1973]

Short of torture, do anything possible

Torture is an option--he'd probably like that--threaten him with a good time, will ya? If he didn't keep copies, at least he has records of who they belonged to and contact information (if it is still current). I'll try!

 

[lorne]

My audio buddy dropped off a dual mono preamp that needs repair. I have not gotten into it yet. Problem is someone else got to it before me and unsoldered wires and who knows what else happened.

This sounds like the GK1+1. The 1+1 model had a larger power supply module than the GK-1. The difference is visibly obvious just by comparing the size and shape of the power supply chassis. In the next few weeks, I am going to open mine up (once again). I will photo the daylights out of it to give you a hand in rewiring — if you are interested. Also, someone's hand-drawn schematic (shown below) may help you too.

Moreover —but I stand to be corrected — I do not believe that the GK-1+1 is dual mono. I totally rebuilt a GK-1+1 power supply module years ago — without a schematic. As incompetent as I am, nothing I remember about the layout suggested it was 'twin mono'. It simply has two transformers instead of the GK-1's single transformer. It is often said to be twin mono, but I don't think so.

The unaltered factory power module ran hot enough fry eggs. I rebuilt mine after opening it up and finding charred parts and burns in the board. On the advice of a professional, I added much larger heat sinks on some transistors and a regulator. I hugely increased the power rating of some resistors by using ceramic types. I lifted some stuff off the board. And I wired part of the module point-to-point instead of using the overstressed traces! Also, I added a fan on a new top cover while leaving the ends (where the transformers are) open to air and exhaust. I can heat the room with it.

I can't stress this enough — change the heat management in ANY GK -1+1! I am not the only one to have noticed this! (I made drawings of the stock power supply board, and I photoed my rebuild and mods. All this is on AK archived threads.)

I've already written that I pulled the balance switches and changed the wiring. I replaced the volume pot with a twin Alps "Blue" A 100K. This week, I ordered two Alps single pots that I will use to give me balance control again. [ALPS RK27111 single pot A100 logarithmic audio taper]. The balance switches and the external power supply units were, IMHO, the two big PITA's in regards to this design. All the tube types are available. At least two of the three types were used in TV's, and they seem to last a long time.

Do not be confused by the tube complement. The GK-1 and GK- 1+1 came with different tube complements. (This can be argued, and it has been discussed this way and that — just sayin', they came different.) The hand-drawn (but difficult to read) rendition of the schematic for a 1+1 model (right channel only) bears this out. Again, as noted above, I can't remember where this drawing came from. I cannot vouch for its accuracy, but I have used it for minor stuff, and so far so good.

One more thing ... if you are not used to these rigs. There are capacitors on the board that only LOOK like they are electroytics, but are in fact some sort of plastic cap that is cased in a metal cylinder.

I kinda wish there was a bottom plate so we don't have to lift the whole board to do more radical stuff!

GK-1+1 main board only, right channel only

 

[MrSneis]

I have a SHA-Gold still in service and just acquired a SHA-1.

The Gold received a bit of diy work, I took it on as a beginner's project of sorts.

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/melos-sha-gold-2016-project-long-post.1745/

This gentleman did work on both a gold and SHA-1, he posted his own schematic of the basic circuit on his SHA-1 video.

 

[lorne]

Hi Mr Snels ... thanks for the heads-up. I'm busy right now but I look forward to following up the links in your post. ... Lorne

 

[kjack48230]

Hi Lorne,

Add me to the list of Melos owners. My Pre is currently making its way to me via FedEx, Thanks again Morgen for selling it to me! Also, Thank you for sending all of the links and info on this unit. It'll give me a good head start on restoring it to it's original glory. I was an ET in the service back in the day..... late 70's, so I'm looking to reverse engineer the schematic so it's more legible. I have access to a cad system so when done, there isn't any confusion.

I get the pre tomorrow, I feel like a kid at Christmas!

 

[lorne]

>I get the pre tomorrow, I feel like a kid at Christmas!

I'll send you more stuff! Hold on! I think I posted all or most of it on AK, but I pulled out of PhotoBucket and I dunno if it all comes up as it should.

When you do the retro engineering stuff on the crude schematic I sent you, and work your CAD rendition, I hope (beg) that you post on here.

And ... please consider the duel mono volume pot mod I sent you as illustrated by what I did with my unit. It really makes this amp so much more useable. Also it makes matching tubes almost a moot subject. And BTW: all tubes are available and are affordable. If you have the version that uses three types, you may not be able to get all three from the same source. I had to use two companies. Tubes last for ages in these things. They were types used in a lot of TV's.

 

[kjack48230]

>
When you do the retro engineering stuff on the crude schematic I sent you, and work your CAD rendition, I hope (beg) that you post on here.

No problem, I will.

 

[Tinkerbelle]

>I get the pre tomorrow, I feel like a kid at Christmas!

I'll send you more stuff! Hold on! I think I posted all or most of it on AK, but I pulled out of PhotoBucket and I dunno if it all comes up as it should.

When you do the retro engineering stuff on the crude schematic I sent you, and work your CAD rendition, I hope (beg) that you post on here.

And ... please consider the duel mono volume pot mod I sent you as illustrated by what I did with my unit. It really makes this amp so much more useable. Also it makes matching tubes almost a moot subject. And BTW: all tubes are available and are affordable. If you have the version that uses three types, you may not be able to get all three from the same source. I had to use two companies. Tubes last for ages in these things. They were types used in a lot of TV's.

If this is the thread you are referencing, it looks like schematics are still there. It looks like this was a related thread from you.

 

[kjack48230]

Just picked up the Melos from the shipping department, I had it sent to my work. I'll be going home in a couple hours and I'll open this baby up and check it out, will post pictures when I can.

 

[kjack48230]

My new.... to me anyway...... Melos GK-1. Judging by the power supply, it's an earlier one. For the most part, it's pretty clean. No lid, that's why he tossed in the cool cabinet. Got some work to do, power umbilical cord broke off the post, nothing major. Just glad I saw it before I placed the tubes in and fired it up. I'll take my time to restore this, recap for sure and maybe build a new box for it.

 

[kjack48230]

Hello all, I was too curious as to how this would sound so I did a quick repair on the power lead and got it up and running. I placed it into my system and it sounded every bit as amazing as my McCormack ALD 1, actually maybe a slight bit better. I think it's time to move the ALD on to a new home.

 

[kjack48230]

So I tried to set up the dipswitches for MC and got virtually nothing. The MM setup worked but it seams the MC settings are FUBARed, anyone that spent time in the service knows that acronym!

Will have to use a phono preamp for the time being until I can get around to working on that circuit. Is there anything on the PCB that would indicate the tube setup? This unit has all tubes the same.

 

[Taki840]

Just joined this site because of this thread I love my Melos gear

 

[El_Kron]

Hello everyone, I have a Melos phono preamp (PS-1) that is missing the power box. I got it from my late godfather who was an audiophile and a record collector. I’m not a hifi-gearhead, but I can appreciate good sound. I still hope to find the power unit but...

In case it is missing, does anyone here know if it is at all possible to find one, or replace it with something? A custom job is certainly waaaay over my head.

If I can’t use it, the next best thing would be to sell it to someone who could use it.

Any response would be very welcome!