HH Scott LK-72...how does it look?

grafxdesin

grafxdesin

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So today I picked up a Scott LK-72 and entered the tube world. :banana: I don't know much about this unit except that it is a kit that the previous owner put together. It was a very nice older man and he has all of the paperwork, manuals, schematics, and receipts that originally came with it. I have a few questions, first below is a link to an album I put up on photobucket, how is the overall condition of this unit? I know its dirty but how about the resisters, capacitors, and everything else?
Second, the tubes, they look good and the are all HH Scott tubes, telefunken, RCA, and sylvania. I tired to take good photos of them so someone with a little more knowledge could tell me about them. I also learned that you cannot clean them as the logo's on the tubes rub off. Oops.
Third, I am thinking about taking this unit apart and rebuild it with all new parts, is this wise or is this un-needed because it not in bad shape.
Fourth, I uploaded the parts list in the manual, are these still the right item numbers and can I get all of these parts if I need to replace certain ones?

He also gave me a HH Scott 350B Tuner that I will probably sell to fund the parts it will take to get the LK-72 up and running. I appreciate all info so thanks in advance.

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/grafxdesin/HH%20Scott%20LK-72/
 
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You absolutely must replace all the non-ceramic caps underneath and the can caps on top if you plan to actually enjoy the thing on a regular basis. There's a million threads just on this model alone I'd recommend to spend awhile reading then letting the information soak in.

Welcome to the world of tube audio...the addiction only spirals out of control from here... :thmbsp:

Kory
 
Great looking amp, just make sure you change all those old caps out of there.
I'm doing mine a Scott 299 and it's going real good. I would change those ceramic
disc caps out of the phase splitter area and by the .02 uf by the 12AX7's in front
there.

Tube
 
I will do some reading in the next few days, any good sites or places to get the caps I will need? What about the resistors?
 
Can anyone tell me about the tubes? The Telefunken 12ax7 seem to be worth a good amount of money, they are all original 1960's tubes. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
The tube that went into V11 a 5AR4 is an HH Scott tube, but when I cleaned it the logo came right off. :(
 
grafxdesin said:
Can anyone tell me about the tubes? The Telefunken 12ax7 seem to be worth a good amount of money, they are all original 1960's tubes. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
The tube that went into V11 a 5AR4 is an HH Scott tube, but when I cleaned it the logo came right off. :(
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HH Scott branded 5AR4's were usually either an Amperex or Mullard. Does it have 2 getters? Those are the saucer looking things located right under the silver flashing on top. If it does sounds like a pretty good chance it's a highly coveted Mullard.

Kory
 
kpaxfaq said:
HH Scott branded 5AR4's were usually either an Amperex or Mullard. Does it have 2 getters? Those are the saucer looking things located right under the silver flashing on top. If it does sounds like a pretty good chance it's a highly coveted Mullard.

Kory
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After a little research I believe it is a mullard, the 2 getters are metalic circles under the flashing. Unfortunetly I wiped off all the lettering except 133 and bellow that X9L. It also has a brown base that can be seen in the photos.
 
I know you want to sell the tuner to fund the restore but listen to it first and maybe you'll change your decision!

Anyway, looks like a LK-72 first iteration like mine, except yours has the gold faceplate (mine is chocolate brown).
 
Patrice B said:
I know you want to sell the tuner to fund the restore but listen to it first and maybe you'll change your decision!

Anyway, looks like a LK-72 first iteration like mine, except yours has the gold faceplate (mine is chocolate brown).
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I really like the chocolate brown look, I looked at the restored LK-72 on Nosvalves.com and mine is the same except his is brown as well. But I have the same tubes as he described, so they are the ones that came with it. After talking with Craig today, i'm pretty sure I am going to send this unit to him to have him do his dirty work to it.
What is so good about the tuner? I really don't listen to the radio much.
 
grafxdesin said:
I really like the chocolate brown look, I looked at the restored LK-72 on Nosvalves.com and mine is the same except his is brown as well. But I have the same tubes as he described, so they are the ones that came with it. After talking with Craig today, i'm pretty sure I am going to send this unit to him to have him do his dirty work to it.
What is so good about the tuner? I really don't listen to the radio much.
Click to expand...

I'm not good at explaining it in words but my Fisher KM-60 wipes the floor with tuners that cost much more. This Scott is no different. It just sounds lush, full, like the band is right in my attic. I have a local Jazz station that broadcasts with great quality and it really shines through a tube tuner. If your local radio doesn't have a high quality broadcast you're right it probably won't sound that special. Many of the coorperate stations that sound like they are broadcasting MP3's don't sound much different. You can't polish a turd to begin with. I know the Jazz station uses CD's and sometimes records because they'll be skipping occasionally. :) Also, the difference between production quality of CD's is incredibly appearent just like listening to my own material.

I guess my definition of a great tuner is that it sounds just as good as if I was playing the CD myself or spinning the record.

Kory
 
Hi,

I'd change all Ceramic capacitors in the signal path. These capacitors are not good sounding in audio circuits. The LK series used a lot of them as coupling capacitors during certain runs of this product. You will need to replace all the coupling capacitors anyway. Replace all the power supply capacitors as well. The LK72 is basically Scott's kit form of their excellent 299C amp. The 299C, though, does not use any ceramic coupling capacitors and is one of the best sounding integrated amps in it's class. Unless it's a late model, the LK2 should have the same transformers as the 299C. A lot of these were actually factory builds and well put together. But, many were kits so there may be wiring mistakes and some just plain lousy soldering and assembly you will have to address. Still, all in all, an excellent amp.
 
seta1 said:
Hi,
The 299C, though, does not use any ceramic coupling capacitors
Click to expand...

My 299C has 0.02uf ceramic couplers in the phono section that need changed out. I'm guessing this isn't the norm as it sorta caught me off guard when I took the bottom plate off.
 
kpaxfaq said:
I'm not good at explaining it in words but my Fisher KM-60 wipes the floor with tuners that cost much more. This Scott is no different. It just sounds lush, full, like the band is right in my attic. I have a local Jazz station that broadcasts with great quality and it really shines through a tube tuner. If your local radio doesn't have a high quality broadcast you're right it probably won't sound that special. Many of the coorperate stations that sound like they are broadcasting MP3's don't sound much different. You can't polish a turd to begin with. I know the Jazz station uses CD's and sometimes records because they'll be skipping occasionally. :) Also, the difference between production quality of CD's is incredibly appearent just like listening to my own material.

I guess my definition of a great tuner is that it sounds just as good as if I was playing the CD myself or spinning the record.

Kory
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was going to answer... Well said. With a good station (Radio-Canada and CBC here), a good multiplex tube tuner is a real pleasure for the ears.
 
You most likely noticed that this LK-72 version used the .05 uFD disc ceramic capacitors in parallel, equaling the .1 uFD that was used in most other models. Certainly, space was the issue since the .1 uFD capacitors of the time were much larger. Later LK-72 models, even before the LK-72B changed the tube layout somewhat affording more space for the coupling capacitors. I would agree (and always do) replace any disc ceramic capacitors in the signal path. Modern .1 uFD capacitors are quite small and will easily fit the space...
 
This baby is coming home from Craig at NOSVales as we speak. Should have it in a few days. Craig also confirmed the tubes are all originals (Telefunken 12AX7 Ribbed, RCA Black Plate 7199, and a Mullard 5AR4) and they all tested great. Really excited to listen to it and will post pictures of his work when I receive it.

Also, if anyone is thinking about using Craig I highly recommend him, great service and was willing to answer all of my silly questions. He even gave me a call to let me know how things where coming along. Great guy and great service!
 
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