Just A Quickie This One I suspect this one won't appeal to many............. I have had this for a good five years just sitting in the 'Boomer Store Room' I felt sorry for it & had to save it, used to own one of course back in the day around 1982 (A great year for me!!) This was filthy & dead so time to investigate!! I guessed this would be a fairly easy job & it was......... Seized motor, stretched belt & mains fuse blown!! I was very surprised to see a flat capstan belt & a large flywheel in this little Ingersoll, I expected 'Mickey Mouse' throughout this machine but that wasn't the case at all...........everything pluggable & really easy to get access to the cassette mechanism! Capstan shaft & motor bearing oiled, it was time to replace the mains fuse & power up - All good so far!! Motor running silently & after oiling both reel shafts (Almost seized reels) it was time to clean heads & pinch roller which were very dirty & seemed to take forever Plugged in my headphones (Speakers were off in the front panel) & played a tape........ Speed spot on with no instability at all - that's what we want to hear Tiny azimuth adjustment required to restore maximum treble & channel balance & suddenly this little Ingersoll sounded ace through my earphones Now I know this little units speakers are small & not up to much but after cleaning the case & reassembling, she works like new in every way & looks so clean & new An easy restore & am glad I did it now............... Another one saved from the skip Oh & VIOLA!! Here she is
nickeccles it's nice to see you still working your magic on these boxes. I can appreciate all your efforts to restore these machines to their former glory. While most might have their eye on the most popular boxes, you seem to get the rare (and mostly 3 piece) boxes with great cassette mechanisms going again. I like your style Now get yourself a GE 3-5267A and I'll have spare parts available for you on that project Just yet another little forgotten hidden gem Link to wikiboombox of my box below: http://www.wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=GE+3-5267A
I think the only GE products that came to the UK during the eighties were Jet Engines attached to aircraft. However, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a European AKA of your box labelled Amstrad, Ingersol, Prinzsound or another tier 2 supplier.
I have wanted a GE 3-5267A forever since I 1'st saw one!! Definitely my type of stereo & very similar to my Fisher PH-460LG which was a real pig to repair but has all the same features as your GE & it sounds Ace!! & very loud!! If anyone has that GE model, please sell it to me! The only GE product I had in 1981 was a GE AM CB radio from the states - illegal of course back then & obtained.........well we won't go into that here Lovely little thing & I made many friends using it until FM CB became legal & better sets were produced!! I need that GE stereo in good condition guys, name your price!
Since the whole road got demolished to build "The Galleries" shopping centre I don't think it would cause any problem in saying that if you wanted an AM CB in Bristol in early 1981 you could have bought one from the cloakroom counter of Freeze nightclub in Fairfax Street (although I never did as my parents most definitely wouldn't have approved). I was in there once when two blokes came in dressed as CBs with the body warmers covered in badges, Walkie Talkies clipped on their belts. Everyone thought they were the coolist people in the coolist nightclub in town. I did get an FM CB in December 1981 and later bought a Cobra 148 GTL DX (120 channel all mode) which I got clearance from the Radio Communications Agency to convert and use on the 10m Amateur band. One of my first contacts with that was Tenerife !
Wow! What a story!! I love looking back to my adolescent years - they were just the best but you never realise it at the time With me, my whole life was electronics, stereo's home & portable along with anything to do with TV & video technology! There were local trade shows back then (All free) where you could play all you wanted...........inconceivable in this messed up world we live in now, all about the crossed S's & £ signs now!! What I would give to go back now & live that life..........80's was truly the start of the digital age, 90's saw awesome free satellite channels in their 1000's if you owned a motorised dish - watching the technology advance was fantastic & those trade shows gave anyone who braved the cold & winter weather (In Bognor Regis) could go & waste a whole evening playing Strangely, all the local dealers seemed to 'know me' & almost all just let me wander round their shops too as long as I kept out of the way Will always be grateful to those folk who absolutely u/stood my obsession & allowed me to play for hours sometimes