Its so vintage, the internet hasn’t even found it yet
So, over the weekend we managed to acquire, on top of a slight sunburn and a nice relaxed glow, a vintage RCA turntable cabinet stereo system.
This thing is sweet, internet. Check this junk out:
Damn right. Thats solid wood. Its got little knobs or pulleys or something like that on it, and its looking sharp. Good hefty weight. But you open up the top of it, and damned if you aren’t looking at TECHNOLOGY
Well hells yes. Thats a damn turntable, internet. Its gonna play you a record, and let it be known here and now that I’m a man who’ll sit when a record is played. If its any good.
I mean, not like, I dunno, Dokken or something.
Not that I’m saying that Dokken ain’t Rokken. But thats been said by better people than I.
I digress.
Wait, do I digress on this site? I don’t think thats been done here yet. What kind of weird time loop do we find ourselves in if that happens? One where vintage electronics are sheathed in stately cherry stained wood?
Indeed.
So, anyway, its bad ass. Bad. Ass.
But like Jack Palance (rest his soul) before it, Bad Ass doesn’t mean that old ain’t got problems. There is no needle in place in the little record playing arm, so as much as it wants to lay down on my CCR record, or even something more upbeat like some Hot Chip or Gnarls Barkley (whom we will be sampling live down in Austin in another month, but thats another post) it just ain’t gonna happen without that needle.
So, what would you do, internet, in a situation where you need to get some information about something thats out of your zone of immediate knowledge?
You’d look it up.
Where theres a bit of a problem. Despite Bell and my combined superior (1337) internet sleuthing skillz, we were unable to find jack for an RCA model VLT29-L.
Not a damn thing.
Which leads me to wonder, internet, what the hell? Why do you have no bounty to share on our little wooden friend here? Wheres the beef? Was this the only one made? Is it some sort of prototype, too secret and unique to fall under your eternal watchful eye?
Was there some unknown Nixon era purge of these things, leading VLT29-L to hide in an attic or something, constantly afraid of the boots at the door which would bring it down to some basement, to be turned into a stately hutch, or a tacky sofa?
Or have I just been putting in the wrong search words?
Hell, who knows.
But dammit, internet, I’m disappointed with you.
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maybe its mad at u for ignoring it for so long…
Man, I was mad at it for stubbing my toe the other night.
Wonder if there’s a local electronics shop that could just retrofit a new (albeit not historically correct) tone arm for which needles can still be had. At least you’d get to listen to records, and it may track a little lighter than this one.
BTW, does it have vacuum tubes or is it solid state?
Have you checked here (or the links included)?
http://www.collectiblehelp.com/
It is damn purty. I have many, many albums we could play on it…if only you could find a needle.
Actually, the baddassness of my lovely wife managed to figure out that the cartridge does indeed pop out, providing us with usable numbers. A new cartridge is on the way.
But oh, we have plans for this thing. Big plans. Mighty plans. Plans that I’ll have to talk about another time.
Good job.
We have a turntable of somewhat more recent vintage. We keep it (and the amplifier) in an old chifferobe. Got about 500 LPs to go with it, but no CCR, Hot Chip or Gnarls Barkley.
But then, we also have a functioning Victrola, circa 1918, that looks exactly like this:
http://www.prices4antiques.com/music/phonographs-victrolas/Phonograph-Victor-Victrola-Model-XI-Upright-Mahogany-30-Records-B152242.asp
No electricity required.
Yah, I’ve been reading how those older Victrolas are some big collectors items. I’ve had a modernish (3 years old) a-t that I’ve been spinning my records on for a while (Dragon got it for me for a christmas present ((with my money))), but I love the sound of the older transistors. Much prefer an old tube amp, but you work with what ya got.
If damama still reads every now and then, I just want to say: “I told ya so”. If I’d had my druthers we would have got you guys a something very much like this for your wedding. I found it at a nearby antique store. But it probably didn’t work, anyways.
But, the point I’m trying to make is that I was right, damama.