Dansette Major component values

[ppppenguin]

Terry, I don't think anyone ever claimed that these record players sounded particularly good. They were cheap and cheerful when they were new. It's a little unfortunate that the Dansette name is the one that everyone recognises now, leading to higher prices. Makes life easier and cheaper for those of us who want the better machines, such as the Bush or Hacker products. I grew up with an EAR as our household gram. EL84, ECC83, EZ80 ISTR. Sounded OK though it wasn't kind to LPs and the autochanger gummed up badly. No idea what ahppened to it. Probably got binned when I first started acquiring hifi kit in my teens.

Why put the volume cotrol that way round? It's odd, and as Terry says, very non-optimal at low volumes. Perhaps to ensure that even if the wiper makes poor contact the valve always has a grid resistor. If you turn the control round with wiper to grid then perhaps put a 10M resistor from grid to chassis as a precuation.

[Old Sparky]

According to the circuits in the link you kindly provided, Jeffrey, the volume control & Cartridge in the Major Deluxe are wired with the wiper to the pickup and the 'hot' side of the V/C to g1 ex factory, yet in the Major the wiper goes to g1 and the 'hot side' to the pickup. Apart from the fact that the tone control of the 'de luxe is connected between the anode of the EL84 and chassis, whereas on the 'Major' it's connected across the o/p tx. primary, the only other difference is that a 1800pf cap wired between anode & cathode is present in the 'de luxe', not in the 'Major'
I had an E.A.R. 'Autobat' in my teens & early 20s, c/w it's add-on stereo amp. In some ways an underrated/unappreciated make these days!

[ppppenguin]

As I said, Dansette kit was mainly cheap and cheerful. I wouldn't attach any great profundity to these designs. They just had to work well enough and not bounce back under warranty. My main surprise is that the mains transformer got past the bean counters.

I think that EAR was founded by a cousin of my father. Which is why we had one of their grams. I have very dim childhood memories of visiting Len Stone's house and seeing a Rogers amplifier.

[Old Sparky]

I have had to fit a new on/off switch & volume control to the Major which is the subject of this thread, and have wired it with the wiper to G1 of the EL84, so the cartridge will be connected across the full 1Meg, as in the Major 'deluxe' version of the circuit.

[Murphyv310]

I rewired a few Dansettes that used the EL84 for an ECL82 with some NFB. This improved quality no end and output to the ear was subjectively similar. You could also use a lower output better quality cartridge.

[Old Sparky]

As it's not my record player, but one I'm repairing for someone else, provided the BSR Cartridge(an SCR11 or 12) which is fitted to it, is in G.W.O., and gives reasonable output, I'll stick with the original circuit. Next job is to refit the amp. to the player, re-connect the motor & cartridge, fire it up and see, or rather hear, the result. By ensuring that all parts of the metalwork are at the same potential - the panel on/in which the controls are mounted was loose!) and fitting a 3-core mains lead, the hum level - at least with the amp. out of the cabinet - is very much reduced. Incidentally I note that there is an 1800pf cap. fitted between the anode & cathode in one version of the amplifier (not present in the one I'm repairing) What is the function of this cap. -I'd guess it provides some NFB, at higher frequencies, right?

[Terry]

As the cathode bias resistor is bypassed by a 25µF capacitor, that 1800pF cap is effectively connected to ground so just a bit of treble cut, as far as I'm concerned, rather than NFB.

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
Absolutely Terry, it is only for top cut. Certainly nothing to do with NFB.
Looking back on the thread I have to agree that Dansette's are really over rated, the bottom of the range were grim and even the more expensive versions were toys for kids with better off parents.

[Old Sparky]

I didn't consider the fat that the cathode is effectively earthed by the 25uf cap. (only been repairing things for almost 50 years!!!) . As to Dansettes - no doubt most are certainly no better than other one-valve players from others such as Fidelity, but , although the name may be a misnomer, surely the 'HiFi' model, which has a half-decent push-pull amplifier was more than a 'toy for kids with better-off parents'

[Murphyv310]

There were much better record players around at the time. Take for instance the Pye Black Box, a decent cabinet twin speakers and bar the very early models an ultra linear push pull amp with a tone compensated volume control. Two years ago I did a small Ferguson radio gram and the quality and volume were outstanding.
Granted there was some rubbish out there with a UL84, tapped motors and other nasties, just like Dansette.