1954 GE 15" Color TV Photos and a plea for Help

[John Folsom]

Hi Audiokarmites.

I hope the group will enjoy these photos of my General Electric Model 15CL100 15" color TV from 1954. And I hope someone can help me with some problems.

GE, along with a handful of others, offered 15" color TVs in the 1954 model year to support the introduction of NTSC color TV. This set features 40 tubes, including the 15GP22 CRT, and was offered with VHF 12 channel tuner and an optional UHF tuner, which my set does not have. From the looks of the set, GE was anticipating the arrival of a larger 19" or 21" CRT. What was the next color set GE made?

The set is well documented in the Wallace Telaides GE service data for 1946-1954. This will be a great help when it comes tiem to get the set working again. Curiously, it describes 2 production runs of the set, with differing schematics and component layouts. My set appears to be from the second production run. Makes one wonder how many sets they produced in each run.

The tube layout calls out several "in house " prototype tube numbers: Z2176 (a.k.a. 2v2), and Z2188 (a.k.a. 6BU5).

While the 2V2 seem common enough, the 6BU5 is another matter. The 6BU5 is a pentode HV regulator tube, similar to the triode 6BD4 (or 6BK4). I have not been able to find any 6BU5 tubes through any of the usual tube dealers. Please check your local tube dealers and you stock and help me find a 6BU5 tube or two. Of course, if it comes down to it, I can rewire the socket to use a 6BK4….but what fun is that?

When the set was offered with no UHF tuner, an escutcheon covered the round hole in the center of the front panel where the UHF tuner control would be. The plate was about 21/2" square. You can see this plate in the scan I included, from the May 1954 GE Tech Talk service bulletin. Unfortunately, there is not enough detail to make out what it looks like. If anyone has a better example of this GE emblem plate from some other GE TV or product , or advertisement, I would greatly appreciate a good quality photo/scan of it so I can attempt a reproduction.

As you can see from the photos of the set, I am missing the large knob for the dual control on the left side of the front panel. If anyone can help wit h a like knob, or even a pair of very similar knobs, I would be happy to buy or trade for them.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Sandy G]

Ahhh, you don't want that old junky thing-Tell ya what, since i'm such a PRINCE of a guy, I'll give ya a hunnert dollars cash money fer it. But now, shipping's on you-most of them thar now old TV's don't bring no more than 10, 15 bux-20 at the most. i figger I'm bein' MORE than fair w/ya....<grin> Seriously, that bad boy is a WHALE of a catch !! I envy you greatly, sir. Here's to the happy day you get it going again...We WILL want to see pics, you know !! -Sandy G.

[Charlie]

That 6BU5 must really be a rare one... I didn't even see a listing for it in the rca receiving tube manual. Did any of the other 15 inch color sets use this number?

[polaraman]

I have a 6BU8 and a 6AU5. The 6BU5 is listed in an old 1959 GE tube sales list that I have . The 6BU5 is the most expensive tube on the sheet at $5.50. I think that would be a pile of money in 1959.


Interesting mask for the CRT.


polaraman

[bgadow]

This is a set that sort of dominates the room. Quite a collection you've got there-thanks for sharing!

I checked on the tube, of course, and nothing here. I did look in my tube sub book, which I think might be from the early 70s? Anyway, the 6BU5 is listed, but no subs. I'll have to dig through the knobs over the weekend if nobody else finds it. Doesn't look familiar but you never know.

[Eric H]

John, that set is incredible! Is the 15GP22 good?

I don't think I hav any knobs like that but I'll look.
You probably have the only set ever made so it may be tough to find knobs, unless they are the same as some B&W model.
What's the hole in the center for?

I put that tube type into Webcrawler, and found it listed for sale for $6.00 at this place:

Leeds Electronics 68 North 7th Street Brooklyn NY 11211 Tel 718 963-1764

[kc8adu]

time to look at the getters.most are white as most 15gp22's have gone to air.
if the getters are silver take the tubes serial number and play some super lotto with it:-)

[Aussie Bloke]

Nice looking telly mate ! Seen the advert of it on the Early Television Foundation site initially, am real stoked to see that there's at least one still in existence . Best of luck getting this telly up and crankin' again, looking forward to seeing a picture on the tube.

Cheers
Troy

[John Folsom]

Originally Posted by kc8adu

time to look at the getters.most are white as most 15gp22's have gone to air.
if the getters are silver take the tubes serial number and play some super lotto with it:-)

When I got the set, it had a 15GP22 with a broken neck (bummer!). But, I had a spare, which is in the set now, awaiting restoration.

[John Folsom]

Originally Posted by joe_tbird

I put that tube type into Webcrawler, and found it listed for sale for $6.00 at this place:

Leeds Electronics 68 North 7th Street Brooklyn NY 11211 Tel 718 963-1764

I Googled my way to the same place (Leeds Electronics), and gave them a call. "Sure", says the guy, we got those. How many you want?" "Six", I replied hopefully. Well, he took my order, and all was well. About an hour later, he called back, a bit contritely, to say "No", they didn't have any after all. (#*?!.).

Thanks for looking!

[John Folsom]

Originally Posted by Eric H

John, that set is incredible! Is the 15GP22 good?

I don't think I hav any knobs like that but I'll look.
You probably have the only set ever made so it may be tough to find knobs, unless they are the same as some B&W model.
What's the hole in the center for?

Eric, The CRT is good! The 6BU5 seems to be the HV Regulator that time forgot. I suspect it was more expensive than the competing 6BD4/6BK4.

The hole in the center is wher the GE escutcheon-emblem thingy goes (see the GE_Bulletin.jpg).

[Cory]

Maybe it's just my eyes, but those look like some GIANT selenium rectifiers!

Is that 6BU5 octal?

Cory

[Sandy G]

You may wanna try us Boatanchor guys' old standby, Fair Radio in Lima, Ohio. Maybe those tubes were also used in some sort of super-secret Hydrostatic Gonkulator whizbang for the military back in the '50s-and accordingly, the gummint had 3 jillion of 'em made up. Wish I could dig up a phone #, but Fair has a nice website. Be careful-Fair has all kinds of stuff you really don't need, but would be kewl as all hell to have-like Hydrostatic Gonkulators. -Sandy G.

[Chad Hauris]

Yes, the 6BU5 is octal...it's still listed in the 1974 GE tube manual.
Thanks, John for information on this set...it seemed like there were a lot of different sets using the 15GP22 that I have seen in the photofact folders and it's exciting to see one that actually still exists.

Howard W. Sams would have to have bought one of each of these 15GP22 sets to research it for photofact data....wonder what they did with these sets when they were done? Were they disposed of or were they given or sold to employees?