A fellow VK'er sent me a nice little '79 12" GE B&W "performance television" using the XB chassis. I have not done a thing to it and it has a very nice picture.

While we're on this subject, does anyone know what years the XB chassis sets were in production? I think '75 is the oldest that I've seen and '81 is the newest; but, that does not mean that there are not older or newer sets that use the XB chassis. I think GE was still making a cheaper tube chassis set when the solid state XB sets came out and the tube chassis stayed around until at least '75 or '76. In fact, I've seen some of the later tube type GE B&W's that used the exact same cabinet as the XB solid state sets. I've also seen the XB chassis in some 15" sets, as well as some XB sets that were sold under the Truetone and JC Penny brands.

About a year ago, I found an '83-'84 12" GE B&W at the SA that used an XC chassis. I didn't actually see the chassis; but, the set looked like a rebadged Goldstar. By that time, I think GE found out that it was cheaper to outsource production of these sets, rather than build them themselves. Years ago, I found an early '80's edition of "Electronic Technician/Dealer" and there was a brief article stating that GE was ceasing USA production of 12" B&W sets.

I'll post pictures of my set later today.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2010_1210ge0001.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2010_1210ge0003.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2010_1210ge0006.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2010_1210ge0007.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2010_1210ge0008.jpg

Interesting that they had made the switch to Korean picture tubes. I would have guessed that if it were assembled here they would have used a Clinton tube. (I knew they had stopped using their own bw crts earlier in the decade)

I got pretty tired of looking at GE stuff when I was a kid, but I have to say, they did have a fair amount of style to them.

I did look for an EIA number on the CRT; but, couldn't find one. Maybe I simply missed it.

Speaking of Clinton tubes, I have a late '70's Sampo B&W TV that uses a Clinton CRT.

Back in '95, I had a GE just like this, except mine had "solid state" printed where "performance television" is printed on this. I think the one I had back then was a '75 model. When I graduated from high school, I spent a few weeks at the state training center for the blind and I took this set to use in the dorm room. The main reason I took it was because I didn't know how much space was available for a TV and I didn't want to take something valuable, in the event something happened to it. One of the dorm supervisors found out I played around with TV's and I sold it to her, when I left, for $20. Several years later, one of my friends went through the same rehab center and he met the lady who bought the TV from me and she said it was still working fine. Even that long ago, I think I was the only client there who brought a B&W TV. The rest either brought 19" color TV's are they watched the fuzzy old big screen that was in the lounge.

Interesting to note that your set was assembled in Portsmouth, but has a chassis assembled with Syracuse plant parts (ES instead of EP prefix on the yoke and flyback). GE Probably shifted production in 77/78 to Portsmouth.

My GE Symptom repair Manual (put out by GE) lists the XB chassis and is dated 10/76 (cover says 1977), so 1975 seems probable for production start, likely in the Syracuse plant. The XB chassis has three mods in the manual - R127 was changed to 160K ohms from 320K, R110 changed to 2.2K from 2.7K, and R107 changed to 3.3K from 3.9K. It's a brightness mod.

Cheers,

I have one of this same set only mine is in a yellow cabinet and is dated 1978. Mine was made in the Portsmouth plant also. These are well built and great performing sets. Mine has been in daily service for a while now with no problems. I would not hesitate to get another of these perhaps in a more conservative color such as grey or white. Here are a couple pictures of my GE while I was going through it.

Speaking of cabinets, I've also seen these XB sets housed in a woodgrain cabinet and they had thumbwheel knobs where these sets have the three knobs sticking out.

Good catch on the ES number. I didn't realize Syracuse was still running that late; I was figuring that when Portsmouth opened they moved all production. When did it close, and what did it make towards the end?

A little Ronsonol Lighter Fluid will take that grease pencil right off without harming the plastic.