I'm getting a Zenith Hybrid!
 

I was talking to my good friend Danny today, and we started talking about the TV that the CRT in my CTC-25 came from. Long story short, Danny wanted to make some space, and I was glad to take it off his hands. I think it's a 25BC50 chassis, but I cannot confirm this yet. Maybe y'all Zenith experts can help me out with a year and chassis no. I'll probably go and pick it up later this spring. Sometime in June.

Here is the front of the set.

i have the same set that i m going to scrap.the cabinet is way too bad to restore.these are fine sets and you will be proud to own.zenith s big downfall was they were too good.not much return business.they were built like tanks and performed.

I'm looking forward to finally having a "pencil box" Zenith, as I call them. Because of the little door on the bottom. I always liked that. I already know where I'm going to put this set. This set also has screw on legs, so it should be much easier to move than my CTC-25.

The chassis # is on the red tag but cant quite read it.
Its the first of 3 hybrid chassii. This one has SS IF's,
an IC for color demodulation & a few other transistors.
Next one had one dura module, a few less tubes &
more transistors.
The last one is the one most think of, the four tube
hybrid. They were built by the millions from B through F line.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I've got the next hybrid in line 12B13C52 chassis. The SS IF module IMHO is what really makes the hybrids shine....They seem to always be aligned to perfection allowing a really clear sharp picture it the CRT is focused right.

Danny e-mailed me and confirmed that this TV does indeed have a 20BC50 chassis. What kind of performance can I expect from it?

I have intimate knowledge of the similar 12B14C50 and 12B14C52 but what IS the difference from this to a 20BC50????
Properly set up, that will look a tad bit better than your RCA.

Consoles with the "BC" number I am not familiar with but '72 and '74 sets like the (more SS than tubes)25CC50 and then just four-tube 23EC15 are the dwindling down of Zenith tube counts. Those OE CRT's were just the finest ever and take well to a gentle wake-up on a tester.

One piece of advice is watch out for that regulator VDR per DRH4683's post. My set is finally suffering this issue after many years of family use and waiting for me to administer the cure :sigh:

Well I'm finally getting around to sharing this set. Unfortunately, when we were loading it in the van, the one of the legs came off. The leg isn't broken - the fallaparticle board fell apart. My dad will be taking care of that when we get back from Chicago. (Leaving 2 am 6-16-16)

As a general rule legged consoles travel better with less damage when the legs are unscrewed beforehand....At least when moving in the upright position.

Now you tell me... I turned this TV on for a little bit yesterday - excellent crisp static. I haven't had time to watch it yet.

Lesson learned. All the best, Tom

I've been watching this set a little bit, and unfortunately, all is not well. You have to have the brightness down pretty low, otherwise the picture gets extremely blurry and blows outward.

Here is what it looks like with the brightness turned down. Note that it is not very pleasant to watch it like this.

The HV regulator tube can cause that exact symptom in Zeniths. The only real test is to sub it with a known good one.