Picked up another one.....

[mkoser]

Hello there,

As I posted a few weeks ago, I am new to the vintage TV world. Although I have collected tubed radios for many years, I'm new to the TV world.

I was at the bank today, and noticed the Goodwill behind the bank. I decided I would stop in there, just to see if they had anything that I couldn't live without.

I went back to the appliances area and found this neat little Zenith B/W TV.

I plugged it in and it slowly came to life. I thought to myself, wow, this solid state set takes A LONG time to warm up...

I bought it, (for a whopping $4.99) and took it home. I plugged it in again, and to my surprise I noticed the dull orange glow of tubes! SWEET!

The set works awesome. Has the original UHF loop antenna and about 5 foot vhf in perfect condition. The olive plastic case is blemish free. It looks brand new. The channel selector is tight, and easy to tune. The volume/on-off pot is clean and without problems.

I've been unable to find any info on the net about this set (other than a guy on e-bay selling an orange one for 85.00).

Does anyone know anything about it, (year, collectible value, monetary value) I'm just curious.

Model number Zenith E1335-1
Chassis number 12CB12ZX

Thanks

Matt K.

see attached pictures.

[RetroHacker]

I have one of those too. Mine is black. It's an excellent little set and required no work at all - it just worked. It's an interesting set, a hybrid. The tuner, RF, and I think the audio stage is solid state, while everything else is tube.

Gotta love that Zenith build quality.

As far as collectible value, I doubt it has any. These sets are extremely common. And they almost always work. But they're wonderful televisions, and have a very nice picture.

-Ian

[zenithfan1]

I have 2 of those, love 'em! One is yellow & white, the other is brown & tan both work great. I like the color of yours, the stripe around the front makes it stand out from some of the others. I recently saw a bright orange one on ebay, probably the same one you all saw. looked cool. I believe the audio is tube as well. I'll do some research on these if you want. I think these are from about '72 to '75

[zenithfan1]

I checked it out last night and this is what I found: these are from '71 and '72 and they were made for a few years after that. The tube compliment is, 6LN8 Horiz control/ ocil., 38HE7 Horiz out and damper, 12FX5 sound out, 17JZ8 Vert. ocil./ out, 1BX2 HV rect. some have 1X2C or solid state rect. Very good sets, too bad they are made in taiwan

[mkoser]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it!

MK

[zenithfan1]

Also, I forgot to mention, does it have the original tubes? if so, check the 38HE7 some have an HK7, for silicone holding it in place. If it has this, its the original tube. Check the side of the tube{remove the shield} try not to break the silicone if its not already, just for originality. Anyways check the side for numbers, they will usually look like 71-25 or similar, the first # is the year.

[mattdavala]

I've got the same set with the fake woodgrain finish. I'm happy to still have the Tv, because I remember visiting my grandmother a couple times a year and I would love to use this TV and watch the tubes glow. She passed away and I am happy to say the TV didn't get tossed. Good memories attatched to that TV.

Enjoy!
Matt Davala

[mkoser]

Hello again,

Yes this set has silicone holding the tube in place.

I discovered a problem with it today, however.

I went into my back room today, where I have the set and swore I could smell the "smell" of hot tubes. I checked to make sure that I didn't leave a radio or TV on and found that everything was turned off. My radios and other TV are unplugged so I didn't think anything of it.

This afternoon, I decided to turn the Zenith on again, and noticed how the picture IMEDIATLY came to life when I rotated the volume/power switch.

I thought to myself, that's weird since I know that this set takes a minute to warm up.

I turned it back of and peeked through the little ventilation holes in the back to watch the glow of the tubes. To my surprise, they stayed lit!

The picture tube went dark, and the audio quit, however two of the tubes in the set still glowed. It wasn't until I pulled the plug that they went out.

There must be a problem in the power/volume switch. I'll work on that later.

I'm troubled though since I had the set plugged in all night last night, and those tubes were powered all night long. Who knows how long they have been that way. I guess there is nothing I can do about it now.

I'll have to tear it apart this week.

Thanks,

MK

[Boobtubeman]

Sounds like the tv has an INSTANT ON feature.

Some tvs had a switch on the rear which kept the tubes glowing even though the tv was off..

one of my older tvs had a switch marked VACATION- INSTANT ON. I was always told not to use this feature because there were instances of fires..

Steve

[N9ZQA]

MK -

Yes, that set sounds like it has an instant-on feature. If you open it up, look for a silicon diode (usually across the on-off switch). This diode is electrically in opposition to the power supply rectifier, and supplies the filament string with half-wave rectified DC, keeping the tubes warm. When you turn the power switch on, you short out the diode, applying full voltage to the filament string and allowing the power supply to produce B+. This feature can be disabled by either snipping or desoldering one lead of the diode or by removing the diode altogether. The first method allows you to return the set to "original" status if so desired.

By keeping the filament string at a reduced voltage (87 or so if I remember right), the tubes were able to produce emission almost instantly on power-on. However, the tubes were also producing heat (and burning cathode material) all the time. Probably not a problem when tubes were available for a buck or so at the corner drugstore, but they're a little more difficult to source now. Another concern is heat - most of these portable sets use a PC board chassis which has been baked by the heat of the tubes; by heating the board only when the set is in use, the detrimental effect of the heat is reduced.

I have two Admiral B/W portables which had this feature - one of which I discovered in a manner similar to yours; in the second, the diode has failed shorted, so the set is "always on" instead of "instant on". Haven't gotten around to opening that one up yet, though.

-Jim

[Old1625]

I'd always defeated that "instant on" feature, snipping the diode in most cases. Even as a hybrid set with fewer tubes they still made a dandy space heater.

[Keefla]

i got one too. mine was manufactured jan of '75. my grandfather got it new as a gift. still works good as new! no instant on on mine thow...hmmm.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Keefla

i got one too. mine was manufactured jan of '75. my grandfather got it new as a gift. still works good as new! no instant on on mine thow...hmmm.

Hey! looks like we all have one!LOL! My yellow one don't have instant on but my brown one does. Its the newer of the two and has solid state HV also. Ive had the yellow one since '96 and have NEVER had a problem with it. Its funny they could build these in Taiwan back in the day and they were made well, that is not the case with the newer stuff...weird

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

Hey! looks like we all have one!LOL! My yellow one don't have instant on but my brown one does. Its the newer of the two and has solid state HV also. Ive had the yellow one since '96 and have NEVER had a problem with it. Its funny they could build these in Taiwan back in the day and they were made well, that is not the case with the newer stuff...weird

The stuff from Taiwan is still OK; it's the stuff from China ya gotta watch out for.

[mkoser]

Wow. I learned something new today!

I wonder, did they ever put that "instant on" feature in any tubed radios?

Or was this just a last effort for manufacturers of tubed equipment to compete with solid state. Just curious.

I guess it does look like everyone has one of these sets.

Thanks again,

matt k.