Scott 222 B tube amp


I have the opportunity to buy a Scott 222 B power amp, in unknown working condition, for $75.00. Based on where this amp is, I have no reason to think its been abused or damaged. As with many of the other things in this house, it most likely has been sitting unused for several, if not MANY years. I've not had any tube audio equipment before. Would this be a reasonable starting point/introduction? Assuming I have it tweaked up to spec when I get it, how reliable is this unit? Thanks for your help!

Dale.
128x128dalehimself
Sam, best of luck with it. That is a fabulous tuner indeed. A few years ago I had one in my main system for a while, that I had repaired for a relative.

Best regards,
-- Al
The face is as stated by Atmasphere, bad filter cans can damage a power transformer. Unless someone has run the thing and determined the caps are ok, which is doubtful given the age of the Scott, I would never power up a unit like that unless you can monitor AC ripple and voltage while slowly running it up on a Variac. Normally, I just replace the caps and if that unit has a selenium rectifier, plan on replacing that too as they all too frequently leak voltage. No one should ever turn an old tube amp on without knowing how long it's been off and when it was serviced last. Finally, the twist lock caps in that unit should probably be replaced with current production single axial or radial caps. They can be installed underneath if there's room for them. That will make a big sonic improvement. The twist lock caps needn't be removed.
The process of re-forming caps does work; the problem you may well run into is the fact that quite often the caps have dried up over the decades as they are not perfectly sealed. In some cases if you look at the bottom of them, you may find that they are bulging- you can count on these to form up properly about as much as you can count on a bulging tire on your car. I would only attempt to re-form a cap that shows no sign of damage due to age or heat.

The half life of filter caps in round numbers is about 20-25 years, which is to say that in that time about half of them will have failed. In an amplifier like this that is more like 50 years old, harboring the idea that some of the filter caps might still be good after that time is simply asking for trouble.