Presto 6n question: alternative amps?

[Self-lather]

Hello all,

Questions for all you seasoned lathers...

I've got a lead on a working presto 6n I'm thinking about purchasing for a good price, the only thing is that it doesn't have an amp.

I've never had any experience powering any of my lathes with anything but the stock amp. How difficult would it be to power this with an external amp? What type of amp would I need?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

-Thomas

[markrob]

Hi,

It depends on the head you plan to use (is one included twith the 6N?). If its a standard 8-16 ohm head, any good quality 50 watt or more amp (tube or solid state) should work fine. You will need to make provision for the proper EQ. There are many ways to accomplish that from simple passive networks to active designs like Flo's. Note that most solid state amps will only proudce 1/2 rated power into 16 ohms (assuming they are rated for 8 ohms). Tube amps with a tapped output transformer might give you more options (even 500 ohm).

Mark

[petermontg]

Thomas,

What is head 8/16 ohm, From past experience I have only used a stereo amp, driving one side @8ohm 45 watts (switches into mono mode when mono signal is detected). If your getting the head recoiled, it will be to 8 ohm from Gib. Find out specs off head and we'll point you in the right direction.

[Self-lather]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm checking on the head specs now.

[Self-lather]

Ok, did some checking and it would be a rewound 8 ohm head. I'm not sure of the variety.

[piaptk]

I love my 6n... You should jump on it. You can run the head with any 8ohm power amp... Pa amplifiers and high wattage stereo receivers work great. Just gotta boost the highs.

[Self-lather]

Hey guys, just curious, what do you think a fair price range would be for a 6N without the amp? The head is recoiled, and the machine is in good working condition.

-Thomas

[piaptk]

I have bought/sold all of my 6Ns (5 or 6) that were in good, working shape, with newly rewound heads, new idlers, and 2-3 feedscrews for between $1200-1500. You can find them cheaper, but it is WAY worth paying a premium for a unit that is complete and fully functional...

But if it has accessories like a scope, playback arm, dashpot, weird equalizer box, etc it could be worth more.

[monkey1553]

9k is about right for a 6n these days. Only kidding. I imagine you probably saw the one on ebay recently that was going for that?! A bit steep!

[Self-lather]

9k is about right for a 6n these days. Only kidding. I imagine you probably saw the one on ebay recently that was going for that?! A bit steep!

I did see that one.. and yeah, a little high for my budget.

The one I found is going for $1800 sans the amp. I'm still deciding if I should move on it... Its just a little more than I think I should pay for it.

[piaptk]

$1800 is the top of retail I think... but, fully functional ones don't come up for sale very often, so it's not a completely unreasonable price. Especially if it has a Microscope ($300 value), extra feedscrews ($50-75 each), Playback tonearm ($300 to replace), etc.

If I was looking for a 6N, and had no other leads, I would probably pay $1800 for one that worked. Like I said, they are getting harder and harder to find, and much more desirable as more and more people start wanting to get into cutting.

If you can pick it up, that's another bonus. It would cost you $150 and a whole lot of potential heartache if you had to buy one on ebay and have to ship it.

[Steve E.]

I don't know if this is helpful information or highly confusing information. Probably the latter.

I got my 6N for $450, including shipping, in 2008. No Ebay involvement, but it was advertised here. It included, in addition to the assumed platter and overhead mechanism:

*A Presto 92A amp: recapped, slightly screwy, no front cover, beat to hell, but basically working
*Presto 1D cutterhead. I can't remember if it worked, but I did have it rewound anyway, from 500 ohm to 16 ohm (extra expense, later)
*working Bodine motor
*dashpot
*two feedscrews, one 224 lpi and another some low lpi, maybe 112
*a homemade copper pipe 12" tonearm which worked and works fine
*rubber rollers, a bit hard but worked OK
*a copper 45 adapter or two.
*4-sided "timing" scale (with an extra in reserve!)
*part of the old sliding EQ mechanism, which I have NEVER used
*various articles on record cutting, and maybe the original 6N manual.

In short, I got a very good deal. The thing wasn't great looking, but it works well.

Now, I HAVE put many hundreds of dollars and uncountable hours of labor into getting it up to spec.

Including:

*getting the cutterhead rewound
*buying many additional feedscrews (pretty important)
*doing additional recapping of the amp, adjusting EQ
*buying the missing EQ button switches for the amp
*rerubberizing the idler wheels at Terry's Rubber Rollers
*new playing cartridge and styli for playback tonearm
*a stylus heating unit
*buying sound dampening material, for bushings and platter
*mat for the platter
*several pieces of testing equipment + 1960s NAB LP

and, of course....
*buying cutting styli and blanks (an ongoing expense)

(It would be great to have a decent microscope. I have the lenses from a childs' microscope kit.)

I don't recommend that you wait around for that sort of deal. But perhaps it's something to think about if you are going to try to bargain with this guy. (If I'm undermining some seller who is a faithful contributor to the board, I apologize!!)

I think piaptk's input is probably more helpful. These are possibly scarcer now than they were 4 years ago, perhaps BECAUSE of this board. On the other hand, they were, at one time, in almost every radio station in the country, and they are built to last. Just how rare could they be?

Mr. AG, our Presto expert, at one time, kept a running tally of how much each 6N sold for on ebay. I wonder if he still does.