Revolver Rebel Refurbish

[Northcote]

Hi All,

First post here so be gentle, I just purchased a Revolver Rebel but the packaging it was shipped in was rubbish.

The table turned up with a cracked lid and bent tone arm (counter weight arm) and some chipped paint, the cracked lid I can live with but the tone arm and paint need to be sorted out.

My questions are:
How hard is it to take one of these apart and re paint?

The tone arm itself is fine the back bit where the counter weight sits is bent, can this be fixed without replacing the whole tonearm?

Thanks In advance.
R

[alanomt]

Is the sagging counter weight the result of the actual arm being bent or hopefully just the 3mm screw that holds it.

recently I had just this problem and it was solved by replacing the screw. The screw is inside the sagging end and goes thro a small rubber mount.

You might struggle to completely dismantle the deck, I think that the top part of the plinth is glued to the bottom using small resiliant mounts which might tear when you try to separate the plinth sections. If the deck has the original arm, it can be a little fiddly to remove (the instructions say that it is non removeable) having been fitted to the top part of the plinth before it was glued to the lower part, but it can be done.

Not a favourite of mine, did not keep it long, but that's just me.

good luck

Alan

[kesh]

I used a small canister of semi-matt black car touch-up paint to cover some small chips on my Revolver BRC. The results weren't perfect, but they pass casual inspection and I decided it wasn't worth the trouble of a complete re-paint.

[mowsowit]

Wow. This is very odd. I just received a Revolver Rebel with exactly the same issues. The cracked dustcover was described by the seller. Not described was the tonearm where the counterweight sits being angled perhaps 20 degrees to the right (not downward, which is implied by "sagging"). It seems to be flexible, consistent with a rubber mount, but I am afraid to mess with it. Any insight would be appreciated.

[alanomt]

Was the deck shipped with the counterweight still in place?

The rear stub is a plastic moulding, to access the fixing screw you will need a small pozi screwdriver. It is a bit of a fiddle to get access past part of the moulding (inside the stub) to release the 3mm screw. to re-fit I found it easier to remove the small rubber mount from the stub, pass the screw thro it and then re-fit it to the stub, finally fitting to the arm.

good luck, worth the time.

Alan

[mowsowit]

Thanks Alan! No, the turntable was delivered well packed with the counterweight packed separately - by friend, not freight. But I can't speak for any previous shipping to previous owners, of course...

[Northcote]

Hey All,

Thanks for the replies, I managed to get the counter weight off and indeed it was a bent screw which is good news. Cracked lid I can live with but it is annoying..

Now here's the bad news, for some stupid reason I never really took a good look at the table out off the box until today ( I have space to set up my stuff) and low and behold the RCA cables were missing!!!! How I missed that I don't know I guess I was just concerned about the lid and bent counter weight. I managed to get the tonearm off with ease and did some research, the tonearm seems to be a Jelco SA-250ST (Are these any good??)Everything else is working OK but without cables this is just an expensive paperweight Attached is a photo of what i am dealing with, my question is can I attach cables to the wires I have or should I just get another tonearm? I am not an expert with electronics but I can do a little.

Thanks again for the advice.

Rhys

[alanomt]

Rhys

On the Rebel that I briefly owned, the tonearm wire was soldered directly to the RCA output cables. The soldered joints being protected by heat shrink tube, the cables then held captive with a cable clip. This assy protected by a simple flat plastic cover beneath the tonearm so that all you see is the RCA cable. There is also a ground wire, connected if I remember correctly under the plastic cover and to a metal foil strip.

hope this helps.

Alan

[Northcote]

Thanks Alan,

I managed to find a guy to added cables for $40 which was a deal, got it home and it's all up and running.

One other question I had was my Jelco SA 250 ST needs a new cartridge, any suggestions on a replacement? Nothing too $$ but not too cheap.



Thanks Again.

[Northcote]

Wow. This is very odd. I just received a Revolver Rebel with exactly the same issues. The cracked dustcover was described by the seller. Not described was the tonearm where the counterweight sits being angled perhaps 20 degrees to the right (not downward, which is implied by "sagging"). It seems to be flexible, consistent with a rubber mount, but I am afraid to mess with it. Any insight would be appreciated.

Hey mate I did what Alan suggested and replaced the screw and its now perfect.

Thanks again Alan.

[Russellc]

Thanks Alan,

I managed to find a guy to added cables for $40 which was a deal, got it home and it's all up and running.

One other question I had was my Jelco SA 250 ST needs a new cartridge, any suggestions on a replacement? Nothing too $$ but not too cheap.



Thanks Again.

Yes, Ebay...search SAE 1000lt....locate seller at 199.99. Buy it now....install, enjoy. easily competes with 6-8 hundred dollar carts!

Russellc

[Phoca]

Mowsowit,
Northcote's arm seems straight, but might yours be "S" shaped? Some S tonearms have a counterweight that is angled off center to the pivot end of the tonearm itself. This helps with balancing the tonearm in lateral motion by keeping the center of gravity over the fulcrum point an not off to one side (as I understand it - others may elaborate). You can look at the service manual for the Kenwood KP-4021 for some discussion of this. If your arm is straight, then never mind.