Marc, when I mentioned that I messed with old tube amplifiers, I mainly mess around with guitar amplifiers. Absolutely nothing compares to tubes when it comes to guitar amplifiers. Still, I do have a few vintage tube amplifiers used for radios and such. One of them is a vintage Dynaco amplifier, which has been considered the 'gold' standard for vintage tube amplifiers for some time. They have a very clean sound with that warmth that only tubes can give. I have a few others, but nothing that compares to that Dynaco!
Before I was born, my Dad used to own and operate a radio and TV repair shop. He went to Devry institute out of high school (1952) and literally built my Grandparents first TV. He has a LOT of vintage radios and parts, but the top of the ladder is a vintage Scott radio that, if you don't know anything about them, were considered the Cadillacs of radios back in the '30s and '40s. His is an open style, or cabinet-less model (sometimes known as a table top) that is 100% chrome plated on the outside. Every cover for every part, including the frame, is chrome plated. It was a top-of-the-line model that only rich people could afford back in the day. I've wanted that thing for a LONG time, but he won't give it up till he's gone. I can wait on that one
The few others I have are a couple of vintage RCA, Zenith and Philco radios that I've enjoyed fixing and listening to. But I think my favorite is a 1924 Atwater Kent with a megaphone speaker. My Dad and I found it in a junkyard when I was about 10 years old. Amazingly, it was complete and still had its full complement of 01A tubes, which are very hard to find, or at least they were back then. The internet makes everything easier these days. Anyway, we restored it together (the first one he taught me on) and I still have it and listen to it to this day. I'm not a huge sports fan, but I get a kick out of listening to baseball games on that thing! I'll tell ya, it's like being transported back in time listening to a game through that old megaphone speaker. I used to stay up at night as a kid and listen to radio programs on that thing. Lots of memories from that lil old radio
Side note on that Atwater Kent, as well as a LOT of radios from the '20s and '30s, they literally cost more than your average Model T or Model A back then. My friends never believed me on that until I showed them original adds that I have from back then. At one point you could buy a Model T for a little more than $200, but the mid-line and up Atwater Kents were closer to $300 and up. They had base line models, called "bread board" models, that were about the same cost as a Model T. The radios internals were literally exposed and only mounted on a plank of wood. Very basic. When you think about it, that tells you how important the radio was to America and rural communities. Next to their house, it was the biggest, most expensive luxury that they ever had.
I love tubes!
