Trying to recap/rewire a decrepit JBell 62. Trouble is, there are many discrepencies between what the schematic says and what I find inside the unit. Resistors that should be there are not, caps don't match either. There's even a solder sealed "mystery box" with 7 wires coming from it. It's hard to tell what was added over the years and what was stock. Question: Is this typical of radios of the early 30's era, where there were several versions out there, and are they particularly difficult to restore for this reason?

Hi TomB

The solder sealed box is most likely capacitors. Early manufacturers would seal caps like this, often in tar, with a common lead to chassis ground.

These radios are generally not difficult to restore as circuits were similar between radios. The biggest problems are mechanical, pot metal, dials, etc.

Norm

: Trying to recap/rewire a decrepit JBell 62. Trouble is, there are many discrepencies between what the schematic says and what I find inside the unit. Resistors that should be there are not, caps don't match either. There's even a solder sealed "mystery box" with 7 wires coming from it. It's hard to tell what was added over the years and what was stock. Question: Is this typical of radios of the early 30's era, where there were several versions out there, and are they particularly difficult to restore for this reason?

: Trying to recap/rewire a decrepit JBell 62. Trouble is, there are many discrepencies between what the schematic says and what I find inside the unit. Resistors that should be there are not, caps don't match either. There's even a solder sealed "mystery box" with 7 wires coming from it. It's hard to tell what was added over the years and what was stock. Question: Is this typical of radios of the early 30's era, where there were several versions out there, and are they particularly difficult to restore for this reason?

Hi,

I have a JBell 62 too. The tin box on top of the chassis
contains two capacitors, one to bypass the detector and
one to bypass the bias resistor on the 45.

I can send you a schematic if you need it.

Charlie

: Trying to recap/rewire a decrepit JBell 62. Trouble is, there are many discrepencies between what the schematic says and what I find inside the unit. Resistors that should be there are not, caps don't match either. There's even a solder sealed "mystery box" with 7 wires coming from it. It's hard to tell what was added over the years and what was stock. Question: Is this typical of radios of the early 30's era, where there were several versions out there, and are they particularly difficult to restore for this reason?
Hi ..I have a minor collection of JB's and I have 5 models that use the 62 chassis. It comes in two types:-
(a)with two tubular screw in copper electrolytics on the back of the chassis and a small capacitor box (holding 2X1mfd caps)and
(b)with a larger rectangular capacitor can on top of the chassis to the rear holding around 6 caps.
Provided you replace all the caps from inside the cans and check and replace defective resistors on the underside tag strip I have found that the 62 performs beautifully. It does have problems with some open coils and the volume control can be found o/s but provided you follow the circuit...and there is only one and you had better believe it...you will end up with a fine example of an early 30's TRF. Good luck.