Treasures from beyond the Iron Curtain

[stecykmi]

Sourcing Soviet Ge transistors from EBay is old news around these parts for sure, but I haven't heard much talk about other parts available. I took the plunge as bought a few. I haven't used any of this stuff so this "review" is based mostly on look and feel. Lets look!

These switches are quite nice, they have a nice action. The seller said they are rated for 3A 125V so you should be able to use them to switch mains power. The plastic looks to be bakelite or some other phenolic plastic, different than typical switches. They are a bit unusual in that the common pin is not the middle pin, its the slightly separated one. I haven't used one yet, but I would probably buy similar ones again, I paid about $2 each for them.


Silver Mica caps, only 100pF so I can't measure them! But they have nice leads and labels so I'm willing to trust them. Silver mica caps are rather expensive and I paid about $0.10 each so these are a great deal. Soviet caps are quite plentiful but you'll see lots of large value or specialized use ones. I didn't see as many that would be useful for guitar stuff but probably those interested in tube amps might have better luck. I would stay away from buying electros, mostly because they are old at this point so I would doubt their reliability.


Check out this giant power pot! 1K, 50W! For $9! It's a very well constructed instrument, very smooth action, heavy and with well machined parts. This would be very expensive if bough brand new. I plan on using it to test power supplies. It's wire-wound (meaning it's inductive) so you probably should only use them for DC loads. Lots of pots like this can be found for reasonable prices, you just have to find your appropriate value. Interestingly, the wiper seems to be made out of the same phenolic plastic that the switches are.





Finally, OODLES of panel meters can be found. I would say most of them are mid to low quality, but I was able to get a couple VU meters that seem a cut above the rest. I tested a few of them and they all appear to work at the correct scale except the small edgewise meter has a scale that is 1/2 what the other meters have so it should be compatible but isn't a "true" VU as it was advertised. It could still be used in non-critical applications (initial thought is meter the feedback for a delay like a roland RE-201). Weirdly, the edge meter is the only one with mounting holes! I will have to devise a strap or something to keep them mounted in the panel. I would probably buy more panel meters this way as they are quite cheap and plentiful. Quality is mixed but there is good stuff available if you look. By the way, can anyone read what the edge meter says? Not to call out Jon or anything but you read Russian don't you?

[culturejam]

Nice!

With those switches, I would double check that the poles/throws are where you think they are. I've had a few switches that did not conform to the general standard arrangement of lugs. Continuity test to make sure.

[Luke51411]

Nice score! Care to share the ebay seller?

[stecykmi]

Nice!

With those switches, I would double check that the poles/throws are where you think they are. I've had a few switches that did not conform to the general standard arrangement of lugs. Continuity test to make sure.

I assumed they would be the standard arrangement and I almost contacted the seller to tell him he was selling ON-OFF switches as ON-ON. Luckily a tried them again and realized the difference.

Nice score! Care to share the ebay seller?

Vendor is called valtek_2005 located in Romania. There are many sellers with similar stock, however. In different counties too in case you have something against Romania o_0