Pawn shop find.

[galtjunk]

I found an audio oscillator in a pawn shop.
TS-382 c/u
115v/60-1600 cps
US Govt. from around 1958
It looks like new inside.
5y3
0a5
6sj7s metal
1 6v6 metal
What is it worth?
Is this a useful device or should I gut it for parts?

[Rockwell666]

I would personally gut and rebuild into a cool SE amp.. that might be blasphemy for some but I see items like that on kijiji all the time. would prob need some work if you plan on keeping to use anyways.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Is this a useful device or should I gut it for parts?

Can always use another oscillator in your workshop. I'd opt to restore it first. IF you are already chockablock with oscillators then I s'pose you could turn it into a funky looking Champ sort of amp.

Value? Not much. Whatever you paid for it. I don't expect this is much of a collectors item.

[Stevem]

It must go to 16,000 cps, not 1600 like you posted.

[sluckey]

It must go to 16,000 cps, not 1600 like you posted.

115v/60-1600 cps is the input power spec, not the audio output frequency. This was military equipment and meant to work on the ground or on a plane or ship.

[Leo_Gnardo]

It must go to 16,000 cps, not 1600 like you posted.

115v/60-1600 cps is the input power spec, not the audio output frequency. This was military equipment and meant to work on the ground or on a plane or ship.

Aircraft power is (usually) 400 Hz if I'm not mistook. Is the PT especially large? I expect it would take some special engineering to accept such a wide range of frequencies, at the very least an unusual alloy in the lamination stack. In any case it'll run just fine on 60 Hz so, on with the project.

[sluckey]

I'm just going by the name plate. I worked on a lot of ancient test equipment at Robins AFB PMEL back in the early '70s but I've never seen the insides of one of these.

[Phil_S]

I found an audio oscillator in a pawn shop.
TS-382 c/u
115v/60-1600 cps
US Govt. from around 1958
It looks like new inside.
5y3
0a5
6sj7s metal
1 6v6 metal
What is it worth?
Is this a useful device or should I gut it for parts?

Assuming the iron is good, I think I'd build a SE variation on the old Gibson GA20 circuit. That one is a PP amp.
V1 6SJ7 -- the GA20 will give you a starting point. I didn't like it and did some tweaking. I'm attaching the schematic I built. You can see what I ended up with on V1.
V2, you'll need a 2nd gain stage, one section of a triode -- you can use whatever you have. A 6SL7 or 6AV6 are good, inexpensive choices that don't waste half of a dual triode.
V3, 6V6 SE power tube.
Champ type OT should do the job.
The GA20 variant I built was articulate, but very gritty in a Jimi kind of way. I liked how it turned out.