GE Roundie, does anyone have one? - Videokarma.org TV - Video

*zenithfan1* · #1 01-13-2008, 02:30 PM

I have seen an old ad from about '63 featuring a GE roundie, I think, the ad was one of those hand drawn ones. but I've never seen one in person. Are they rare? Were they junk? Or, did they just not make a lot of them. I would love to know.

TV Engineer · #2 01-13-2008, 03:57 PM

I have a buddy that has a GE roundie in a VERY Danish Modern lowboy cabinet, complete with wishbone legs and a walnut finish. It has an RCA CTC11 chassis in it.

I was in the service industry until January of 2000 before moving over to the broadcast engineering side, and we serviced many roudies that were daily users until about 1990. This was the ONLY GE roundie I ever saw. In fact, it was actually one of the few GE tube consoles we ever saw, and all were rectangular CRTs. Mostly we saw GE portables.

I hope this helps.

sean · #3 01-13-2008, 03:59 PM

I remember seeing one listed on the STL Craigslist probably close to 2 years ago. The person selling it wanted more than I was willing to pay. That was the only GE that I have seen.

reeferman · #4 01-13-2008, 04:36 PM

All I saw were RCA chassis. And I saw a lot of 'em.

*zenithfan1* · #5 01-13-2008, 04:40 PM

Thanks for the info, if anyone ever finds one and they want to sell it, Please by all means let me know! I only find the portables too, I have two 19 inchers
Mark

radiotvnut · #6 01-13-2008, 05:27 PM

I've never seen a GE roundie in person. I've only had 2 or 3 GE rectangular tube type color floor model TV's since about '90. The most common GE finds around here were the PortaColor's, the small B&W's, and the newer solid state stuff from the mid '70's on up. I don't think the tube GE sets lasted that long; therefore, were out of service by the time I started finding old TV's. Anyway, I'll keep my eyes open for a GE roundie.

*zenithfan1* · #7 01-13-2008, 05:42 PM

Thanks, I would be interested in the rectangulars too if anyone finds any.
Mark

bgadow · #8 01-13-2008, 10:06 PM

Somebody on here had one, a very neat style-sounds like the one TV Engineer mentioned. That may be the only one I really know about. It may be that all the GE roundies were RCA clones? Digging through a bunch of Sams would tell us. The GE rectangular sets were a GE design as far as I know. I don't know that their parallel circuit tube color chassis ever changed all that much. The TV we had in the living room when I was a kid was a rectangular GE and I had several others pass through my hands over the years. I'd kinda like to have a good example of one.

A note: I've looked close at print ads for the GE roundies from the CTC-11 era and it is clear they did little to disguise the RCA layout. What especially caught my eye is the screen bezel. Where my RCA -11 has a 'COLOR' emblem at the center bottom of that trim, the GE uses the same bezel but with the cutout for the emblem at the center top.

sampson159 · #9 01-13-2008, 10:28 PM

there is one in columbus on the west side,in an attic. got a call from a craigslist ad i posted. working,decent,plain cabinet.picture was okay,very soft tube. owner wanted 1500.00. i had to pass it up.chassis was an rca clone. i believe she said it was bought by her father in 1964. rare,but too rich for my blood.

Chad Hauris · #10 01-13-2008, 10:35 PM

I've got several GE tube color console sets but I have not worked on them in several years...hopefully I can get to them someday soon. The round set I have is almost exactly like a RCA CTC-15 inside. I think it may have a different type of tuner than an actual RCA (not nuvistor). The filter capacitors are GE brand caps but everything else seems exactly the same as a CTC-15. It worked fine the last time I tried it but the power switch had gone bad.

One of the rectangular GE tube type sets I have is a 23" and the other a 25V". The 23" has a bad crt (arcing/shorted) but I did get the chassis working. The 25V" works OK with some minor problems.
The 25" set has a lead shielded HV rectifier tube. Both of these sets are power transformer type chassis that are true GE designs.

The 19V" GE set I have is a series string set very similar to a Portacolor chassis.

I can try and get some pictures of the sets if you would like to see them.

*zenithfan1* · #11 01-13-2008, 10:39 PM

I figured that they were RCA clones, GE and RCA shared a lot of designs over the years. I found a lot in the '80s and '90s models.

*zenithfan1* · #12 01-13-2008, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow

Somebody on here had one, a very neat style-sounds like the one TV Engineer mentioned. That may be the only one I really know about. It may be that all the GE roundies were RCA clones? Digging through a bunch of Sams would tell us. The GE rectangular sets were a GE design as far as I know. I don't know that their parallel circuit tube color chassis ever changed all that much. The TV we had in the living room when I was a kid was a rectangular GE and I had several others pass through my hands over the years. I'd kinda like to have a good example of one.

A note: I've looked close at print ads for the GE roundies from the CTC-11 era and it is clear they did little to disguise the RCA layout. What especially caught my eye is the screen bezel. Where my RCA -11 has a 'COLOR' emblem at the center bottom of that trim, the GE uses the same bezel but with the cutout for the emblem at the center top.

Thanks for the sleuthing bgadow, much appreciated

bgadow · #13 01-14-2008, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

I figured that they were RCA clones, GE and RCA shared a lot of designs over the years. I found a lot in the '80s and '90s models.

GE sets were unique through the 70s and early 80s but then in 86 they bought RCA and closed their own plant. Of course, GE/RCA/Westinghouse always did have a close alliance back to the twenties.

*zenithfan1* · #14 01-14-2008, 11:56 AM

Thanks again, I was wondering who bought who and when.

RetroHacker · #15 01-14-2008, 12:22 PM

I have a GE roundie. I found it in a construction roll-off dumpster last year. It's in terrible shape, and the cabinet is scraped up real bad on the top, and the glue joints are all coming apart. It needs some serious work. I haven't done anything with it at all, since it's missing the horizontal output tube and I don't have a replacement.

Here's some pictures I posted when I first found it:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84840

I also have an empty GE roundie cabinet (different tuner mounting than the one I found all banged up in the dumpster, so not easily compatible) that I found along the side of the road - but no innerworkings at all.

These are the closest things I've found yet to a standalone round color set. Both GE. (Living three miles from the main GE plant in Schenectady, NY might have something to do with it, however.)

-Ian