Dial bulbs for old receivers, etc

[Mars Amp Repair]

Hey folks,
Does anyone have a source for the old style incandescent wired pilot bulbs that were used in any variety of receivers, amps, etc from the 70's? MCM used to be great for that stuff until Newark bought them out & screwed it all up. Newark obtains all the MCM stuff from the UK and charges you shipping as if your order was the only one they made. I once ordered $20 worth of stuff from Newark, and they charged me nearly $40.00 for shipping. Never again!
Jameco used to be good for that stuff, but I only see one wired pilot bulb from them and it's the wrong voltage.
There was always RatShack in a pinch, but...
Anyway, any help appreciated.
Glen

[52 Bill]

Last Summer I had a Marantz receiver come in for service that had no working dial lamps. I went through that same exercise and looked for incandescent replacement with no luck.

Found that there are sellers on eBay and Amazon that have led replacement "lamps" that don't cost much. So I ordered a set and was quite surprised at how easy they fit in and how nice the color of the light was. I was worried that they would look too cold, but they looked pretty much the same as an incandescent lamp.

Just my 2 cents.

[Mars Amp Repair]

Last Summer I had a Marantz receiver come in for service that had no working dial lamps. I went through that same exercise and looked for incandescent replacement with no luck.

Found that there are sellers on eBay and Amazon that have led replacement "lamps" that don't cost much. So I ordered a set and was quite surprised at how easy they fit in and how nice the color of the light was. I was worried that they would look too cold, but they looked pretty much the same as an incandescent lamp.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanx Bill,
I've seen some of those, too. Have to wonder where those folks are procuring them. I still have a few wired bulbs from way back in the day when MCM was the source, but running out.
Fortunately, I do not repair old receivers as regularly as I used to be and have become very discriminating about what I'll even touch given the aging plastic mounts for the bulbs in the dial.
I primarily repair guitar/bass amps & the like. Much less time hence, more $$
Thanx again...glen

[The Dude]

My experience is pretty much the same as 52 Bill, including the LED replacement comments. I've had good luck with them, they look good, and should last longer. I also find most of that sort of thing on eBay since MCM stopped carrying a good lamp assortment.

[Mars Amp Repair]

I wonder how the LED replacements would work for the FM Stereo indicator. I recall in the 'olden' days, as my kids say, the cheaper receivers actually used the Stereo bulb to provide B+ to some of the MPX circuitry. Well, I'll probably never see another one of those again in my lifetime 'anyways'

[Chuck H]

I don't imagine they're using special spectrum LEDs for the replacement lamps. Perhaps the vintage yellowed plastic screens and diffusers keeps them "warm" looking

[The Dude]

The LED replacements have become sort of a "thing" around here. I see lots of the vintage Hi-Fi nuts replacing them with different colors for effect.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I wonder how the LED replacements would work for the FM Stereo indicator. I recall in the 'olden' days, as my kids say, the cheaper receivers actually used the Stereo bulb to provide B+ to some of the MPX circuitry. Well, I'll probably never see another one of those again in my lifetime 'anyways'

Hah! It was always good to take some receiver or tuner with the "FM Stereo doesn't work" complaint, replace some tiny grain-of-wheat bulb or similar, and have it back working again. Everything should be so easy!

[The Dude]

That reminds me of a Morley Power Wah Fuzz I worked on a while back. The customer had replaced the power indicator bulb with an LED and dropping resistor so he wouldn't have to change the bulb again. There's just one small thing he hadn't thought of.

[g1]

In automotive you can run into all kinds of flasher issues when installing LED's for turn signal bulbs or their dash indicators.

[The Dude]

I found that out first hand. I had a rear turn signal bulb go out and decided, what the hell- might as well put LED's in as long as I'm changing them. I quickly found out about the "fast flash" thing. They sell kits that are basically a resistor to simulate the load of a regular bulb, but it requires a bunch of extra messing around, so I just went back to regular bulbs. The other thing is that if you install the resistor conversion kit, you essentially disable the "fast flash". I sort of like the idea that if I have a lamp go out, I will be notified by my blinkers flashing quickly. If you installed the kit and had an LED go south, you'd never know about it until you got pulled over.

[Mars Amp Repair]

In automotive you can run into all kinds of flasher issues when installing LED's for turn signal bulbs or their dash indicators.

Yes, as I recall they supply those arcol load resistors to emulate the load of the incandescent bulbs...THESE YOUNG'INS

[x-pro]

Are you having trouble acquiring?
https://hcess.ca/product/2182-lamp/
Farnell, moser, Elfa, DigiKey

[Pixel]

15 or so years ago I made some led fuse-style lamps for my Marantz receiver. (I wanted blue lights. ) Just a fuse size piece of pcb with a few slots filed through the copper. One dropping resistor and a two leds wired opposite to each other so they pick up on both pulses of what I seem to recall was 8VAC. I made spares but haven't needed them yet.

I made various lights for the car too and had some trouble with them burning out. Then I read somewhere to add a little capacitor because automotive power is full of nasty transients. No issues since. YMMV.

[35L6]

The antique radio sites are good for dial lights as well as long shaft pots . RadioDaze is one ,I had a bunch bookmarked but that was on my old computer .