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Quad 33 & 303 queries

D

DonWall

Member
Quad 33 & 303 queries

I have just bought a Quad 33 pre-amp & a Quad 303 amplifier off the Bay. I am not familiar with Quad kit.

The 303 seems in pretty good condition but the 33 is in a terrible cosmetic state. I have a few questions that people here may be able to help me answer.

Does anyone know what I can safely use to clean the fascia, back and the case of the 33? Would Isopropyl Alcohol work?

The rear fascia of the 33 seems to be held on by extruded plastic pins which are an interference fit in holes in the metal body of the pre-amp. Does anyone know how to remove them?

I have the mains cable for the 33 which ends in a strange round 3-pin plug; a mains cable from the 33 to the 303 (two prongs at one end and another round 3-pin plug at the other end) and a signal cable to connect the 33 to the 303 which has 4-pin DINs at either end. However, I need a source of cables with 5-pin DIN at one end and two Phono/RCA plugs (CD & Tuner) or sockets (Turntable) at the other end - can anyone help with recommendations for a good source in the UK? I am not looking for super-high quality, horrendously expensive oxygen free cable, just something that fits in the recesses on the 33 and is correctly wired.

Many thanks for any help.
 
For cleaning Servisol Foam Cleanser 30. It is truly amazing stuff! Just strip the 33 down as far as you can, e.g. unscrew the knobs, remove the front panel etc, and clean the parts individually. Be very careful indeed with the illuminated logo, that part is exceptionally fragile. I'd be inclined not to clean it as it is very easy to accidentally remove the paint (it just pulls out from behind, so you can remove it when cleaning the rest of the facia). The Servisol is safe on all other parts of the case (I know this as I've cleaned a couple of 33s up, in fact I've got one in the classifieds room somewhere). I've no idea how the back panel comes off, I couldn't figure it out and didn't want to break it. It looks very fragile. For cables I use Gotham GAC of eBay, e.g. this DIN to phono lead. They do custom lengths if you ask.
 
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Hi Don

Welcome to the forum.

Cables for your new Quad kit are pretty easy, there are plently of sellers on ebay just search under "Quad" in Sound and Vision. Alternatively for a better quality but still not overly expensive cable try here

http://www.flashbacksales.co.uk/acatalog/din-phono-rca-audio-cables.html

The round plug you refer to is know as a Bulgin plug, again available via ebay.

The trick with the 33 is to buy a mint one in the first place, cases are notoriously difficult to refurbish. I think TonyL the forum owner has one for sale on here.
 
Hi, thanks Tony and Andy.

The cables I see on the Bay all seem to be 4 pin and the inputs to the 33 pre-amp are 5 pin DIN. I am not keen to pay £21 for a 1 metre cable unless I absolutely have to. AudioSpares seem to have some reasonable cables at half that price - e.g. £9.75 for a 1.6 metre cable and even that doesn't seem cheap. Once I get everything up and running, I might feel differently.

Many thanks for the advice on cleaning the case, particularly the advice about the illuminated logo, I am more than happy to capitalise on what sounds as if it was a bitter personal experience. If you can't work out how the back panel is removed, I had better leave it well alone. I will dismantle things as much as I can and give the Servisol Foam Cleanser a go - thanks.


edited:
Just had a look at your 33 for sale Tony, it is certainly in a whole lot better condition than mine at £30!
I am massively disconcerted by your comment "I'm not prepared to hook it up to something it might damage"​
 
I used a 33/303 some years ago and bought a pack of cables for it from Flashback. All the ones needed plus an attenuated cable for a CD player to work with it out of the box. They came as a kit and were very reasonably priced at the time. They were a big improvement on the Quad ones and they may still do it.

They'll certainly make one up for you if it's not still on their website. They are pretty good like that.
 
DonWall said:
edited:
Just had a look at your 33 for sale Tony, it is certainly in a whole lot better condition than mine at £30!
I am massively disconcerted by your comment "I'm not prepared to hook it up to something it might damage"​
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I just don't have the electronics knowledge to test it beyond plugging it in and seeing if the light comes on (it does). As far as I know it's never been serviced, so it is safe to assume it needs one. It is very clean inside, really tidy with no evidence of damage or tampering. I didn't get it serviced as I had no intention of actually using it, whereas I did the 303 (which is in daily use, in fact I'm listening to Newsnight through it right now!). I have no cheap speakers knocking around to use for a test, only lovely vintage Tannoys and Klipsch, as such I'd prefer to shift the spare 33 undervalue and untested. I'm surprised it's not shifted yet to be honest. FWIW I'd budget on a professional service for *any* vintage amplifier, capacitors simply do not stay in spec for 40 years! I didn't plug my 303 in until it had been back to Quad for a service.

PS seconded with the attenuators, you really need them as a 33 has crazy high gain. The 303 works great with a passive pre, so that's a very good option if you don't need a phono stage.
 
I don't wish to be rude Don but if you're too tight to stump up twenty odd quid for a decent pair of cables then maybe you'd be better off with a compact from Aldi or Tesco.
I'm not into cable bolloks either but there's a minimum standard and the Gotham is about where it's at. Cables are passive, they can't bring anything to the show but they can easily mess things up and with that Quad preamp you need all the help you can get.
 
Cable made in a factory by poorly piad chinese folk can be cheap, buthand made cables don't get made in seconds. £20.00 is a good price for a basic cable with din plugs. They are a fiddle to put together and require good quality wire of the right size to get the best of them. Din sockets that are durable don't have pressed steel outer, but nice solid jobbies that are niceto use and won't distort and risk damage to the sockets on the amplifiers.
 
I use the Gotham stuff because I'm too tight / lazy to make it for myself. Once you factor the parts cost of cable, plugs and then add postage in the labour costs are only a few quid, and the workmanship is exceptional. It's a bespoke service too, e.g. I ordered a 26cm pair of leads to act as a pre-power link between my 34/306 - just the right length to neatly loop between the two units when they are stacked.
 
Arkless Repairs said:
The 33 is the weaker item. Not really OK by today's standards but looks great!
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Chops54 said:
Cables are passive, they can't bring anything to the show but they can easily mess things up and with that Quad preamp you need all the help you can get.
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Those two comments almost read as a fundamental criticism of the Quad 33 pre-amp? Having Googled about a bit, I see that DaDa produce kits that allow you to replace some components, I guess that that might help.

mudlark said:
Cable made in a factory by poorly paid Chinese folk can be cheap, but hand made cables don't get made in seconds. £20.00 is a good price for a basic cable with DIN plugs. They are a fiddle to put together and require good quality wire of the right size to get the best out of them. DIN sockets that are durable don't have pressed steel outer, but nice solid jobbies that are nice to use and won't distort and risk damage to the sockets on the amplifiers.
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This is where it gets a bit tricky though isn't it? I agree entirely that assembling cables is incredibly fiddly - if it wasn't, I would do it myself.

However, how do you ever know who has really made up your cables, how experienced they were or how much attention they were paying at the time they assembled the cable?

Thanks for the suggestions anyhow, it seems that Flashback have a good reputation and I'll give a couple of them a go.


As to cleaning up the 33, I disassembled it somewhat and tried washing the case in the kitchen sink with washing-up liquid and a soft sponge - absolutely no effect whatever. I then tried cleaning a bit of the bottom of the case with a toothbrush and washing-up liquid - still not much better. It seems as if whatever grime is involved has quite literally got absorbed into the paint. I can only imagine that the thing must have been used either in a car repair shop or a chippie! I can see that if I am to improve the appearance of the case, I will have to strip back to bare metal and respray it - SOD IT.

The rotary knobs and the push-buttons do seem to clean up much better.

At the end of the day, it IS the sounds that counts, listening in the dark is always more enjoyable ;)
 
DonWall said:
I can only imagine that the thing must have been used either in a car repair shop or a chippie! I can see that if I am to improve the appearance of the case, I will have to strip back to bare metal and respray it - SOD IT.
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Try the Servisol, it really is amazing stuff. I used to buy and sell vintage synthesisers and it cuts through the kind of crap these instruments pick up on the road. I'd not waste your time respraying, you'll never get an accurate colour match as the Quad paint is unique, kind of a slightly metal-flake matt finish. It's very unusual paint. If you can't clean up the one you have just buy another and make one good one out of the pair!
 
Hope you don't mind me asking - is there anything which can be done to improve the 33 at reasonable cost? I like my 33/303 which I keep hold of for nostalgic reasons but appreciate the 33 isn't up to todays standards,



Arkless Repairs said:
The 33 is the weaker item.. not really ok by todays standards but looks great!
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I gave up on the 33 due to pot incompatibility, but I have the full works on one of my303s and they are well made and reliable. The sound is fine. The new front plate makes the amplifiers much more useable.
 
Chops54 said:
Just thought it might have put some business your way.

Any comment on the Net Audio boards Jez?
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Thanks for the thought anyway ;)

They look well made and competent but I've no personal experience with them so I can't comment on the sound.

I may well offer upgrades for the 303 next year but will not be bothering with the 33.

I'm still looking for a non working 303 to experiment on but I'm starting to think there are no 303's going for £20 as "non working for parts only"! Maybe they all get repaired before going for £150?
 
NeilK said:
Hope you don't mind me asking - is there anything which can be done to improve the 33 at reasonable cost? I like my 33/303 which I keep hold of for nostalgic reasons but appreciate the 33 isn't up to today's standards,
Click to expand...
Based on my recent Googling, have a look at any or all of the following:
There is loads more info out there.

DaDa do what appear to be relatively cheap kits of components which require soldering skills or will upgrade your 33 if you send it to them in Belgium.

NetAudio (who are based in Huntingdon which must be significant) do replacement boards or will upgrade your 33 and probably produce a fine pre-amp but they are definitely not cheap. In fairness, they do seem to be held in very high regard and systems modified by them go for a fortune on the bay.


I have no doubt that when looked at on an oscilloscope, the Quad 33 is a worthless piece of junk - fortunately I only have a pair of ears to listen with and less fortunately, not an unlimited budget - so it goes.
 
The issue many people have with the 33 isn't particularly the sound quality, it's the gain and a design that means with 2 Volt line inputs the volume pot is at a point in it's travel that the channels aren't closely balanced. It can be so bad with sensitive speakers that one channel is silent whe the other isn't.

I love the look, but the functionality with line level sources just spoils everything.

I have almost identical feelings about my Naim 32.5. It's great driving a system with small insensitive speakers, but a pain the rear end with Cds and streamers etc.

These great preamps were designed to be used with outputs from good cartridges on record players.
 
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