Victor VV 2-35

[Dischoard]

Does that stuff work better than wintergreen oil? I love how on the container it tells you to "wear rubber gloves". I bet they're soft when you're finished

[OrthoFan]

Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think it's better:
https://youtu.be/Pp3zbMJrjSc
Happy Weekend!

It definitely sounds better, at least the "Good News" side does. I don't hear the raspy sound I heard in the earlier video.

Don't know what to say about the needle bar pivot. Ideally, it should move the needle-bar only in the direction required to track the record, forward and backward from the sound box, itself, and not sideways. (That's known as "side play".) This should not be too much of a problem if you stick to soft or medium tone needles, but you might hear a blasting or buzzing sound when a loud tone needle is used.

I'd say for $40.00 you did VERY well. It cleaned up beautifully, well.... as beautiful as it can be considering the green paint Victor used for the interior.

OrthoFan

[Dischoard]

Oh, well then I'm good, there is no side play it is only front to back and very minimal. Yeah, that green paint makes it... unique. I'm falling in love with it though. I think I'll keep my eye out for a 2-55, these things are kind of fun though I don't think I'll have the same price-luck twice.

I did flip the record over and compared to the last video. The broken needle stuck inside was definitely the cause of the rasp. It is SO much better.

I may have used up my triumvirate of luck, they always come in threes. A couple of weeks ago I used up the bad luck: 1. had to replace furnace, 2. windstorm took shingles off the roof and 3. part of our foundation collapsed into the basement.

Now I've used up my triumvirate of good luck on this machine: 1. price, 2. missing crank shaft found inside, 3. determined source of rasp and super easy fix. Man, I'm not looking forward to the next string of bad luck. If I don't post for a long while, you now know why

[phono-farm]

I picked up a Victor VV2-35 last year and now that I'm getting around to checking it out I had to see what's been written about them here. I enjoyed seeing the example that dischoard found and noticed the serial number on his is on a plate fastened to the motor board. Mine doesn't have that plate, but has 'VV2-35 80399' stamped on the speed control arm. The Victor-Victrola site says that the latest serial number in their database is 54819 but that this does not include models marked as "RCA" products. Is mine an RCA product? I don't see RCA on it anywhere and it has the Victor Talking Machine decal on it.

[Dischoard]

I have two VV 2-55 machines and one has a stamped plate and the other has it on the speed control as well, must be just a change in practice along the production run.

I'm no expert, but having an RCA machine and these Victor machines, I have to imagine RCA didn't have their hand in these. The build quality is like comparing a cherry red 1965 Ford Mustang with a pile of horse s#$t. There's very little there to compare

How does the reproducer sound on yours? I still think I'm getting a little bit of buzz though once I was able to put together an entirely working 2-55 I'll admit that I haven't pulled out the 2-35 in a while. I love the reproducer from the 2-55 so much that I actually use one on my Credenza right now. The 2-35 displays well though and it sits right next to my 2-55, both open, both ready to play at the drop of a needle!

[phono-farm]

The reproducer on mine sounds great at low and average volume but not as good during loud music passages. I'm not sure how to describe the sound, I don't hear any rattles or anything indicating the reproducer is failing, but it just seems like it is overloaded if the music is too loud. The sound isn't as clear as at lower volumes. My VV2-55 is definitely better. I was debating if I should sell this VV2-35 but since posting it here about a week ago I contacted Paul at the Victor-Victrola website and he confirmed that it all looks correct, and of over 1600 VV2-35's in his database, this one has the highest serial number (80399) reported so far. This makes it more interesting, and since it plays fine and is all correct, I'll be hanging onto it.

[gunnarthefeisty]

Well I removed the soundbox and wouldn't you know it? I found the remains of a broken needle still up inside the receptacle. I wondered why I couldn't fit a loud-tone needle in there. I carefully removed the busted needle and gave it another go. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think it's better:

https://youtu.be/Pp3zbMJrjSc

It seems as though I can gently move the needle-holder into two different positions: out-of-line and in-line. I'm thinking at some point the case was moved around aggressively and the tone arm, with needle still attached, hit against something which broke the needle and dislodged the stylus bar somewhat. At this point it's passable to me, the bari-sax in this one actually sounds pretty darn good. Still a little distortion at the very end where it gets louder but for what it is and for $40 I can't complain. Just looked at your post above, I'll try the goo-gone trick, see what that does.

Oh, one note. Gojo does a great job getting the grunge off the naugahyde but I think it also does a good job of removing the dye. There's no way those paper towels would have come out that black had it just been dirt so I stopped. No noticeable degradation (thank goodness), in fact it's gorgeous but I definitely didn't want to go too far. I'll see how it is in a couple of days when the Gojo dries and evaporates.

Happy Weekend!

Sounds nice. I think the reproducer should angle forward a bit more

[AmberolaAndy]

I don’t have one, but I love the color scheme on these machines, plus no pot metal tonearm brackets!