General Electric Model 226 Table Radio

General Electric Model 226 Radio

This is the first tube-type table radio that I could call mine. (Okay, that's not entirely true. The Heathkit GR-64 is the first tube-type device I ever owned. However, I don't really consider it an honest-to-goodness radio.)

It came to me in a lot of radios from a local antique store...my dad is very good friends with the owners and they gave him two of the three radios in the lot. Anyway, when this radio showed up, it was a mess. The dial cover was very dirty and the rest of the radio looked very dull and lifeless. Upon trying to see if it would do anything when plugged in, it was discovered that this radio was totally lifeless.

After some work at cleaning it up, replacing the power cord, putting new capacitors in place and having it aligned (by someone else...I'm not that far along yet!) this is another nice radio. I find the (presumably bakelite) cabinet beautiful to look at. It has no damage or wear anywhere on the cabinet...not even the light wood back panel shows any sign of damage or abuse. The dial cover is perfect. Further, there is a nice looking kind of pattern made into the plastic body. The gold "General Electric" logo and backing is also perfect.

As far as reception goes, this radio does a good job. However, it doesn't seem to be well suited to musical programs...music often comes out of this radio with too much emphasis on the midrange and treble portions of the audio. I would call the audio "screechy" in nature when music is being played through the radio. I'm sure there is something that could be done about this, but the radio works well for vocal programming, so I'm not going to worry about it.

Another minor nit is the lack of a dial light. There's a socket for one, but it appears to be worn out. I put a brand new bulb in only to find that it will only light when being held into the socket. Again, I suppose this could be fixed, but it isn't a big deal. I don't often listen to the radio in the dark anyway.

This is a six-tube radio. I don't know the tube lineup right off the top of my head.

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