AB & B Electronic Supply & Service

I have been there 3 times, and just recently took a Vintage Pioneer amplifier (circa 1974, model 828) and my dad’s Dual 1264 (circa 70’s as well) there. I just got preliminary damage for the most recent repairs (the Dual, in particular), and in spite of a new Audio Technica direct drive with bells and whistles being the same price, you can’t bring classics back like this beaut once they’re gone, so I gave him the go-​ahead). Getting to this point only took 2 business days, and he thinks he’ll be finished in two weeks. Previous history:
Trip 1: Sony PS-​LX5 turntable with muted (severely attenuated), distorted output after random time. Found the problem in the muting circuitry which gates output when mechanically queuing up the arm during automated operation. Took a few weeks to get to this conclusion and resolution; $ 150 out the door and the unit is good as new. Friend is thrilled with the unit.
Trip 2: Technics SL-​QD33 turntable with jammed auto mechanism. Couldn’t manually move the arm from park to play. Coke had also obviously been spilled over buttons. Took it there, thrilled to see he had a parts machine of identical make/​model. Found the vast majority of the deck was shot, some failures were identical to the parts machine, and parts were unavailable, so nothing could be done. $ 30 for the diagnostics and I let him keep the unit (after checking with my friend who got it for free from his brother anyway).
Trip 3: In progress (see above).
As others have said, the garage is packed with lots of vintage gear, he is obviously enjoying the vinyl revival and people have appreciation for history and are aware things aren’t made like they used to be anymore. You see cabinets with the all-​in-​one style tuners, turntables, all driven by tubes and archaic wire harnesses, which with love and care are all brought back to prior glory.
A friend of mine affirmed that the proprietor (Ed) had a business for decades and built a solid reputation. It’s neat that word is out he does this and people are supporting his cause (and he ours). He’s old school, printing invoices on a dot matrix printer, using a pacbell email address, but he gets it done if you’re patient. How he gets his parts and where I can’t imagine. Dual (lots of those there!) went bankrupt in 1982. How is he getting me my lever replacement, the parts for my start/​stop mechanism, a needle for my Pickering XV15 cartridge/​D400 stylus, and what he says is a factory belt?

Ed is great! He knows his stuff and it’s evident he loves doing it. He fixed my Webcore and it sounds great. I’m guessing it was difficult to fix and find the parts so it took over 6 weeks to get back and it cost over 200. But people who know about this stuff are hard to find and he is upfront about everything. Great guy and the garage is awesome.

Wow! Mr. Bartolo really helped me with my ancient Memorex CRT TV w/​VHS built-​in. The TV set is over 25 years old and serves as my backup ‘wake-​up’ alarm that is pre-​set to a nice TV station that beats hands-​down the traditional alarm clock on my nightstand. So I have a vested interest to maintain this faithful old workhorse. All of my other TV’s are digital but have no auto-​alarm (wake-​up) feature. I was reluctantly forced to pay for satellite TV in the Analog to Digital conversion, but had to due to living in a condo with no really good TV reception and HOA rules prohibiting outside (the attic) TV antennas. After 25 years, the picture tube started bleeding around the edges and static interference started being more pronounced in low volume settings. I brought the TV to Mr. Bartolo who confirmed that the picture tube was going bad, there are no spare parts available but he’d try to eeek out a few more months of TV viewing for me without so much visual and audio interference. A few minutes later, a few adjustments and the insertion of a dampening device, my TV was restored to a much better state than when it had brought in for examination. I am so grateful for this extension of time as I start in earnest the search for a TV with wake-​up feature. Thanks Mr. Bartolo!

Ed is the man, I have a vintage 1960s turntable he brought back to working conditions and explained how it worked. Didnt charge an arm and a leg neither. Will definitely be bringing more work to him. Nice fella also.

Big ups to Ed! My turntable had a broken rca plug, but Ed was able to solder a new plug in a matter of minutes. The sound is excellent with no hum. I couldn’t be happier on the job he did. A go to repairman for any DJ or turntable enthusiast that needs their equipment repaired.

First of all, he is not out of business, just relocated. Call the number here, it is correct. You won’t regret it. I took my vintage Dual turntable to him after another place did not do the work I paid them for. Ed did a great job with my turntable – it’s better than new! The work was done when he said it would be, and he actually called me when he said he would. How rare is that nowadays? You can tell he has a passion for what he does and honor in how he conducts his business. Plus his garage, with all of its old electronics and old tunes playing, reminds me of sitting and watching my dad while he worked. :)

I was having trouble getting a new belt on my vacuum cleaner today. As I was determined to vacuum this morning, I decided I HAD to have it fixed ASAP. I was going to drive our vacuum down to my husband so he could do it for me (though I remembered him having to really wrestle with it last time) but decided to drop by AB&B electronics (corner of Irvine Blvd + Newport)(caddy corner from Ruby’s) to see if they could help me. The shop was absolutely empty when I walked in, and a nice older man (yes, even older than me) was behind the counter. I asked him if he could help me get the new belt on — it was quite a tight fit and no room to get my hands in to work. I had gone in there thinking he might have tools that would enable him to do the job quickly. Unfortunately, he didn’t. But, he worked and worked on it (about a half hour) until he got it on. He wouldn’t let me pay for it, but told me that next time I needed electronics repaired (or a watch battery) to come see him. I thought I’d go a step further and let you all know about his kindness — my way of paying it forward, I suppose. Anyway, I hope you’ll keep him in mind (he’s been in business for over 45 years — he was in Larwin Square for over 20 years, and now over 20 years in this spot.) (You learn a lot about someone while you’re holding a vacuum cleaner for them). — BH for my friend LP