The very odd Wulitzer 200B, battery powered stage wurlitzer

[ThatMusicGuyAustralia]

I have come across one and its odd. It is quite the strange unit. No vibrato, no internal speakers or amp, just a pair of 1/4 inch outputs for headphones and line out and a pair of volumes for line out volume and headphone volume. Inside the unit is a pair of 85v hi-tension rechargeable batteries designed to run the pickup without mains power and also killing hum and let me say, wow! This thing is the single quietest wurlitzer I have ever heard in terms of noise. The big killer however is the dual 85v rechargeable batteries that aren't exactly easy to come by.

[pianotuner steveo]

Wow, thats great. I have always wanted to see one, but have never found one.
Can you post pictures?

[Abraham]

Cool! Pictures please!!

[ThatMusicGuyAustralia]

Trying to add photos for show but the site is being crazy.

[ThatMusicGuyAustralia]

Let's try this again.

So this is a 200B. I had it traded in on an Oberheim OB-XA. Quite an interesting piece. Opening it up and taking a look inside the original batteries were long gone. So a quick once over and a transplant from a 200a and it was in working condition again. On the outside, the only indication this is different from any other 200/A is the labelling of the knobs, being 'on/off volume' and 'headphone'. It's a different tone to a typical 200 series, with more grunt like a 145b but clearer. Quite an interesting beast.

[pianotuner steveo]

What exactly did you transplant from a 200A? I see no amp....

[ThatMusicGuyAustralia]

Sorry, I should clarify- the power supply/preamp DESIGN was influenced and transplanted transplanted from a 200a to provide power to the pickup/preamp as it was running on a pair of dead rechargeable batteries and the original power supply recharged the batteries and wasn't suitable to power the pickup by itself.