The Electra Forums

I'm a believer in small tube anps - Like Harmony's or Alamo's. No need to go solid state. Turn this kind of amp to 10 and figure out the rest from there.. A good amp is great but/.//../. It's not the arrow - It's the indian. I find that less is more. pound the bejesus out of small stuff and then get crazy with a big boy amp. If you suck with a small amp - you will suck a lot with a big amp. Hoo! having said that - my big amp is a Traynor YGM-3 -Celestion v 30 or Eminence gb12 - I swap them out fer shits and giggles. I seriousluy recommend a small tuber - PM me for a hookup in that regard.

Peavey Encore 65, probably 1987 model which is all tube. You can get a wide variety of sounds from this amp. I'm thinking about re-tubing with a custom tube set from Doug's Tubes.

I do love the small Traynors. Kind of like equal parts Fender, Marshall, and Vox. Maybe not as much unique character as any one of those, but a nice blend for sure.

In addition to my Frontman 25R, I recently purchased a Line 6 Spider IV 75w with the SBV Shortboard. Love that thing!!

I currently have 2 amps - an old 60's gibson skylark and a newer Vox VT30. They both do their respective things very well. However, I just came up with a new idea. I've been tossing around the idea of building a tube amp and have now decided to build 2.

I think the cabinet I use will be pretty unique. I thought of the idea recently and then decided to look on the internet to see if anyone had done it yet. I could only find 1 page where someone had done what I was imagining in my head. I'm going to take an old 1930's to 1940's Philco, RCA, or Detrola radio that is broken and retrofit it with a tube amp (well different from the ones already there!). IMO it will look cool and sound cool. In fact, I will be building 2 of them. One will be a champ 5f1 amp, and the second will be a Marshall 18watt clone. See the pictures in the link below for an idea of the finished product (the old radio). I will use the existing knobs for the champ but haven't decided what to do about the Marshall clone controls yet.

Not only will this look good, but will sound good too. I grew up in electronics (family business) and I am pretty proficient. If mine turn out well, I may make a few to sell.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_37_10.html

I've got a couple old tube hi-fi amps, and have wondered if they could be modified into a guitar amp.

Those will be very cool to see and play thru. Good Luck

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Always give thanks for everyday, It may be your last so Rock On Semper Fi!!

I too have some tube hifi amps but I don't intend on modifying those. I am planning on removing the tube radios from these cabinets and replacing them with a guitar amp.

Guitar amps are definitely low-fi which is why we like them. I may scavenge some parts in the old radios for future builds, especially the old transformers as this is where the money is at in any amp. Not to mention that old transformers are usually better made.

One of the unforseen advantages of this project for me is when I mentioned it to the wife. She really likes the idea and likes the look of the old radio cabinets instead of adding another "box" to the house. The other advantage is the cost factor. I can get one of these, made with better materials and possibly better sounding (aged wood) for the same price or less than I could build a cab for, especially with the price of tolex.

Well, I was playing the Traynor at full volume today when it started fading in and out and then completely quit. The tubes and lamp are still lighting up - but no sound at all. Fuse is fine, speaker connections are fine. Anyone have any ideas? I do have another full set of tubes so I guess I could start a process of elimination on them. (2)EL84 and (4)12AX7A's

I'd start with the tubes, then start checking caps if you have a multimeter. Ahhhh......another that got me on the old Gibson was the darned speaker. I thought for sure I had blown a tube and it turned out to simply be the shoddy CTS speaker that thing had come with.

I recorded a Kirby Kelly show, and he sets up his solo performance stage using a couple old radios. One of which has a guitar speaker mounted in it and a Laney head tucked in the back. He sets it all up like he's playing in a living room or parlor. Makes for a cool looking stage, with furniture, lamps, and mojo trinkets.

http://www.myspace.com/kirbykelleyblues

I will point out that cabinet design has a significant impact on the tone. Even with an open back combo amp. So you may or may not be happy with the way the box itself sounds. But it WILL look cool!

If you really have tube hi-fi amps, they may be worth significant money in stock form. Old tube PA heads, on the other hand, are great candidates for conversion to guitar amps. You get a chassis, transformers, power supply, all pretty much built for you. As long as you're starting with a point to point design, you can build in pretty much any circuit you want. It's time consuming, but can result in interesting amps.

Now you know another person that has done it!

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Thorny

I bought a 'Sleeper' a few years back, its a 50's Bell & Howell Theater extension cab that has a 12" alnico and little dual output transformer hotrod tucked into it:



The cabinet rattles noticeably, and the distortion is a little primitive for me, but I always thought it would make a great little harmonica amp... too bad I don't play one! Those wooden Goliath's look pretty cool man, show us once you pick out a cabinet!

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Wow, well that's cool. I've seen the old filmsound cabinets and I think they are neat. I understand about the tone issue with the open back and will probably make something that encloses most of the it and experiment from there. Thanks for the feedback on this.