Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: blown240 on September 24, 2011, 12:47:14 pm
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I was offered the radio out of my buddies 54 Chevy. He isnt going to use it, and it is a tube radio. I found some pics online of what it is and a schematic. Are there going to be any issues with it originally being in a car that was 6v? I think it would make a cool little amp once I am done with my current project...
These are not my pics, I found them while searching online for info...
(http://i.pbase.com/g1/87/900387/2/131858328.S6fFAOGC.jpg)
(http://i.pbase.com/g1/87/900387/2/131849119.vDqtHTyb.jpg)
(http://i.pbase.com/g1/87/900387/2/131849117.0ONx9psr.jpg)
Thoughts?
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These are not my pics, I found them while searching online for info...
may be something was wrong ................. where are the pictures ?
Kagliostro
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I think I'd restore it and offer it to someone who owns a '54 Chevy and needs a radio.
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It actually works fine. The car has been converted to 12 volts, so its unhooked. He is a guitar player too, and he only wants to give it to me if I convert it to an amp. I am just trying to see if its doable without too much trouble.
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I think it would be a lot of trouble. Probably a pretty thick steel chassis, very tight, very unforgiving of parts placement different than the original, probably VERY hard to find a place to mount a power transformer. Reminds me of my CONN organ chassis.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w32/ttm4/CONN_10_14003.jpg)
Gee, I look at that and lo and behold, there's a nice big power tranny, an output tranny, octal sockets for output tubes, even some tube clamps. 9-pin wafer sockets (that I would replace, but the right-sized holes are there. But if you study it for a while, you'll (maybe, maybe not) come to the conclusion that there's no good place (on either long side of the chassis) to put the controls that is not interfered with by the power tubes or the output tranny and we'd like to avoid that. There's definitely no good place to put a parts board so it would almost have to be point-to-point, which is OK I guess, but not my preference. Here you have this nice long chassis but the power supply is cramped really close to the preamp section. Assume you move the power supply caps (whether can-type or piled-up Fender type) to the other side of the power trans, the power supply still takes up about half the chassis footprint, and even if I got the p/s caps out of the way, the space they would vacate is not exactly where I would want to place additional preamp components. So now what, move the power transformer? Make a plug to fill up the hole that would leave? Just let me know when you think you'd have to do more metalwork than any sane man would do.
And thanks again, by the way, to the folks on this forum who pointed out all the negatives with re-using this chassis when I brought it up some months ago. I am sure it could be done, but I'm also clear the results would not be that great, and there could be some truly annoying hum issues with the "novel" layout.
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I am thinking that power transformer was driven by a vibrator. So you will need a new power transformer.
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That's a really cheap car radio. Makes my brother's 1941 Plymouth radio look deluxe.
> that power transformer was driven by a vibrator. So you will need a new power transformer.
No, he can run it on any STRONG 6-volt DC supply. About 3 or 4 Amps. Assuming the vibrator keeps working.
I'm against chopping this rig into a guitar amp. You can, but I doubt it will be interesting, and probably more work than it's worth.
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+ some of those old car radios are worth a small fortune to a car collector / builder
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If its a total waste, then I dont want to do it. I just thought it would make a cool little build.