New toy to tinker with. With pics.

[chrislathan]

As best I can tell, this is from the class of 1958. Never had the case cracked. Has a 12ax7 tube in the preamp chassis, 4 6v6, 2 5y3..amp chassis itself has amp142cc model number. The internals and speakers literally look brand new. Anybody have any input as to output power etc? I'll pull the amplifier chassis out once things cool off.

[chrislathan]

Tempted to RCA-in a music source if I can find my pile of cables

[chrislathan]

The Google says 20watt, with the 6v6's in a push-pull config. Turntable is jacked, or I'd dig up a record. The preamp section is interesting to me, given the "timbre" control in addition to volume, bass and treble.

[chrislathan]

Looks like there's nothing glowing on the tube in the preamp chassis. Only tube showing no signs of life

[chrislathan]

Replaced the 12ax7 in the preamp chassis, and now it is at least making sound. Unfortunately I have zero mono analog audio sources here right now (other than a guitar or two) so all I'm getting is a hum. But no smoke and no fire 

[chrislathan]

Quick pic of the innards. Crazy clean for a 60-year old.

[PRR]

Magnificent!!

> Crazy clean for a 60-year old.

Cleaner than I was.

Just proves that dust settles downward. If you keep moving, you get dust all over.

[chrislathan]

I'd love to convert the whole cabinet into a classy guitar amplifier, or I may repurpose the console. I figure worst-case scenario is I got some old school tubes to finish my Princeton build, and a lot of parts to scavenge. Transformers and things of that ilk.

The best part was the $12.50 purchase price

[sean_thornton]

This is the kind of score that leaves me torn. Do I tear into it for parts or to re-purpose as a guitar amp, or do I pass it on to somebody that will restore it to its former glory. Those old Maggie's were gorgeous sounding amps, better sounding than some modern ones. Personally, I have to admit I would probably tear into it but I would always feel a little guilty about it, kinda like the Rogers I scavenged for parts last year.
But, either way, great score, especially for the silly price.

[eleventeen]

Oh absolutely. (torn) Especially when that  super clean.




Appears to me that you have a "2-channel" amp (not stereo, identical channels) but a high power channel with the topside OT (of very respectable size) and a lower power tweeter amp with the underside OT.


The iron isn't there to make two identical channels. The preamp is probably not "agile" enough for a decent guitar amp. Need more little tubes. Drill, hack. Ugh. At the same time, (see below) if you pulled the e-cap cans you'd be sort of set up for a row of 12AX7 without too much hackery.


At the same time, if you were to drill & mount tone controls along the long side of the chassis, you would either be right in the middle of the transformers (not reco'ed due to hum) where you would lose a lot of room; or you could go to the other side and be right in the middle of the e-caps. (also not reco'ed)


Oh, and the chassis is really deep; way too deep for something like a bassman head and deeper than any small-size Fender type cabinet.


Nevertheless, that's what I would probably do if I wished to convert it to something more useful: Tear out the e-caps and the little OT. Move power supply parts to a cluster in between the transformers, replacing e-caps with PC mounts along the way. Now you have one long side of the chassis for controls, jacks, etc.  That could be a neat 4 x 6V6 project, that is an amp config I don't have but have been wanting to build for a fair while. That does not mean I would get out the dykes right now....I might put it on a shelf and stare at it for a few months.


Take note of the volts rating for your ecaps---that has implications for whether you can or will reuse the PT.


The underside is really beautiful. Clean, clean clean.


You almost certainly want to replace those bumblebee caps. At that age they have maybe a 70% failure rate.

[EL34]

Chris, your emails are all bouncing back
I sent you a PM about this

Check to make sure your email address is correct

[chrislathan]

I have ordered a full SAMS sheet set for all the various components, so I'll have a good schematic in a day or two.

With regards to the "2channel" comment, I think the pics don't do justice. There is only one mono speaker connection at the amp, and the woofers and tweeters are arranged with a passive network after. Caps on the highs, but no chokes on the woofers. The treble control on the face gives options of - concert-1-2-mood.. with detents. And that preamp section(which also controls powering on) connects to the main chassis with a single phono plug and a male 9-pin tube socket. Will add pics when I get back to the garage

. I am about to pull the preamp enclosure out of the console to get a look inside it. The turntable and tape inputs are on the preamp enclosure, and all the tone shaping and whatnot is done there.

Was thinking that an input jack could be added remotely to the preamp panel, since that is where the input source originates

[chrislathan]

Chris, your emails are all bouncing back
I sent you a PM about this

Check to make sure your email address is correct

Fixed it, sir. Sorry about that

[chrislathan]

The caps in question are cracked and split, for sure. The ones in the preamp section have faired better. Bands/colors don't compute, however, so I'll wait for my schematic to arrive to see what they should be

[chrislathan]

I'm thinking, so far, to rearrange the components into a new console, stacking vertically and deleting the old Collaro turntable altogether. Would be able to have a nice amp for living room music with a smaller footprint. Retain the control bezel at the top with the driver panel clocked upright. Can add summed stereo inputs to the back cover and turn the original console into a classy way to hide a small LCD tv.

Want to do a tambour door in place of the grille. The original sliding glass cover for the controls will become a cavity for a DVD player and satellite receiver. the cover for the turntable can serve as remote/DVD storage. All of this takes into account the fact that I didn't get a pic of the whole console, so this last bit is open to imaginative interpretation

[chrislathan]

Take note of the volts rating for your ecaps---that has implications for whether you can or will reuse the PT.

@eleventeen .. Recaps are 450v, as an aside

[eleventeen]

Right. The little tranny under the chassis is a choke. It already must be a 4x 6V6 amp. Which means your OT is good for that tube setup.


Dual 5Y3's? Wow!

[chrislathan]

Definitely opens my eyes as to what I could turn it into. Yup, 6v6 x4, 5y3 x2, and 2 12ax7, counting the one in the preamp chassis.

[chrislathan]

I may put this thing back together and see if anyone on a vintage hi-fi board wants it. If not, I've got some big transformers and vintage tubes/caps etc to identify and collect