/ Register

When It Rains... or, Xmas Morning Redux

Discussion in 'Shock Brother's DIY Amps' started by ArcticWhite, Aug 6, 2019.

  1. Aug 6, 2019 #1
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Over the weekend I picked up a free Silvertone reed organ with tube amp.

    Now look what followed me home yesterday. 20 bucks!
    20190806_155530.jpg
    Mahogany case.

    20190806_155609.jpg

    Mid-Sixties gold streamlined gorgeousness.

    20190806_155537.jpg

    Silvertone Medalist, y'all. Can you even believe how cool Sears once was?

    I mean; Custom High Fidelity. Mono does not get any sexier than this baby.


    20190806_155544.jpg


    20190806_155628.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
    FRANKENJAG, Nickfl, ecoast and 3 others like this.
  2. Aug 6, 2019 #2
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Ah, yes.
    12ax7 preamp, pair of EL84s.
    Hammond Transformer.

    This thing is too beautiful too cut up. Not settled on what I'm going to do with it yet.

    20190806_155404.jpg

    20190806_155443.jpg

    And no, please don't tell me to restore it as is.
    A. It's mono.
    B. The turntable sucks, and will ruin any decent vinyl you put on it.
    C. There are no speakers. It has a mono output. There is a stereo jack, but it requires a second mono amp.


    20190806_155451.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
    FRANKENJAG, JuneauMike and D'tar like this.
  3. Aug 6, 2019 #3
    RodeoTex

    RodeoTex Doctor of Teleocity

    Posts:
    10,538
    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Location:
    Nueces Strip
    Yup, I'd just find the input to the amp part and speaker out, put a 1/4" jack on both and see what it sounds like.
    ~of course I'm probably being naive~
     
    ArcticWhite likes this.
  4. Aug 6, 2019 #4
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Yeah it would not sound good. Tube amp record players usually have tone controls up front, before the the V1 grid, and they're tuned to reproduce deep bass tones - deeper than guitars can produce. They minimize distortion as well, where guitar amps benefit from harmonic distortion.
    And the input impedance is wrong as well.
    Last one I did, I just put in a 5e3 style tone stack and input jack. And clipped the NFB I think...
     
  5. Aug 6, 2019 #5
    bigguy12321

    bigguy12321 Tele-Meister

    Posts:
    381
    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2012
    Location:
    Traverse City Mi.
    ...umm play records...
    Records need tubes. Nothing sounds better.
    Maybe an input for MP3 or cd's depending on your collection but a guitar amp out of this without any mods will be meh.

    Great find though! Save as much of the old stuff as you can. Even if you part it out that means it didn't end up in a landfill!!!

    a
     
    ArcticWhite likes this.
  6. Aug 7, 2019 #6
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Yeah, I'm thinking about setting up as a smart phone or ipod player. The turntable is cool, but no bueno for using. I'll need some medium sized 70's speakers in mahogany...
     
  7. Aug 7, 2019 #7
    Bill Moore

    Bill Moore Tele-Afflicted Silver Supporter

    Posts:
    1,241
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2012
    Location:
    Silver City, New Mexico
    I'm curious what you decide!
    As for tubes and solid state, I used to use an old Dynaco Mk II amp plugged into an EV floor monitor to run my MP3 player through, really sounded great!
    I have an old "Radio Corporation of America" radio/record player that I say someday I'll make a stealth "living room" guitar amplifier with. Looks like a couple of 6V6's through the back cover. It has a small speaker, but I'm thinking a 10" would fit nicely where the turntable now sits!
     
  8. Aug 7, 2019 #8
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    This is my living room setup.

    It was a Newcomb classroom record player. I added a gain stage and built an appropriate tone stack, and put a 10 inch vintage Jensen alnico in it.

    It has a pretty nice grind at low volume.

    20190807_103447.jpg
     
    RodeoTex, JuneauMike and Bill Moore like this.
  9. Aug 8, 2019 #9
    bigguy12321

    bigguy12321 Tele-Meister

    Posts:
    381
    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2012
    Location:
    Traverse City Mi.
    ^ Love this^

    Any use of the old stuff is a good use.

    a
     
  10. Aug 16, 2019 #10
    JuneauMike

    JuneauMike Poster Extraordinaire

    Posts:
    5,651
    Joined:
    May 5, 2015
    Location:
    Alaska
    Gorgeous. I'm living in the wrong neighborhood.

    I agree, too beautiful to cut this cabinet up. That turntable pocket looks like a nice size for a small speaker. I'm thinking of like a hinge and catch arrangement where you open the top and tip up the speaker 45 degrees for playing. You could even put some tolex covering on the back of the speaker baffle (or just under the grill cloth) like an accordion shroud so no one sees the back of the speaker cone. Maybe in the spirit of an old gramophone speaker. Very cool.

    Beautiful.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2019
    FRANKENJAG, ArcticWhite and Bill Moore like this.
  11. Aug 16, 2019 #11
    ArcticWhite

    ArcticWhite Tele-Afflicted

    Posts:
    1,007
    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    I was thinking along those lines, but it is too large and heavy to make a portable combo amp out of. It's about 36 inches wide 18 deep, and mahogany, so I would not want to carry it anywhere.
    Frankly, it's a bit of a white elephant.

    I found out the guy I bought it from sold the speaker to someone else, because he is an idiot.
    I currently have three ads in Craigslist trying to reunite the setup. No reply yet.

    Here's what it looked like.

    console.jpg
     
    bigguy12321 and JuneauMike like this.
  12. Aug 16, 2019 #12
    JuneauMike

    JuneauMike Poster Extraordinaire

    Posts:
    5,651
    Joined:
    May 5, 2015
    Location:
    Alaska
    Ahhh, got it. So that's part of a larger piece of living room furniture? Too cool.
     
  13. Aug 18, 2019 #13
    bigguy12321

    bigguy12321 Tele-Meister

    Posts:
    381
    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2012
    Location:
    Traverse City Mi.
    We must shop the same CL...

    Good luck re-uniting them.

    a
     
IMPORTANT: Treat everyone here with respect, no matter how difficult!
No sex, drug, political, religion or hate discussion permitted here.