# Console stereo to guitar amp conversion



## fishin' musician (Jun 19, 2008)

Call me crazy but I found an old Nordmende console stereo at a garage sale...cabinet was trashed but it played the sweetest sounding FM radio. So, I bought it for $15 and dragged it home. The speakers are an unidentified 6X9 alnico with a 3" mid and a tiny tweeter. The pre/power amp has a single Telefunken ecc808 tube followed by a Valvo ell80 power tube into two output transformers.
My plan is to build a Stereo amp that will put out about 5W that I would use for jazzy/bluesy type low volume stuff. I figure that the 6X9 speaker probably doesn't have a very good high frequency response so I might include the 3" speaker in the design...so far I'm undecided.
Are there any other mad scientists out there that have attempted this sort of thing? I am hoping that this esteemed forum can help point out any tiger traps that I might step into...
Thanks, Dwayne


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## Gunny (Feb 21, 2006)

http://www.vacuumtubecollective.com/docs/ampstoconverttoguitar.pdf


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

fishin' musician said:


> Call me crazy but I found an old Nordmende console stereo at a garage sale...cabinet was trashed but it played the sweetest sounding FM radio. So, I bought it for $15 and dragged it home. The speakers are an unidentified 6X9 alnico with a 3" mid and a tiny tweeter. The pre/power amp has a single Telefunken ecc808 tube followed by a Valvo ell80 power tube into two output transformers.
> My plan is to build a Stereo amp that will put out about 5W that I would use for jazzy/bluesy type low volume stuff. I figure that the 6X9 speaker probably doesn't have a very good high frequency response so I might include the 3" speaker in the design...so far I'm undecided.
> Are there any other mad scientists out there that have attempted this sort of thing? I am hoping that this esteemed forum can help point out any tiger traps that I might step into...
> Thanks, Dwayne


My very first guitar amp was made from a big old wooden radio that was lying unused in our basement. I just soldered a 1/4" input jack across the outside terminals of the volume pot and, voila, had an amp. The cool thing was that I could also still listen to the radio and jam along with my favourite Top 40 tunes.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Big_Daddy said:


> The cool thing was that I could also still listen to the radio and jam along with my favourite Top 40 tunes.


I'm still laughin' about this.....SO COOL !!

Dave


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

:smile: Thanks!


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## brimc76 (Feb 14, 2008)

Big_Daddy said:


> My very first guitar amp was made from a big old wooden radio that was lying unused in our basement. I just soldered a 1/4" input jack across the outside terminals of the volume pot and, voila, had an amp. The cool thing was that I could also still listen to the radio and jam along with my favourite Top 40 tunes.


 I have an old Stromberg Carlson at home that I've been looking at for a project amp. I'm not sure if I'll ever need the pull out '78 player again though.


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