guntherbuffalo Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Hi,[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Just bought this for £25 - [/font][/color] [url="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?campid=5336713463&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FCOLLARO-SOVEREIGN-reel-reel-tape-VALVE-AMP-EF86-12AX7-EL84-magic-eye-EM-81-%2F221202665191%3Fpt%3DUK_Consumer_VintageAudio_RL%26hash%3Ditem3380b4cee7"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLLARO-SO...item3380b4cee7[/url] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]The amp has EF86 12AX7 EL84 magic eye EM 81 valves.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]It is my intention to strip the reel to reel machine and connect up a 10 inch speaker to use this as a valve guitar amplifier.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I can find very little information on this unit. Any idea what sort of maximum wattage the amplifier will put out? [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I have seen a few people make these into guitar amplifiers with great results, just could do with a bit more info to match up watts/ohms for a 10 inch speaker. If I could get the amp to overdrive, that would also be a bonus![/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]this one is mono and has a 1/4 jack mic input. I have heard some people just plug in and play and hook it up to a cab and sound amazing, also heard lots of people say you need to mod stuff a lot. [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Any advice would be greatly appreciated.[/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Back in the mid '60s, this was the 'standard' way to obtain effects pedals, pre-Boss. The i/p modified to take a jack; the o/p taken to the guitar amp and away we go. The tape deck was bigger than the amp (Linear Concord...)..! As for using directly as an amp: why not..? Overdrive..? No problem; rather the opposite. The pre-amps in there were not conceived for guitar p/ups, so don't expect a 'pure' sound. Basically, there are two routes: plug'n'play, and take what's in there for what it is, warts an' all, or deeply modify the amp, taking it out of the casing altogether, and 'adapting' component values. Good luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Personally, I'd be tempted to rebuild the chassis into something resembling a classic guitar amp. With an EF86, 12AX7 and a pair of EL84s, you could probably base it on the 60's Vox AC15 normal channel. I've got an old Fidelity reel to reel I'm planning something similar with, though mine is a smaller single ended amp so it'll end up resembling an AC4. If you don't fancy a full rebuild, you should at least replace the electrolytic capacitors to keep it reliable and safe. Also, what kind of rectifier does it have? If you're lucky, it'll have a valve rectifier, but some of these old tape decks use Selenium rectifiers which have a limited life and give out bad smelling fumes when they go - I'd change that if you have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Ah, the memories come flooding back. My first ever guitar, a white Vox stroller, plugged straight into my Dad's Truvox reel to reel. Sounded great at the time but then I didn't know any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 Hehe. I don't know about the rectifier. Will be getting a modern plug fitted by an amp guy I know. I will ask him and get him to fix it so that it is safe/useable. I think I will see how it sounds as it is and go from there in terms of modding, as I don't know a huge amount about electronics. Might be able to get an old 10" ELAC speaker and fit it where the tape machine part is. Any idea how many watts this could push out? I don't know how you find this out. Will having a lower Ohm speaker bugger up the amp? Also, would that produce more overdrive? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I just had a look at the eBay listing, and it looks like you've got a valve rectifier in there, so that's one less thing to change. A push-pull EL84 amp could be good for 15-18 watts depending on the amp design and the output transformer, but I think domestic audio stuff like this didn't run them as hard as instrument amps tend to. With speaker impedances, the usual rule of thumb is that you'll get the most output and least stress to the output transformer using the same impedance speaker as it was designed for, but if you're going to risk a mismatch, a lower impedance speaker is less likely to cause damage than one with higher impedance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 One EL84 is 5 watts of sheer power and if I was to guess, I'd say a 4 ohm speaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 Wow, 18 watts could be pretty tasty! The seller has said the amp gets pretty loud with variable tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 If one EL84 is 5 watts, would 2 in push pull put out 10watts? A 4ohm speaker would suit, as the 10 inch ELAC speaker I have found is 4Ohm and 10 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 2 EL84s would be about 14 watts or an AC15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 ...Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Make sure it's properly earthed when you've finished modifying. I've had some fairly nasty shocks in the past from old consumer-grade tape recorders when trying to use them in ways that they weren't originally designed be used. Remember that electrical safety regulations have come a long way since these machines were originally made - and so it should have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Thanks for the advice. First thing I do will be to get the kit made safe. Is it likely that a lot of work will need to be done to gear it more towards a guitar amp? For example an AC15? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untune Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I run my bass through the front end of a nice Ferrograph Series 6 recorder to add some valve grit... the line out into a Pultec valve EQ clone and we've got some lovely Jamerson going on I've thought about tracking one down to use purely as a preamp, they're harder to come by though. In fact I've got a working Brenell Series 2 that I want to convert to a standard valve mic/instrument preamp but it suffers from a low level hum (probably bad caps) and I lack the confidence - anybody in the Bolton/Manc area got the know how? Back to the topic though, they look great and a lot of 50s/60s British tape recorders already had a sortof 'amp' shape - if you took the preamp panel out and flipped it, stood the whole case on end and covered the gap for the deck with grille cloth - voila There's a vid on YouTube of a guy who turned a Ferrograph into a guitar amp like that. I can't comment on that machine but a lot of decks of that era seemed to be about 3 or 4W max output, and the speaker impedance on mine is 15 ohms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Yeah. this one is the perfect shape to stand on end. planning to replace the speaker with maybe a 10" or 12" if it will fit, and mount it where the tape deck is now on some baffle with grill cloth like a combo! Maybe a greenback if I can get my hands on one! I will see how the amp sounds before modding and maybe go from there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Hiya, I've turned a few of these into preamps etc. They're not normally a plug and play affair but I could turn it into a very nice D.I for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntherbuffalo Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 Thanks, but I am gonna go for making a full on guitar combo. Have you worked with this exact model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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