Introduction: Turn Any Old Radio Into a Rocking Guitar Amp (the EASY & SAFE Way)
Did you ever wish for a real tube amp?
Well, I certainly did but Tube amps are expensive and sensible Devices.
If you are just playing at home or want one for recording you can now have your very own real tube amp for very little money.
Use an old Tube radio!
Every Tube radio produced in the past consists of 2 major parts a receiving circuit and an amplification circuit.
There are a lot of tutorials on the internet which involve messing around with the tubes and power transformers which carry high voltages and deadly currents.
This Instructable show s you the very easy and foremost SAFE Way of converting an old Tube radio into a rocking guitar amp.
Step 1: Choose the Right Radio
The most important step is to choose the right radio for this project and the choice is easy.
When you search for the perfect radio always look on the back of the unit:
Check some things:
is it really a TUBE RADIO ?(on most radios you will find a list of the Tubes used in this radio, common names are ECC82, 12AU7 etc...), Old Radios tend to have some information on the back.
there are counterfeit radios on the market which feature the word Tubes but are just old looking transistor radios.
Is it a "Allstrom" unit? This is a special kind of very old german radios which you should not use because they are dangerous to mess around with. so NO ALLSTROM-Radio!
Does it have a connector for a record or Tape player? If YES, then go grab it!
Check if the radio is working Ok.
If you have your futuere Guitar amp of choice then head on to the next step.
Step 2: Make an Adaptor
Identify the record/Tape connector on the Back
in most cases this will be a DIN 5 or DIN7 Pin connector, which was the standard phono connector of the 60-80's
all you have to build is an adaptor from your guitars plug to the input connector of the Radio
If you do not want to solder or can't do it there are pre made adaptors on the market.
Search for the pinout of the connector your radio has on google for example:
http://whitefiles.org/b1_s/1_free_guides/fg1mt/pgs...
If your radio has stereo capabilities, you should tie the left and right signal together to hear your guitar through both speakers, but most old radios are mono only.
Step 3: Plug in the Adaptor and Testride It!
Plug in your adaptor and watch me testing this easy mod on my vintage Philips Symphonie radio made in 1966
If you want to see more please consider subscribing to my Youtube Channel http://youtube.com/mayermakes
NEW VIDEOS EVERY THURSDAY and MAKER VLOG on Sundays!
You can also find my projects @
www.Facebook.com/mayermakes
http://instagram.com/mayermakes
Now ROCK out!!