I should have joined long ago :-)

[rperretta]

Hi,
My name is Randy Perretta and I'm writing from Gig Harbor near Tacoma WA. I've been doing audio DIY for many years starting by converting old WWII surplus plate modulators into guitar amplifiers. They were loud! I've had a long career in analog and digital electronic design and as a working musician. Spent many years in Silicon Valley.
I see this group not only as a resource for myself but as an instigator for preservation, not only of gear but of the sound itself and as a petri dish for innovation outside of the corporate world. I hope to be a good contributor when I can.

 

[jensenmann]

Hi Randy, welcome aboard!
I can totally relate to hacking old gear and making something new out of it. In my teens I converted old tube TVs into guitar amps or even a scope. That was fun. I´d love to hear your WWII guitar amp, though
cheers from Karlsruhe, Germany

 

[gyraf]

Welcome, Randy - better late than never!

 

[TimG]

Welcome Randy

 

[rperretta]

Hi Randy, welcome aboard!
I can totally relate to hacking old gear and making something new out of it. In my teens I converted old tube TVs into guitar amps or even a scope. That was fun. I´d love to hear your WWII guitar amp, though
cheers from Karlsruhe, Germany

Thanks!
The last one disappeared a few years ago I’m afraid. I still miss it. It was deep. It had punch. And it could take the paint off the walls. 807 transmitting tubes. Oh well, I’ve got a pair of 807’s, and a few transformers in my garage and I’m getting ready to build another. I’ll let you know when I’m done.
By the way, the trick was to take a small, single ended output transformer, and install it backwards at the input of the amplifier. Then I could use a much smaller amplifier for preamp and use the speaker output of that to drive the grids of the 807s or whatever I happened to have in there. I did have to replace modulator output transformers with regular push pull -> speaker transformers. I always picked them by physical size, not caring about impedance on the tube sides. Never had a problem with that arrangement…