Recycling - giving old equipment a new life.

[rock soderstrom]

I am really pleasantly surprised. The HAMEG works amazingly well. It was so dirty and even after the first cleaning it could still be in any Mad Max movie, but it's doing everything it's supposed to so far. That's the difference between dirty and wet environments. It has no contact problems and it doesn't stink! I am really happy.

Whereabouts could one find such hotspots?

I will not answer any questions online without my lawyer

 

[Disco Volante]

Hahaa, magnificent! Congratulations!
This old Philips R2R is getting closer to its new identity as guitar amp. Hacking is so much fun...
Cheers, V

 

[rock soderstrom]

This old Philips R2R is getting closer to its new identity as guitar amp. Hacking is so much fun...

Looks really good! The Philips RK series are great, they often have tube rectifiers and ECC83/ ECL82 in them. Perfect for a Gibson Skylark GA5T amp


voltages added to original schematic by @CJ

 

[Disco Volante]

Yep, that's pretty much the direction it's headed, and almost exactly the tubes in the Philips. It's a 3516 with ECL82, ECC83, EF86, EM81, and EZ80. I'll give the stock amp a listen before I rewire it into something like that...

 

[rock soderstrom]

...and almost exactly the tubes in the Philips. It's a 3516 with ECL82, ECC83, EF86, EM81, and EZ80.

Nice collection of tubes, you can do a lot with them!

Most of them are still in really good shape, these R2R recorder have often not been running for so long compared to tube radios, the tubes often still show very good emission and are usually of very good origin (Valvo, Philips, Telefunken etc.).

My experience with the stock circuits in various R2R devices is that they always use a lot of negative feedback, which doesn't sound so good for guitar applications. It's best to deactivate it...and the OPT are often very small, that doesn't necessarily have to be bad, you just have to try it out. (...and I am sure you will )

Keep us posted!

Edit:

Another good trick is to use R2R recorder OPTs from devices that are one size bigger in terms of output wattage. For example, I like to use the OPT from Grundig TK30 or 35 that is actually intended for EL84 SE for amps with ECL82 or ECL86. This gives the amp a little more authority, especially with external, larger guitar loudspeakers

The slight impedance mismatch is good for the sound

 

[rock soderstrom]

Here a OPT from a TK17 (ECL86 SE) vs TK30 (EL84 SE).