estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

johnny blackwater

johnny blackwater

New member
I made a major score at an estate sale!! A vintage Fender(thread in the guitar forum) a large tub full of old new and used audio tubes, a five gallon bucket of old output and power transformers, and a small very old unidentified amp chassis. I need some help identifiying this thing so I can rebuild it, it seems to only have a volume knob, two inputs, a fuse and a switch on the face plate. I also have five identical Philco power transformers, one of them has "6v6" printed in pencil on it. any help would be appreciated
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

That would ,make a great low powreed tube amp. I wouldd also mbe encouraged that there were a bunch og good 6V6'12xx7's and 12at7's in that lot of tubes.
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

it may be similar to a Champ, but my '56 has a different layout

still, looks like it could be similar - a nice little single ended amp

can't help you on the trannies, though ... you may need an expert ... the identifying numbers will help. I'd guess it might be to a Philco radio (duh).
 
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Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

Early copy of Fender Champ - Possibly Silvertone or Ward?
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

Thanks Teleplayer! thats exactly what it is, I did a google search and found out that it`s probably from the mid 1950`s from the serial #, not that its worth any thing in the shape its in other than to play, I found out that the original speaker (Jensen Special Design - P10R) was in a box of parts that I got in the deal. I listened to some clips of a Gibson GA-5, which is pretty much the same circuit and man did it sound nice! an awfull lot of tone from just one volume knob. The tube bin was a gold mine, about 40 ECC83 & 12ax7`s a whole coffee can full of ECC81/12at7 and 12au7`s - mostly G.E., RCA`s & Mullards and a few Amperex & Telefunkens. The large tubes are mostly old radio tubes, but I did get a bunch of 6v6GT and 6l6GB & 6l6GC`s including four pairs of NOS RCA 6l6GC blackplates, and a lifetime supply of 5y3 & 5u4G rectifier tubes.
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

HOLY CRAP.....that's a lot of tubes :D

I hate asking....BUT....what did all that run ya' ?
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

i think he wrote in another thread that it was $150 for everything...including the 65 stang!
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

Just read the other thread....$160 for a '65 Stang + $100 for all the tubes & parts..................:eek::eek2:

Sounds likea day well spent,shopping with the Mrs. :D
 
Re: estate sale score!!(mystery? amp)

It's probably easier to reverse-engineer those transformers than it is to identify them from patt numbers.

I the first trick will be to separate the PTs from the OTs, probably by the number of wires and their color codes. After that, it's matter of plugging in the PTs and measuring the secondary voltages. For OTs, you can put a low-voltage signal on them, measure the resulting signal on the other side, and calculate the impedance ratio to figure out what kind of tubes it will work with.

Finally, you kind of have to ballpark the power-handling capability by physical size and/or experimentation. The Hoffman Amp Forum and AX84 would be good places to find help with this.

Great score, by the way.
 
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