Is there any hope for this chassis as a guitar amp project?

[jh45gun]

We found a RCA Schematic that is very close to the chassis my friend found. He has a Model The only Rub is it appears to be a Stereo amp and he has one half of the system that had two twelves and tweeters and evidently had an other speaker cab. It has two output tranformers and the 6v6's are wired completely different than my mono amp (Zenith). Here is the schematic, can he save any of this to make a guitar amp out of or does he have to gut the whole thing and start over from scratch just using the tubes and one of the output transformers.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/jh45gun/RCA.jpg

[Blue Strat]

Try it and see what it sounds like as is.

The problem with "cheap" projects like this is that you often have to know a lot about electronics and the time required is extensive.

[jh45gun]

We have the time and if it was a straight mono amp it would not be an issue as lots of folks are modding amps like the mono Zenith amp I found. It is the stereo part that is throwing us off wether it is worth it or not to mess with this chassis or to look for a mono chassis and modify that. I am sure what could be done is to gut the chassis and use just the tubes and transformers and make up a clone from scratch. That is the input we are looking for. As far as cheap goes yea I suppose this is a cheap way to go but Neither he or I can afford to buy a expensive kit and we both feel that taking a amp out of a phono or some other tube amp application and making a usefull guitar amp out of it will have its rewards. If it takes a while to do so we do not care. I told him even if the chassis as is will not work well it has to be a start if he cannot find an other project as the tubes and transformers and chassis stripped has to be a start.

[jh45gun]

I have amps so it is not like this is the only way I can afford a amplifier I have a Redone Silvertone 1472 with a new wood cab as I did not like the cardboard origional and I have a Traynor MonoBlock II Bass Head I repaired (Bad Filter Caps) and a 2x10 Bass Cab with it that I use for guitar also. For practice I have Vox Mini amp. So needing a amp is not the issue cheap or not to us it is the idea of modding these old tube amps for a fun project. In reply to your post I appreciate your candor I know a lot of times these things are not as easy as they sound I do realize that as does my friend. I have not messed with electronics in quite a while, but I have had a course in electronics back in the 70's so while rusty I do have a limited background much of this was tube. Still I may have a question to post now and then here. My friend is pretty much self taught but he has a good apptitude with these kind of things and can fix computers and other modern electronic things including transitor amps so I think we can with some help once and a while manage this I hope.

[Blue Strat]

What you seem to be lacking is experience. Unless you find a knowlegeable party willing to do lots of free consulting (this is very difficult to do remotely) it's going to be a tough project.

Regarding the stereo/mono aspect, if you can figure out which parts are associated with each channel, just remove the tubes that aren't common to both channels (the preamp tubes seem to be shared at a quick glance, but the 6V6s are each associated with one channel) and leave everything else there. You can try to remove all the items associated with the channel you're not using, but you run the risk of removing shared components. Good luck.

[jh45gun]

Mike I do agree that we both lack expirience compared to a lot of the other folks here. Still we would like to try this with both his amp and my Zenith mono amp. What gives me the courage to try such a project is the great folks who share their information at these forums and are willing to help out and answer questions. I think that is great that folks take the time to help others on these forums and share their knowledge. Yea for his amp it may be easier to find a mono chassis or partially gut and start over with a delux type clone.

[Blue Strat]

You'd be 1000 times more likely getting help with an actual guitar amp than a project like this one.

[jh45gun]

Could be yet I have seen all kinds of amps made out of these types of amps even several built out of reel to reel tape decks.

[Blue Strat]

Could be yet I have seen all kinds of amps made out of these types of amps even several built out of reel to reel tape decks.

Absolutely true. But most were done by guys who didn't need remote help over the net;)

BTW, I'd be 5 times more likely to look at your schematic if it was horizontally oriented and a little bigger.