What to build into this old radio chassis?

4114Effects

A friend of mine just popped over to donate this rather lovely looking valve radio. He thought it might be a good candidate for an amp build and I'm inclined to agree! It's much bigger than I expected though and the controls are placed on the bottom which may be awkward. 

Just wondering what you guys would like to see in there though? All the internals will be coming out, there's a lovely coke-bottle Mazda 5y3 in there I'm sure I can use, but the rest of the valves will likely be specialist radio ones. 

octatonic

Recording studio monitor controller and talkback.

If it has to be a guitar amp then a Tweed 5F10, Harvard circuit.

RiftAmps

Looks to be 40s or 50s.

That radio was probably bought by the man of the house with his savings and sat proudly on the mantelpiece doings its job for 20 years, before being replaced by a transistor set. Then it was shoved in the attic for another 30-40 years before somebody found it.

All of the major news stories would have been recieved on that set, young people would have heard The Beetles for the first time, and maybe even listen to the Queen's coronation in 1953. Who knows what historical moments came out of that speaker during its working life.

EDIT  have a 30's console radio that people would have listened to the outbreak of WWII on.

I vote that you tastefully restore it as a working radio.

4114Effects

RiftAmps said:

Looks to be 40s or 50s.

That radio was probably bought by the man of the house with his savings and sat proudly on the mantelpiece doings its job for 20 years, before being replaced by a transistor set. Then it was shoved in the attic for another 30-40 years before somebody found it.

All of the major news stories would have been recieved on that set, young people would have heard The Beetles for the first time, and maybe even listen to the Queen's coronation in 1953. Who knows what historical moments came out of that speaker during its working life.

I vote that you tastefully restore it as a working radio.

A very compelling point made :-) 

Teyeplayer

That'd make a great cab for a fender champ. Got a mate whose done a few like this and they are great as cool ornamental guitar amps.

ICBM

RiftAmps said:

I vote that you tastefully restore it as a working radio.

This, or sell it to a radio specialist if it looks like too much work - it could be worth a fair amount of money even in that condition.

If you want, you can still play guitar through it even if it's restored to its original state… I did with one I had in the late 80s! It had a wonderful warm clean tone for playing quietly in the evening.

Gagaryn

4114Effects said:

RiftAmps said:

Looks to be 40s or 50s.

That radio was probably bought by the man of the house with his savings and sat proudly on the mantelpiece doings its job for 20 years, before being replaced by a transistor set. Then it was shoved in the attic for another 30-40 years before somebody found it.

All of the major news stories would have been recieved on that set, young people would have heard The Beetles for the first time, and maybe even listen to the Queen's coronation in 1953. Who knows what historical moments came out of that speaker during its working life.

I vote that you tastefully restore it as a working radio.

A very compelling point made :-) 

But add DAB :-)

normula1

RiftAmps said:

Looks to be 40s or 50s.

That radio was probably bought by the man of the house with his savings and sat proudly on the mantelpiece doings its job for 20 years, before being replaced by a transistor set. Then it was shoved in the attic for another 30-40 years before somebody found it.

All of the major news stories would have been recieved on that set, young people would have heard The Beetles for the first time, and maybe even listen to the Queen's coronation in 1953. Who knows what historical moments came out of that speaker during its working life.

EDIT  have a 30's console radio that people would have listened to the outbreak of WWII on.

I vote that you tastefully restore it as a working radio.

I'm a sucker for an old radio so +1 from me

RiftAmps

Start by replacement all of the wax/paper and electrolytic caps. Fit a new mains cable and replace any wiring that is compromised. The alignment might be OK but it's always worth getting it done. If you ever come down this way I'm happy to do it for you.

JezWynd

Can you get Alvar Lidell reading the news on the Home Service? Those old radios have a touch of magic in their sound.

oaf

I'd be tempted to add a Raspberry Pi and one of these:
http://iqaudio.co.uk/audio/9-pi-digiamp-0712411999650.html
maybe fit the touchscreen in the window at the top? New speaker or two?

Sacrilege?!