Pepco Paul Combo - Anyone have a schematic or more info?

[sohosteve]

Hey there,
I have a little 'Paul' valve combo made by the Pepco company of Canada.
I bought it a couple of years back on Fleabay and it's mainly been sitting un-used since then but when I recently plugged it in, I was stunned by how pure a tone this little thing produces.
It seems to work perfectly with the one exception of the tone control making no change to the sound. (someone posted on another site the self same problem)
However, a couple of posts I have come across, suggest this could be very dangerous to use since it has no power transformer and is earthed direct to the chassis!
One post read "I've seen lots of variations of these Canadian-made budget amps. Most were combos with an 8" speaker, single-ended and had series-string heaters. The
last characteristic made them extremely unsafe to use."
I've done some major trawling of the internet and come up with only minor details, so I'm wondering if anyone here could help me with more info, or even a schematic so that I can get this thing checked out by a qualified engineer.
Any help would be gratefully accepted.
Thanks in advance

[Zipslack]

Quick-and-easy initial check -- look inside the cabinet and count the transformers? One output tranny for the speaker (smaller) and hopefully one (bigger) power tranny. If you only have the one transformer, then it's a hot-chassis series-string setup. Just to verify, check the tubes. Is there a rectifier tube (5y3, 6u4, etc) and what type of output tube? If you see a 6v6 or similar, you probably have a power transformer. If output is something like a 35c5 or 50l6, then it's a series-string.

Based on the age, type, and "bargain-bin" status, I would be willing to bet it's a hot-chassis. The good news is that adding an isolation transformer to make it safe is a trivial modification and not very expensive.

[Zipslack]

I couldn't find a schematic, but it should be easy enough for any technician to figure out. Here's a transformer that would probably be okay - Triad N-68X from Mouser for $11.20 plus s/h:

N-68X Triad Magnetics Transformers

[sohosteve]

I couldn't find a schematic, but it should be easy enough for any technician to figure out. Here's a transformer that would probably be okay - Triad N-68X from Mouser for $11.20 plus s/h:

N-68X Triad Magnetics Transformers

Hey Zipslack, that's a great help as there is no power transformer in there. Just a tiny little one that feeds to the speaker.
I live in the UK so would need one that runs on 240v but I appreciate your feedback as at least you've re-assured me that it's fixable and shouldn't be too expensive

[Zipslack]

That Triad xformer is listed as 115/230 volts and can be used for US or foreign voltage...just a matter of connecting the windings for the desired voltage (instructions should be included with the transformer).

[J M Fahey]

Let your experienced engineer compare it to some of those Valco/Wards/Airline/Danelectro/etc. amplifiers.
There were some ultra-cheap hot chassis models, they were all basically the same: straight out of the RCA or whatever datasheet (look under AC/DC radio amplifiers), nobody was getting "creative" there, except by finding how many parts they could pull and let the amp still sound (somehow).
No matter what, use that isolation transformer and ground its chassis through a 3 prong power plug.

[sohosteve]

Well I guess that transformer looks like it should do the job then :-)
Thanks to you both for sharing your knowledge with me.
I'll order it tomorrow.
Best regards
Steve