Converting a Newcomb ED 10C

[Rohbiwan]

Hello all,
Just to set myself up for ribbing - I am new here and hope I am not asking the questions everyone has already asked.

I've been looking for a small project tube amp for practice and studio work and found a couple of old Newcomb turntables, still functional, early 50's make.

I have attached the schematics and am simply wanting to know if anyone has done this with these amps. And if they have any advise as this is my first build.

I should say this: I own an electronics shop have a tech that is tube trained, so we can do anything we want to the amp, so any idea or possibilities are welcome.

The main change we are considering is a volume control between the pre and post stage to control output level, but otherwise the idea was to make changes after testing the sound. I will also be building a speaker cabinet and would love speaker advise as well.

Thanks.
Rohbiwan

[olddawg]

I don't think that you will get enough gain out of the amp to be useful for guitar application. The original phono cartridge had a pretty high output and this is a one tube amp. If I were you I would look around for a single ended amp using an EL84 or a 6V6 output to convert. A lot of other old phonos, tape recorders, hifis, etc had them. They are cheap and plentiful. This chassis is a waste of time IMHO.

[Rohbiwan]

That is a bit of a bummer, but it does make sense. I'm looking for low power at first, but I'm not looking for that famous "tiny AM radio" sound! I think I'll tinker with one and perhaps part the other. Thanks for the advise.

Durazac 15

[Rohbiwan]

Converted Newcomb

Well, since it only took about a half hour to mod this lil' thing, I didn't waste too much time. The result - pretty weak, though clean tone even with the original speaker. However, as soon as I popped my ancient MXR Distortion+ peddle in the circuit it started sounding pretty sweet actually, I played it for hours and had to keep it about at about 4 to keep from waking the kids.
Here it is - minus the tonearm. The headphone jack has been converted to the input jack. And if that's not enough, it has 4 speeds.

[imaradiostar]

you should mount the speaker on the turntable so that it rotates!

jamie