Funky GE portable tube record player to stupid simple guitar amp. Advice?

chrisNJ

New Member
OK. So I picked up this funky old GE portable tube record player.
Model GE RS 2201
My plan was to put a speaker where the turntable went.
I know it will suck by any definition of the word, but it will be a nifty little novelty thing.
But I need to at least get some kind of volume. Like at least as much as one of those 9 volt battery powered amps.
I bypassed the tiny thread-thin wires to the needle with some way-too-thick 16 Guage wire I had to a 1/4 guitar jack.
Viola! a very quiet shock-o-matic guitar amp.
Even when I hooked up my tube pre-amp pedal it was still just as quiet.

So... I seem to remember something about putting a resistor or cap after the input.
Does anyone have thoughts on this?
 

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A model number would help a lot here. Taking a guess at it, you need another gain stage. Typical cheap record players ran ceramic cartridges which had an output around 1 volt. Guitar pickups have output somewhere around 100mv (per google, I know f.a. about guitars), 1/10 what the cartridge did. Possible it can be meddled with to add some gain, but more likely you'd be better off building an amp that actually will work like you need it to.

And speaking of shock-o-matic, a lot of these cheapies are hot chassis, so you may actually have your guitar connected directly to the power line now. I'd be extremely careful messing with this unless you're certain it is not this type of amplifier.
 
My first guitar amp was salvaged from a stereo portable rca TT back in the 60's. Can't remember how I wired it but I could play my other TT, too and play along with lp's. Salvaged a couple of 12ohm oval car speakers. Sounded pretty damned good w/ a fender fuzz box, too. Wouldn't mind finding another amp like that.
 
A model number would help a lot here. Taking a guess at it, you need another gain stage. Typical cheap record players ran ceramic cartridges which had an output around 1 volt. Guitar pickups have output somewhere around 100mv (per google, I know f.a. about guitars), 1/10 what the cartridge did. Possible it can be meddled with to add some gain, but more likely you'd be better off building an amp that actually will work like you need it to.

And speaking of shock-o-matic, a lot of these cheapies are hot chassis, so you may actually have your guitar connected directly to the power line now. I'd be extremely careful messing with this unless you're certain it is not this type of amplifier.

I added some photos. Looks like the model is GE RS 2201.
I’m just wondering how to get just a little more output
Also, is it a hot chassis. If so I will add an insulated input instead of the one I have.
 
Does that thing has a power transformer at all? I can see the output tranny but not a power tranny. If not, DON'T DO IT!
 
Looks like a 50C5 and a 35Z4 ? If so, thats series string stuff, usually with a hot chassis. If its not hot, its probably only isolated with a cap that could be leaky.

On the plus side, you should be able to stuff a 12AV6 in there to add a gain stage. You'll just have to figure out where the other 35-odd volts for the heater string are being dropped. Probably a resistor. If so you'll need to alter the value of the resistor to add in the extra tube. Assuming you can cram it into the available space that is. Not much room there.
 
It was said before but worth repeating,,, that thing is hot chassis, so it needs an Isolation Tx,,, they aren't expensive... without out it, there's a 50/50 chance the strings are hot... To get it "loud" enough for a guitar input, it will need another preamp stage,,, Look at some simple (Champs for instance) schematics to see whats needed...
 
I think what I should do is wire it to be a small amplifier for an iPad or something. I should wire in a 1/8” stereo jack but wired to mono.
I’ll test it out with an adapter
 
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