How to build Class A 6V6 Guitar amp start to finish from a rusty police radio D-lab electronics

Another cool instructional video. This time we make a Class A 6V6 firecracker amp utilizing a Lafayette HA-52A VHF receiver. Lucky for me, the power transformer was OK and had the right voltages for the task. The radio had seen better days, however, now it has a new future. Yes, I had a little visitor that showed up. I showed him the door via a wrecking ball. This presentation of tube amp theater is brought to you by Decoy wine! Enjoy!

[@musicamex]

You are a good teacher Terry. I teach electronics and music theory in Jalisco Mexico for free to kids who are sincere about learning. You help me polish my presentations. I too have more than adequate shops for wood, metal an electronics lab with 9 stations, plus a small but well equipped recording studio. I build custom guitars and traditionial variations of classic tube amps. Im on a jag building variations of the Hammond AO 29. They work great for tweed deluxe amps.. I am an ex chemist [built Caltest Analytical Laboratories over 40 yrs ago] and am a charter member of the Triple Nine Society since it started. Tube amps are a great fit for my 72 yo bod needing a sit down hobby that challenges me. Thanks for all that you do. You are easy to follow and understand and your videos arent gold pans full of bullshit needing to be panned for those nuggets of wisdom. You are a rare guy who not only knows his stuff, but you efficiently explain important details most dont. The vast majority of electronics tutorials re this subject really are lacking a theme and clear light hearted instruction. I recommend not changing anything. Except the wines. Our mainstay at the Sonoma lab was wine analysis... I started getting hooked on electronics beyond basic wiring and repairs of my stuff, all the way back to Alaska in the late 60s, early 70s. There i had to fix spectrophotometers, gas chromatographs..and almost everything that would have had to be sent to the lower 48. You seem to have a great lakes accent like Chicago? I grew up in motown and built my first hot rod at 12 years old. Anyway, if you plan a trip to pv in jalisco, mi casa tu casa. We are in the mountains [Mascota] 2 hrs from pv. We could drink a little wine, and build something from the pile of projects i have for fun days. You can get me directly at my email, [e-mail]. all the best, keep up the good work with the light humor. Russ

[@RobRice-so5nv]

Great little amp, great wine, and I like the anti-clumsiness exercise (wine on top) which is crucial for people who probe around in amps.

[@DennisMurphey]

i have a older Eico signal tracer that was missing specialized switches so i decided to take it down to the chassis and follow your lead and make a Class A 6V6 5F1 type amp. I have a amp guy helping and we have sourced an 12AX7 Pre Amp and 6V6 power Amp but for the rectifier tube all i have is a 6X5. I see you used a 4 diode bridge and choke to get the DC Volts. I have never build that circuit so i plan to use this 6X5, I hope it works ok. I have been binging on you old videos, all are so good. Thank You Dennis

[@littlejohnny1498]

I wish, one amp builder would do a series on showing the wiring of input and output jacks. also, wiring of volume and tone pots. I think this would help beginners more than anything.

[@stargatewv]

This was great. The old amps I started playing in the early 60s, pt to pt, not hi wattage just sounded so unique. This one sounded perfect on that simple strum. I like this. Alot. Thank you Terry D Lab Man.

[@jessferrera3155]

What a cool project and brilliant restoration. From scrap metal destined for the dump to an awesome guitar amplifier head in a vintage radio cabinet. D-Lab builds these things rock solid - built to last, tough enough for gig’n musicians /road wear. And the sound quality speaks for itself.

[@preiter20]

Great build as usual Terry! Cant wait to hear it in the upcoming video.

[@roscoefoofoo]

Thou art a wizard, thou art! Thanks for all your very interesting and very clear videos, D-Lab!

[@Dennis-mq6or]

That would have made an excellent weather band radio......

[@MrMotorNerd]

Love your work ! I'm an Industrial Tech . Machines any type I work on . I can see the experience flowing through in your presentations AND that's the GOLD !

[@kenhancock8931]

thx terry :) my motto "waste not want not!" learned from my grandfather at a young age.

[@jcmcclain57]

Great share Terry! I always enjoy your build videos. Cheers

[@kane100574]

This is great, man. I appreciate your videos quite a bit! Thanks for spreading the knowledge!

[@mike60510]

Thanks, with this and the one you did earlier from the Regency radio, I've got a great project to do.

[@benmace597]

What a great way to breathe new life into an old radio chassis! Terry, you do amazing work. Always a pleasure to watch. Thanks for keeping all the great videos! 73 - KB0RNH.

[@sonnylou8087]

Oh everyday is wine day😆🍸

[@1thess523]

haha that troll smashing was soo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@1thess523]

Decoy is pretty good stuff! I've been in the wine industry for almost 23 yrs!

[@asruiz7360]

I. LOVE. Your videos on this topic. I've been watching them for awhile, but I've started doing a project just like this. Wish me luck!

[@Mark-ry3ij]

love your videos, I have little knowledge in electronics but I really enjoyed watching every build and fix you make! keep it up!

[@coltronex]

Thanks Terry,good build as always!

[@emmanieuwenhuis2688]

I love these videos! I just cleaned out my 1992 Fender Ultra Chorus, solid state, but all I've got.

[@CraneofBoulogne]

Sounds great! It came out really nice all around, but that about always happens for you Terry.

[@TheRadioShop]

Another cool re-purpose Terry!

[@inuitcallboy2923]

Thanks man! I was looking for a schematic of a 5f1 with ss rectification and couldn't find one and this was exactly what i was looking for :)

[@johnsimms3957]

Cool Terry. And I love solid state rectifiers. Another person who prefers them is Mike Soldano.

[@timrussellguitar1516]

Love your channel Terry you are extremely knowledgeable about your craft. The only thing that I would like to see you do is to look into the camera! Thanks for your information and expertise.

[@jakeblues3676]

Nice Terry!!

[@miguelrichartmellado2834]

Another great job Awesom !! Thank you Terry.

[@BlueberryStinkFinger62]

Another great video Terry ..

[@jeffbrooks7246]

Year late but very cool Terry - also love the dealings with DFI. I'm with ya brother, if it's heading for the dump might better do something decent with it. And this is decent and doable for most enthusiasts.

[@rciancia]

Terry, awesome job as usual. I agree that you have given this new life.... always a quality from DLAB..... thanks man, love it.

[@d-labelectronics]

Thanks man, I appreciate your support. When I started this one, seeing its condition, I thought twice about moving forward, but it turned out well.

[@umajunkcollector]

Hmmm, perhaps a quiet PC fan in the speaker area to keep that little box cool. Use an on/off vol control switch. Remove two tube sockets and mount speaker jacks there. Now all I need is a Lafayette radio, I LIKE IT! Nuttin like stealing plans from D Labs with a few mods. Thanks wine-meister! Don

[@taylorfusion]

Awesome! I can tell it sounds amazing just with open strings

[@dwightbehm2886]

Pretty neat terry nice work. Blessings to you and your cute little 👩 wife Dwight from Allenpark, Mi.

[@bullwhipjohnson8247]

I recognize Lafayette as a Brand sold at Radio Shack. The first stereo I bought was a Lafayette. It had Phono, AM/FM, and Cassette. Very cool. I could record records and radio in stereo. Hot Dog!🐕

[@backspin6698]

Great playing, Yngwie Malmsteen get lost ;) That amp looks so cool. Great job, as usual.

[@ErickPaquin]

Amazing! Thanks Terry!

[@randelcross]

Awesome job Terry!! Thanks for spreading some of the vast knowledge stored up in those brain cells of yours... (that's the part that makes these build possible!) You know what you are looking at and you envision what it could be!!

[@d-labelectronics]

Thank you my friend, very kind of you, I wont let you down. TD

[@brocktechnology]

That radio covers the current Marine VHF band but I agree you've given it a higher purpose.

[@AntonioCavicchioni]

Very cool video! Thanks!

[@zjw3504]

Thanks for the amazing videos man!

[@esdamiani]

Good job! ! Beautiful radio amp! 73!

[@TheGalaxyhopper]

Cool Channel-D-Lab !

[@guyjonson6364]

Good knowledge. Very well represented

[@infectionsman]

That little 5k SE transformer would probably work great for a 2x ecc81 parallel SE output section for 1w.

[@MichaelMoore-od4jz]

Awesome channel thanks for your videos

[@jazzey69]

Wow ! that would make a great jazz amp...:-) love it ...:-)

[@MrCipolenio]

This channel is my dream come true!!

[@sumanmukherjee1852]

I want one of your hand made tube guitar amp its sounds great 👌👌😁😊😁

[@jvin248]

+1 on a guitar amp conversion as well as the history of the device and the transformer. If you get thin on your list of topics to do videos on ... how about some basic how to use oscilloscope both modern and the old 50s/60s/70s (big blue box with submarine type dials and jacks and crt tube display with tubes inside) types for doing the various amp trouble shooting. I have one from a garage sale that seems to work and I'd like to use it, I also have to find some test leads for it.

[@hpelisr]

Yes, I may use your design to do my first build. I am slowly collecting the parts and chassis. I found some nice aluminium scrap at the construction site the electrician threw out. I do have some 12Ax7A tubes. What is the difference from 12AX7 and 12AX7A? Thanks D. great video. I am learning a lot here.

[@flash9251]

Good stuff

[@nor4277]

I guess you won't be selling me that reciever,isn't Lafayette a kit radio,it's a name I haven't heard in a while,me I wish I could afford a amp.for my youngest son who plays guitar,he been wantinting a tube guitar amp ,I took him to the guitar center he loved the tube amps and most of the people at the store preceded tubes amps,I agree,I love tube radios.I like your videos,I watch as many as I can find.thanks

[@cpo415]

Great videos. I've watched three of them. No idea what you are doing but looks fun. Maybe hook up some speakers and play some reference music on future videos. I know it won't be the same as in person but it still would be nice.

[@bradconklin2878]

Awesome.

[@tiki_trash]

Those 6AR5 tubes are really cool, basically a 6K6 in a 9 pin tube much like how a 6AQ5 is a 6V6. Unfortunately, they're kind of rare and will cost you at least twice what a 6K6 will, still not a bad deal.

[@Annunaki_0517]

You have to be of a certain vintage to understand “one-Adam-twelve”. I’m in my mid 50’s and I barely remember that show.

[@RobertKohut]

Nice!!

[@bebo5558]

Hey, I use to listen to one of those!

[@whynotme5926]

I wish one of you amp guys would make a video on different ways to drop voltage and or current when your power transformer puts out too much voltage.I have asked this question over and over to different guys and no one does it or even responds.

[@frankentronics]

Interesting project. How about if you installed some kind of attenuator at the output, to drive that original speaker, so that you could switch this amp to practice amp mode. In other words, so that you could get the full tone of the natural overdrive at practice volume.

[@andydelle4509]

How about this: Leave the internal speaker in. Wire it through a switching 1/4 phone jack so the if an external speaker is not plugged in, the internal speaker works. Yes, it's not good enough for higher power but may come in handy for "quiet" practice sessions?

[@stphinkle]

I wondered if that thing could be tweaked to receive wireless microphones. There are some of them that use 174-216mhz band which is close to the original band of it.

[@michaeloberb2120]

What was your time setting on the scope while doing the hum/hiss test?

[@jjcreel9158]

Ha ha! DFI troll! Good stuff, Terry! :) Hey, I been meaning to ask for a while, what are the speaker specs on the camouflage cabinet? I assume it's a 1x12". 8 ohm? Watts? Make?

[@tdmckee-mm8wn]

Terry: Triode is not showing an order option for the TF103 with ultr-linear. If I go with a typical Classic Tone type, say the 40-18030, how would the single primary change in your schematic, where you are using two primary leads now?

[@grumhaygen1424]

You need a tc electronic wire tap riff recorder pedal for play back,record a buddy then you don't need them there,proguitarshop has a demo vid.

[@dwightjt]

Your project looks like you have enough room on that chassis to put in a tremolo circuit Just a suggestion. Dwight.

[@Nirky]

One Adam-12, see the man...

[@TheMegaman67]

I want to learn more

[@jakeblues3676]

Terry could you have added two 6V6’s like an HRO-60?? Using the same transformers and power supply

[@joramkalfa9521]

Neato! How many watts is that big old Unger?

[@jasonmitchell8733]

Hey Terry - What model number is your Ungar? - Or what model would be similar to the one you have?

[@johnsoncustomcalls]

I happened across a Kenrich eagle 500 ham radio amp. Any way to convert it to guitar amp or would that be completely rediculous??

[@stphinkle]

What are the frequencies of the old police band and what are those frequencies used for today?

[@Nirky]

How did you get 12v heater to the 12AX7 from 6.3vac 6V6 heater?

[@daperl2]

Shouldn't the first coupling capacitor (250pf) come before the 100k resistor that's attached to the tone control section? Or does it matter?

[@georyans]

Can you use that output transformers for a dual 6v6 class A amp?

[@DeadKoby]

If there's nothing to listen to on the bands that radio picks up.... then it seems like a re purpose is in order.

[@ross3818]

Is that a dual-log in Troll's little hand?

[@jakeblues3676]

Vac x 1.414= VDC should be about 450Vdc

[@georyans]

Let me revise my question can you use the ot10SE that eBay sells for a dual 6v6 class A guitar amp?

[@williambarnes7642]

Mr. Terry, a thought occurred to me: can a tube amp be built that operates on a 12v battery or better, a 6v lawn mower battery? What kind of output would it have? Do you have a schematic for such an amp?

[@mypronounismaster4450]

What gives an amp more of its character, the preamp tube or the power tube?

[@d-labelectronics]

I'd go with the power tube & class of operation

[@JohnvL]

9:55 woooo i was 104 days old then.... XD

[@OIE82]

How long did it take to gut the chassis? There were a BUNCH of components.

[@daperl2]

Oh, I see from a blackface vibro champ schematic that that's how it's done.

[@benwright6330]

..are any of these builds going to be for sale?

[@Tony770jr]

I was thinking at first that maybe you might modify it for the aircraft band. But the radio was probably in too bad of a condition to do so. Too bad..

[@mohammadmoezi3813]

hi sir i saw your video..and that is very intrested for me...sir can you help me i want make one amp with vacuum tube 6v6..and i dont have any circuit for that and i needed a good circuit ohh i must say this...this amp is for earphon and my earphone is 36ohm with 3500mili watt ..so absolutly we need a circuit push pull because i dont want use of chock for impedance...so we must use push pull circuit..otl...and pleas lead me and thankyou

[@Finom1]

Terry, what is the Screen voltage on your amp and the Fender Champ?

[@d-labelectronics]

I will have to measure this one. I do not have a Champ here to compare

[@Finom1]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us!

[@charlesshaw9090]

Ultra linear can feed any percentage of the plate audio AC to the screen, depending on the UL transformer chosen, but the DC fed to the screen will always be a higher voltage than the plate. This is because the screen is fed from a tap nearer the HT end of the output transformer. Usually the screen is no more than a few volts higher than the plate but with an UL transformer it is always higher.

[@rickylakemusic]

I wish to pick yore brane.

[@jaycee30865]

Terry the asymmetry in the sine wave at break up: is that due to tube imperfection or bias not being set dead center for class a?

[@Budro4764]

They break up at the higher volumes, that's why the Fender Champ ruled for so many years, and there is a Re-Issue of the Fender Champ.... The exact same amp as way back when......

[@MsCatdograt]

You look like a police officer XD

[@subcinco]

Hey Dlab, do you think the cobbler and Dick from the internet know each other? You think they hang out?

[@Wildman9]

Were not women,we don't boutique,we don't do knitting,we seek older Vintage ways to McGyver non descript items into amplifiers.Right,give it he'll Terry.🎸🎸🎸👏👏👏

[@thierrycaudron3266]

Bravo Terry en France vous êtes un idole courrage et continue cordialement Thierry

[@maxwhitten8376]

I would appreciate your contact information!!!

[@6A8G]

Is it just me or does Dick sound a lot like Lumberg from the move "Office Space:?????

[@markrobinson7259]

Uncle Frank lol,