General Electric A1-300 power amp(1955-1956)
So awhile back I traded some gear and one of the things I got in the trade was what I thought to be a vintage pa head. I didn't do much of an inspection on it at first because I was excited about finally getting a vintage amp as I have been wanting one and have never even played through one. Ok so long story short I get it home and take a closer look at the tubes configuration and it has the normal set up. 12ax7, 6v6gt (2x), 6c4 and a 5y3gt nothing too different right? So at this point I'm excited and wanna get this thing going. But I realized there was a problem.....there was no power switch, no volume control, no nothing except one rca plug that said input above it and the power chord. So I did some research on it and i found out that it was sold as part of a home stereo system made by General Electric. From what I could gather from the information online one could either buy the whole package (preamp, power amp, speaker) or buy each piece seperately. So my question is what should I do with it? First of all I am kind of a rookie when it comes to tube amps but catching on really quick, actually to be honest I am becoming quite obsessed with the whole vintage tube amp thing. Ok so my initial thougwas was to figure outhow to incorporate a volume control and an on off switch to the thing being that it had a preamp tube in it and of course I was gonna change the rca input to a 1/4" input. But I didnt know if that was even possible ...is it? I got to talking to some one I met through the local harmonica club and he said that I should just experiment with different preamps because obviously that's what the rca input was for was to plug in a preamp. But obviously I knew that already. I would much rather go with my initial idea of modding the existing circuit I seen a picture of the same exact model but the owner put a volume control on it but there was no information on how he did it. So I know the volume control can be done but will it be possible to change the input and add a power switch etc. Hmmm....what I'm trying to ask is if this thing can be turned into an actual amp head to use for playing harmonica and is it worth the trouble? Or should I just experiment with trying different preamps. Which is gonna be hard to do as I am just a poor, broke blues harp player trying to raise a little boy on my own. In other words i ain't got much money to go out and buy preamps to plug into this thing. I really need to get this thing to work for me as I just don't see myself getting anything closer to a real vintage amp anytime soon. I want/need that vintage crunch so bad I cant hardly stand it!!! Lol. So skip any advice or info you can send my way would be much appreciated.
Specs:
General Electric A1-300 power amp
10 watts
4 ohm,8ohm,16ohm connections
5 tubes: 12ax7,6v6gt (2x),6c4,5y3gt
Hmmmm I wonder how much...lol. Do you know anybody interested? Also, may I have your email address please? I just received another pa head in very good conditio. My cousin bought it and an early green bullet mic( both in amazing condition and she got both of them for $10!!!!!!!). I woold like to send it in but I have a few questions first. Thanks so much Skip.
Hello Shag- Thanks for writing. That GE is a very cool hi-fi power amp that would command some good money on eBay, but it can't be made into a harp amp. As you have learned, it would require additional circuitry as well as another tube to be useful as a harp or guitar amp. It would be better to sell it and put your time and money and something more suitable. It is pretty unlikely that your 60-year-old GE is running right as-is, so you would also need to budget a little for some good servicing, as you would with almost any vintage amp.