[robbo100]

Hi there.

New member here.

I am looking to use an old vintage valve radio to make a small guitar practice amplifier as a project with my son. I know the tones won't be perfect, but I am keen to see if you can get some interesting sounds from it (and it will be a fun project).

I am thinking of using a Ferguson 461 (or similar), because I can plug the guitar directly into the Gram socket to get approximately the right input level without a separate pre-amp.

I presume that I would need to modify the radio by adding an isolating transformer to make sure it is safe, and was likely going to remove the "radio" elements and rehouse the amplifier section into a new housing (although I may be tempted to keep it as it is, if I can get one that looks smart enough). I would then drive a larger 8 ohm speaker in a separate cabinet.

Has anyone got any tips which might be useful for such a project.

Is there anything (other than the isolation transformer) which I need to do to ensure things are safe for this sort of setup?

Thanks in advance

robbo100