50's RCA Radio Champ 5F1

[Cygnus X1]

Yet another one!

This flea market find lent itself very well to a 5F1 project.
The original radio was equipped with a full set of transformers,
5Y3GT, 12AT7, and 6V6GT along with the usual radio receiver tubes.
Fair wood cabinet and room for an 8" alnico speaker.

Used a new chassis and worked it in to the cab.
Essentially a point to point build using terminal risers.
The amp itself sounds great, as a tweed 5F1 Champ should.
Next challenge was getting the cosmetics on the front
and the lights together without rattling.
Took a couple of days to get all of that together.

Sounds great through the test 4x12, and sounds very good on its
own as a table top.
Only one detail, and that's get a handle on it!

[Hellbat]

I know I have the soldering skills to assemble one of these. I'm going to have to bite on a kit soon I think.

[Cygnus X1]

For relative ease of building conversions are some of the most difficult to do correctly.
I have the advantage of collecting a lot of spare parts and pieces to get them together.

This one could have been built just using a store-bought kit and fit it in the box.
But RCA didn't count on someone blasting a guitar amp through it.
So the natural cab and cosmetics rattled madly, and that is what took the most time here.

Most antique radios are not good donors.
I refuse to pay much for them for that reason.

I always suggest a good kit for a beginner, with instructions.
Unfortunately a lot of great companies are
backing off offering kits anymore.
Ceriatone is now the best I can recommend.
Weber is stepping up, but not the best for instructions.

[straycat]

Added these to the Cyg Crosely amp.
Nice ornate handle and a longer handle to wrap the cord out of the way.
The new build looks great.
Could you just silicone the cabs to keep the rattle down? just a thought for the next one.

[Cygnus X1]

That looks great!

Yes, rattle is always a challenge (as mentioned in the first post of this thread).
Took a while to work it out but well worth the time.