Myles, I have a Pilotone hi-fi amp that my dad and I assembled in the fifties, before stereo. It's got two 12AX7's and two 6V6's, a 12AU7,6C4, and 5Y3GT. There are four controls: volume, treble, bass and "Equalizer", which I take to be inputs - FOR, LP, NAB, AES, RIAA, RADIO, AUX I and AUX II. I pulled the tubes years ago and packed them in something soft and boxed up the amp.
It's starting to intrigue me, especially with the preamp and power tube combination that's found on lots of nice guitar amps. I opened the bottom plate and saw that Dad and I did a fairly workmanlike soldering job. I remember it worked fine when we hooked it up to our Garrard turntable and a Jensen 12" speaker that was mounted directly to a hole cut in the knotty pine paneling of our basement. I have no idea how many times "Heartbreak Hotel" played thru this setup. Must have driven Dad a little nuts realizing his contribution to the "that racket", as he called it. I'm now older than he was when we put this kit together.
The inputs are RCA jacks, with trim pots for hum balance, phono level and phono load. There are several speaker load options in back. I thought this might be a neat little project to use with some sort of direct box to get a correct level into the AUX input. I realize the caps are probably dry and the power cord is history. I think these were kind of on the same level as Dynaco, with quality components. I wouldn't be taking it on the road. Were these amps designed to be so clean that instruments couldn't "bloom" in sound when driven? Should I have a good psychologist on hand?
BTW, Myles, your are a prince for your patience.
Henry