The origins of Lectrolab, and its parent – Sound Projects Company - are shrouded in the haze of time. Perhaps it began as a machine shop, or a cabinet-maker. Or maybe it sprang into life to take advantage of a radically wacky new idea, the Electric Guitar.
The Troubadour brand is a very early entry in the history of the electric guitar and guitar amplification.
Sound Projects made a matching Troubadour amp to accompany the lap steel and/or the guitar. This stuff is from the dawn of audio electronics, or at least from the golden age of radio, and I don’t have much knowledge about that. Maybe some readers can help out with commentary. The amp pictured below belongs to John McGuire and features:
- Type 80 tube rectifier, introduced in 1927, a precursor to the 5Y3
- A Sylvania 6L6GA output tube, introduced in 1942. This is probably a replacement tube for a 6L6, introduced in 1936.
- A 6Q7G preamp tube, introduced in 1936.
- A 6C8G Kenrad with a grid cap, 1937.
- An 8″ Rola Electrodynamic Reproducer, what we now call a speaker, Model K-8, made in Cleveland, Ohio, output transformer attached. 7500 ohms input, would get along just fine with a 6L6.
The the angled “Troubadour” script logo is much like the later “Lectrolab” logo.
John informs us that this is a model number M200, serial number 1060.
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I repairing one & the unidentified preamp tube in this one is a 6C8G Kenrad.