Sorry, but I get way lost when I look at the schematic
, and I am not going to ask you to try to explain on a keyboard since it is near impossible.
S'why so many find the pictures/schematics helpful.
What i can do is look at the way something is wired and put a new pot in the same way.
It's a start.
I would like to replace the pot with the same one that will come out, just not sure if I want to drop $25 on a pot yet.
If you / the Dane do it, your labor is zero and the difference between a $25 pot and a $5 pot buys you protection from overloading the output. This is a risk/reward decision; for the $20 you have in your pocket and if the outputs bog down, you get do it over and spend the $25 anyway; you will, however, have a perfectly good $5 pot in your pocket.
The cheap amp I bought is turning out to be a little spendy. I would like to try the cheaper alternative.
One of the reasons you got it for what you did is that the former owner didn't want to come out of pocket for the speaker and pot and whatever else it needs. If he had, it wouldn't have gone so cheap. Most 35+ year-old / 'player'grade' tube amps need anywhere from $100 - $250 in 'technical intervention' to be useful. Dumpster diving has it's risks. :evil:
I think I get what you are saying about wiring with the ganged audio pot, basically remove the ground from the pot, and then remove the one wire connected to the middle lug (signal out) and connect that wire to the outside lug (signal in) with the rest of the wires. Seems simple enough.
You will have to confirm that the section nearest the faceplate is, in fact, tied to the preamp and not the output but, if so, under the dual-audio taper pot scheme; the section nearest the faceplate is wired just like what you have. On the back half; signal out (middle) just moved over to signal in, and no leg to ground. Agree, seems simple enough.
I also want to replace the bass and treble pots. How do I know what their value is?
By looking at the schematic; they are both 1 meg / audio taper.
Thanks again for your effort to help someone who knows very little about amps, although my knowledge has increased 10x in the last couple months here.
You're welcome DL; if you get stuck, you can PM me or default anytime. Best of luck.!