KMD GV-60 Mods.

G'Day,
We've had this amp in the family for YEARS, & I think KMD are actually defunct now so that's why I'm asking you guru's for help.
There's not much info on these, so any advice apreciated. From what I can tell its actually got a transistor pre-amp & tube power amp (backwards to most - hey?) with two 6L6 tubes. OK :

You're right. I did a quick Google search and not much showed up. I was hoping that there might be schematics available out there - you will need those to really do much modification / repair to the amp. The only schematics I could find were from people selling them for US$12 or US$15. At some point you'll probably need to get them if you don't have a set that came with the amp.
Question1)
Looking at it there's two blue cylinders protruding from the head, which I assume are the preamp transistors
Where are they and what do they look like? Do they hang down from the amp chassis like the tubes do? Do they look anything like this? If so then they are the capacitor cans for filtering the power for the tubes.

- I guess it takes more than just replacing these with tubes to make it a full - tube amp?

Yes, it will take a lot more than just replacing the transistors. I think this is one of those "if you need to ask then the project is too big for you" type things.
Question 2) I have a tube-driven Blackstar HT-DUAL which has eq etc. What about getting an amp/electronics dude to give me a guitar jack straight to the power amp, so I can use the Blackstar as the pre-amp & therefore have all-tube?

An effects loop is not as simple as dropping in a pair of 1/4" jacks and soldering some wire to them. There's a company that makes an effects loop board that you can drop in - it does all the buffering, level adjustment, etc. http://www.ironsounds.com/
Question 3) Pureists tell me that the sound I'm looking for is the POWER amp overdriven. What about getting an amp/electronics dude to give me a guitar jack straight to the power amp & then running it flat-out with an attenuator to get that overdriven tube sound?

Have you tried this amp as is cranked and running into an attenuator? How is the sound? Do you like it or not? I would figure that out before you do any modifications.

Thanks heaps for your comprehensive reply! I wouldn't try the mods myself - I just dont want to look like an idiot when I take it to the amp bloke. I can't get it to break up when it's cranked -it's just REALLY REALLY LOUD!!

So I think I'll just use it as-is & save up for a tube amp. It sounds like it'll be cheaper in the long run... & yes those blue thingies look exactly the same! All good points & thanks again!