Conrad Johnson PV-12A - Remove Phono Board?

To answer the specific question, it is very easy to remove the phono board if you choose to do so. The phono board is fully self-contained (with its own power supply regulators) and is held into place with screws fastening it to the main board. The electrical connections are made through a series of jumper wires from the main board to the phono board. It can be installed or removed in about a half an hour.

However, as Detredwings notes, to use the phono board alone, you would need to build a new power supply including a transformer and new chassis. That is a major undertaking and would require some experience with scratch builds.

I think you would be better served by selling your full function preamp and buying a used PV-12 line stage.

C-J does make a nearly identical stand alone phono unit called the EV-1, I believe. However, the coupling caps, at least the final output cap, is not polystyrene, and would have to be replaced to duplicate the performance of the PV-12 phono stage.