Online tech ?

This is why I do my own amps. This guy charges for screwing up your vintage amp.



http://youtu.be/8GF6Iu85lyk

(taps on rectifier tube socket) "This is a power tube socket. It looks a little burnt. I'm going to suggest to the customer that he replace it."

This after stickin' his big fat fingers into the amp yankin' on all the wires lookin' for "bad solder joints" Dude says, "These get old. Some of 'em need to be re-done when they got old." Whaaa-aaat?!!! Dude! "Good" solder joints don't just go bad with age. Not unless them amp has been on the bottom of a lake. Probably not then, even. Toss it in The Great Salt Lake for an instant relic job. Then you have other problems... :roll:

He pokes through the amp with a multimeter set on resistance. Checks across a capacitor that checks high [with an ohmmeter!] and proclaims, "This one is bad." Nyope. While you're dicking around with "bad" solder joints unsolder that sucker and run it through your LC75. Check it for spec, leakage and ESR. Oh, wait. You don't have an LC75. Didn't think so. :roll:

Dude ignores all the crappo white Mallory electrolytics at least as far as I watched. Guess he's preserving the original untouched solder joints on those, huh?

I got kinda bored watchin' him take six minutes gettin' the chassis outta the case. Takes me under a minute with hand tools. Note: If anyone takes the screws outta your vintage amp with an electric drill pick that sucker up and get it outta there pronto. It's a great way to mangle screw heads, tear up the wood and rip up the covering if you slip. Beware of lunatics with power tools!

Yikes.

"I'm going to recommend to the customer that he replace everything in here."

translation - I have no idea what is wrong with this amp.

I'm kind of a wuss but I like to discharge an amp before I stick my mitts inside.

But at least we learned that distortion is bad for tone caps. You can tell by looking at them.

Yikes.

"I'm going to recommend to the customer that he replace everything in here."

translation - I have no idea what is wrong with this amp.

"Output is low and distorted" except he describes it as "overdriven". Nope. Distorted don't necessarily mean overdriven.

There are a buncha steps before even droppin' the chassis. Test the tubes, maybe? Tubes are always low hanging fruit. Replace one squagged 12AX7 for instance, if you get lucky that might fix it right there.

Burnt rectifier socket. Big clue! Can I type this in bigger and bolder type? The amp is tellin' him one output tube shorted or the reference pin is broken and the tube is inserted incorrectly. Dude just pulls the tubes and sets 'em aside. That's your "low and distorted" tone right there, bucko! While you're at it look for the 10 amp fuse. That's how you get the amp to pull enough current to arc across the socket.

I'm kind of a wuss but I like to discharge an amp before I stick my mitts inside.

But at least we learned that distortion is bad for tone caps. You can tell by looking at them.

My favorite bumper sticker lately: "Stupid is supposed to hurt." Seems most of the time we're immune to Evolution but sometimes we aren't... :twisted:

Dude may evolve if he keeps stickin' his fingers in amps. Maybe not. :roll:

Put me in front of a camera and have me describe what I am doing as I check out an amp, and I suspect some pretty stupid things will come out of my mouth. I give him a lot of slack for that, clearly he is making a promotional film and not really working. I can understand that, clearly we are not his target audience or customer. But then "I am going to recommend he just have me replace everything":shock:wow:shock:wow:shock:wow "I am going to recommend he let me lower the value of his amp so I can charge him twice as much". All the slack and good will got violated in one statement.

"
My favorite bumper sticker lately: "Stupid is supposed to hurt."

I have to get me one of those.

He has other vidios as well. Guitar stuff but this amp one made me so sick I just couldn't look at the other stuff.
The guys a complete jackass on amps if he knew anything he woundn't have posted that.

Not a word about discharging caps?
Checking caps with an ohms meter?
A big effing drill to take screws out?
Two OUTPUT transformers in a Princeton Reverb ?
And he charges people.

Put me in front of a camera and have me describe what I am doing as I check out an amp, and I suspect some pretty stupid things will come out of my mouth. I give him a lot of slack for that, clearly he is making a promotional film and not really working. I can understand that, clearly we are not his target audience or customer. But then "I am going to recommend he just have me replace everything":shock:wow:shock:wow:shock:wow "I am going to recommend he let me lower the value of his amp so I can charge him twice as much". All the slack and good will got violated in one statement.

That's the troubleshooting process. Not what he's doin', though. It's a process of elimination, eliminate the wrong answers until we arrive at the right answer. It's a matter of workin' though a process. I'm watchin' the dude go "blah, blah, blah" and wonderin' what the cordless drill is for. Then he whips off the back panel, pulls the tubes and sets 'em aside. Must be he's gonna sell the customer a new set of tubes and every cap in the amp and every resistor on the board. I wonder what that costs?

I don't go around makin' videos or even postin' sound clips because it's extra cost. Besides, the signal to noise ratio is lousy. For every kernal of useful content there's The Encyclopedia of Misinformation.

I'd volunteer to be The Central Scrutinizer if it were a paid position... :twisted:

Sometimes I do it for free, anyway. :lol:

Look at the bright side... at least he's not buggering a pre-CBS Princeton Reverb. And now we know who did Wally's Twin. :lol:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-central-station/319641-bftr-pics.html

I wonder if in the next segment he demonstrates how to clean the chassis out with WD-40 to make it nice and shiney (probably help keep those caps from overdriving too much). Then rub a little of that snake oil he's been giving his customers on the tolex.:shock:

He forgot to mention that this particular amp was made for only playing blues since those overly overdriven caps are blue (should have been a dead give a way). After all, the red caps are for metal players, and the green ones for classic rock. Most all of Fenders brown sound came from those chocolate drop caps (the brown ones).:roll:

He must have been celebrating 4/20 day just before the video.:mrgreen:

I actually did not see him trying to give out any information. Or even really working on the amp, notice working on the glass display case with the drill keeping the tubes from rolling off. What I did see was him prep'ing customers for a "complete parts swap" so he could sell the vintage parts.

Yeah, sure could have been Wally's mystery tech

I actually did not see him trying to give out any information. Or even really working on the amp, notice working on the glass display case with the drill keeping the tubes from rolling off. What I did see was him prep'ing customers for a "complete parts swap" so he could sell the vintage parts.

Yeah, sure could have been Wally's mystery tech

It was more like he was reading someones palm. This guy doesn't travel with a carnival does he?

It would be funny, if you didn't feel so bad for the amp owner.

That's why nobody touches mine. He looks like a pro with that shop, probably has a Certified Fender Technician plaque on the wall. Maybe he was just toungue tied, but seems not to know a PT from an OT or a Rectifier from a power tube. The socket probably just needs retensioning, but he'll sell a new one. Just gut it all while he's at it.

I know we have alot of great amp techs on here, but how's a poor amp owner suppose to know the difference until it's too late.

UberGoober.

I know we have alot of great amp techs on here, but how's a poor amp owner suppose to know the difference until it's too late.

Wait! Wait! I know this one.

It's like a woman bringin' her car to the local garage. The car thing seems to be more gender specific. Lotta mechanics specialize in sellin' unnecessary service to women in particular. The owner of the last garage I worked at didn't discriminate. He screwed everyone. Male, female, friends, neighbors, employees... didn't matter to him. Some people are like that.

The customer needs to educate themselves just a little bit. Knowledge is your best defense. It's pretty easy to ask a couple questions here. Hey... I may come off as nasty sometimes but at the end of the day I got your back.

Fezz sez,

UberGoober.

It's not effin' rocket science, right?

Nope. With an intermittent squeal, it's either a microphonic tube, or somethings funky in the reverb chain. It's easy to TS.
After that's sorted out, clean tube sockets with some deoxit, and re-tension. For some reason those white Mallorys last a long time. Coupling caps looked fine to me. You're right on about the no-guide pin. Also, those 6V6's look like those Russian firecrackers.

Oh but Fezz them coupling caps had been played with distortion and overdrive going through them. You can tell cause thay look like thay got hot the plastic kinda dripped up.
Clean your glasses man. :lol:

:lol:
Those blue ones always look a little funky. Then there's the turddrops.

Goofy band name alert: The TurdDropppers!

For some reason those white Mallorys last a long time.

I've had varying results with white Mallories. The 6V6 cathode bypass cap in Champs is almost always cooked. I usually change up the preamp cathodes in small Fenders "so they play nice with pedals". That leaves the bypass cap on the trem oscillator and the one on the reverb recovery. It looks goofy to change every other electrolytic and leave those so they gets the ol' heave-ho, too.

...while I'm bashing a dude for replacing every part on the board.

I'm not too fond of old electrolytics and they're only a buck.

Played a very early Vibro Champ the other day that is miraculously untouched and has no issues. Death cap and two prong plug intact, all original parts, no scritchy pots. It will be mine! :grin:

Goofy band name alert: The TurdDropppers!

Yeah. What ever happened to Country Punk? The Turd Droppers. They play through Cowtippers. I can think of other flowery prose relating to those big feed lots just outside o' El Paso...