Although much credence is given to the notion that hand-wired amps are inherently superior to other methods of construction, this is certainly not always the case. Here’s the inside of a Fender Tonemaster amp, which as you can see is a total rat’s nest of wires. I dread to think what Harry Joyce would have thought…
Here’s some photos from an emergency repair I did for the band Swans. I got phone call from their tech saying that one of their amps. a MESA Carbine M9, had died with smoke emanating from the innards. Swans needed the amp turned around quickly as they were on tour. I said that this didn’t look…
I’ve had a few Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 18 amps in for repair. This is an 18W fixed bias amp that uses 2 x EL84s in the output stage. These amps have a quite sophisticated biasing system that automatically adjusts the output valve grid voltage for optimum bias, and also shuts the amp down in the…
We often get 70’s Marshall JMP amps in for repair; these are excellent rock amps and are still very good value for money. Ahe major issue with these amps are the voltage and impedance selectors which are prone to falling out. Someone had done a really good job of wiring the mains selector in this…
New American TV drama Better Call Saul, which premiered on 8th Feb, is a prequel to Breaking Bad. The theme tune for this exciting new series was composed and performed by Little Barrie and features a JPF Regent 25 amp that was used both for the guitar and bass guitar. Click here for a sound…
Here are a couple of Marshall JCM900s guitar amplifiers we’ve had in our workshop for repair in the last few weeks. The one on the bottom simply need new output jack. Unfortunately the one on the top needed a new mains transformer and power valves, a significantly more expensive repair. These are original early 90’s amps, and I…
Here’s some photos from a pair of Orange Crush guitar amps I’ve had in for repair: a 15R and a 30R. Both had a very loud hum when the amp was at idle. In a solid state amp this is almost always due to poor power supply filtering. and further inspection showed that this was caused…
Peavey have earned a reputation for making well-engineered amps at reasonable prices, so I was not expecting any major issues when I took in a ValveKing 100 for repair. The symptoms where that the amp was not powering up: neither the indicator light, nor the valve heaters where illuminated. This fault is usually due to…
There are now a ton of different colours you can get Tolex in, so we thought we would experiment with some different combinations. Here we have silver/ black and purple/ ivory.
Here’s Fender Hot Rod Deluxe that came into our workshop in need of new filter caps. Whilst you would expect the filter caps in, say, a 40 year old Fender Twin Reverb to need changing, it’s surprising that the caps in a 10 year-old Hot Rod Deluxe should have expired; however from my own experiences,…