70s "Deluxe Bass Amp" - Who Made It? Is It Worth Repairing?
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- Опубликовано: 11 фев 2018
- I don't know what it is other than it's a vintage 1970s solid state Japanese "Deluxe Bass Amp" student grade 5W guitar head probably imported and sold in the United States by some random catalog or music store. Ok, well, maybe I do know what it is. But what's wrong with it? Is it worth fixing? Is this video worth watching? Will our soldering iron-wielding hero survive!?!?!
Infrared Csamera: goo.gl/ZsBzDj
Signal Generator DIY Kit: goo.gl/FeBjqx
Component Tester goo.gl/zKhGBP
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Brad: “it’s probably not gonna be worth it”
Also Brad: *tests and replaces every component and goes out of his way to make it work*
You all prolly dont care but does anybody know of a way to get back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb lost the login password. I love any tips you can offer me
@Caspian Emerson Instablaster :)
@Collin Kamryn I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Collin Kamryn It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D
Thank you so much, you really help me out!
@Caspian Emerson Glad I could help :D
My Dad was a player when I was growing up and we had one of these laying around. I commandeered it when I was getting into guitar and electronics 11-12 or so in the early 80's. I believe "mine" had screw terminals for the speaker out though, I hooked it up to any speaker laying around to see what sound it would make. My favorite was a mid and horn from a speaker panel out of a dismantled Zenith console stereo. It made my guitar sound like a buzzsaw or, as I pretended, the Beatles Revolution sound. Not sure how actually close I was but it sure made me happy at the time.
Matsushita is the founding name of what's now called Panasonic.
Also Technics and Ramsa
...a THOUSAND?!!!... 30:50
( i love that your daughter is so amazed about it!)
I was a tech for over 20 years. Tubes to start with and later mostly solid state stuff. We used analog multimeters to do most of our testing of components. It's amazing how quickly we would find faulty components with an analog meter especially transistors and diodes and of course resistors and even caps through checking the charge and discharge rate using the battery of the meter in resistance range. Rarely needed to get a capacitance meter or component checker out (they used to cost a bomb back then). Do love watching your videos. Very entertaining stuff Brad 🙂
It didn't seem like you were stoked about doing the repair, but you have given that little box another chance to give it's next owners some enjoyment. Love your channel!
The level of annoyance in his voice ruined this watch for me and I’m sure ruined it for the owner, if he didn’t want to do it then why act like a little bitch instead of declining to service and not making the owner feel like an idiot..
30:22 "Wow look at that smoke...yeah don't breath that in..." haha. That is the first thing that my dad taught me about soldering.
same xD
Just wanted to let you know that your channel has helped me a ton in my studies so far! I just started my undergrad in Electrical Engineering and it is my dream to work on and design my own amps. I've learned more from watching your videos about amp diagnostics and repair than I have in any of my classes thus far and I really appreciate the fact that you go through every step of the process. Thanks so much!
Dude, that was great! I could watch you troubleshoot for hours.
Now THAT was a fun follow-along! Good job of explaining your thoughts as you step through your process of elimination. He sent it to the right guy, for sure.
That was worth a video for sure. Nice fix Brad.
Thanx so much, Brad... another winner...
love that wee tester... cool
I'm trying to build up funds for a multi-meter with a capacitance function...
Didn't know they existed 'till I saw yours and Uncle Doug's...
thanx again and cheers
I was just writing a comment while watching, about how cool i thought that tester is when you stated that very thing, so i guess i'll just say i agree that is a kick-ass tester. It's display nearly blew my mind, didn't know there was anything like that out there.
Always fun to see the testing and diagnostic steps. Plus....I used to have that SAME BASS! Mine was sold as a "Kent" at one of the department stores up here in Canada. Possibly Eaton's (now defunct).
That Kingston bass sounds somewhat Rick 4001-ish. I like it :)
Peavey T-40 basses from the late 70's to mid 80's can also get a pretty close to a Rick tone, but they are boat anchors. At least 12 or 13 pounds.
Stuff from the video:
Infrared Csamera: goo.gl/ZsBzDj
Signal Generator DIY Kit: goo.gl/FeBjqx
Component Tester goo.gl/zKhGBP
As someone else mentioned, it is made by Kingston. I have the same amp with a 2X12 cabinet. They were some of the first imported amps from Japan in the mid 60's
I’m fascinated by what you do. Once I start watching I can’t stop and I’m not a guitar player, I play drums.
You have way more patience than most of us Brad. Thanks again for posting.
I enjoyed seeing how to use the Signal Generator to trace the problem. I bought one from Banggood after your initial video on their products. Also picked up the ESR/Component Tester and the mini Oscilloscope.
Great video! I just got one of these broken at a flea market for $5. Was able to figure out from the video that my fuse wires were disconnected. Resoldered them and it worked like a charm, great tone! Very helpful, thanks!!
Glad it helped!
Ordering one of those component testers right now. Wish I had ordered one a week ago so I could play with it now. :D
Hi! Brad, I bought this very same amp when I was 16. It was in Sydney Australia 1971, We later went to England and eventually sold it, along with my Burns of London Nu-Sonic guitar. I believe the guitar and amp ended up with the band 'Echo And The Bunnymen'. I forgot what it looked like until your video. Still playing, still rockin'. Much respect.
blackmore56 cool story!!! I love the Bunnymen
Echo and the Bunnymen, man I haven't heard that name in a WHILE. Cool band.
Glad you fixed it. Pretty much all had to be replaced but still a nice little amp.
Man your channel is relaxing much like arts and space music Sunday night in the 90s and you might learn something before it's done.
Thanks for saying so, Chuck. I appreciate you watching and taking time to comment.
Nice work. I enjoyed watching your troubleshooting process. Thanks.
Very interesting vid. Liked it a lot. Right up there with a relaxing Bob Ross oil painting zone out vid. Which is a good thing! Thanks for the upload. PS. I was diggin’ the sound of the bass guitar big time... Ernest in Lexington
Thanks for the Bass info, I Was wondering, very nice.! Another great video too. Cheers.
As a technisian and also degree trained Electronics engineer it was really great to see a competent guy at work as so many on here are just blah blah merchants. I am so jealous of that tester too as that is FANTASTIC, but not for long as i am buying one of those babies TODAY. i also thought the signal injector was super neat also as it means not having to have a big old sigal generator unit like I used to use at college in the 90's (70's era gear). Micro electronics finally used for something useful....Loved this video as no one ever knows it all and its always good to see someone else work and using their competence and logic...Very good video. Gonna subscribe won't often hear me say that on most things on RUclips as most things on here are a waste of the viewers time...SuperCool...liked that bass too...Thanks for taking time to make it...Top marks...
I used to have a “ shoebox “ Kingston Guitar amp- one knob- volume- it rocked!
I use USPS. FedEx has delivered many items with shipping damage. They also "lost" packages that have still not been replaced or covered for the monetary loss. I mostly ship live day old ducklings and goslings. USPS has not ever delivered dead birds to my customers.
Very creative electronics by the way. I remember matching caps using the series/parallel method. Yes it looks "ghetto" but sure works really well. I have always liked discrete transistor circuit design. These days I use the new "tube logic" Roland Blues Cube because they sound great, weigh much less, and the best part...... No more tubes to buy.
I had an AceTone Bass head similar to this. Had great tone and power for me til I met Mr Ampeg.
Good on ya playing 'Dive' to test the bass amp out!! haha
Good vid. Shows how nickle and dime type parts can make things die. And how knowledge and experience of how to fix things can resurrect electronics. (And why labor is worth more money then just the parts themselves.)
That's the bias pot. I oreded mine from "House of Imports" in Detroit for $59. It had a 2x 12" cabinet.About 25 watts.
Brad.. thank you!!!
I have a Crestwood amp from Japan with a very similar board, no model number, no schematic. The only photo of it online was the guitar center listing from the store I bought it from. Lol.
The board traces and rubycon caps are all the same. Mine's trem is nonfunctional, and it hums. After recapping I'm checking the transistors to see if the volume is all it can be as well. Good info!
Great TS work. I bought 3 of those part testers (one went bad on me). Also have 2 of those function generators kits. Plus have 2 frequency counter kits, To see what frequency I’m generating.
I enjoyed seeing that component tester, and see how components failed. I have some electronics background, but don't work to component level regularly. Great job
Great job on that one Brad. You fitt it!!
I'm glad you decided to repair. Very interesting and enlightening vid.
That component tester looks really useful to have! I ordered one. Couldn't believe it was only 10 bucks. Dang.
Your hair looks better than mine (most of the time). Nice job on the repair. I need to dig out my SUNN 100 twin channel and clean all of the pots. I use it with my 18" BFI cabinet for my bass guitar.
I have a guitar head that looks very similar, it's has reverb and tremolo and says “FET - All Silicon Transistors.” All I could find about it is that it was sold under the Wabash name, with the name on the cabinet and not on the head. It may be a cheap "throw away" and some may hate on it, but it sure sounds good to me and the others I jam with, and I would never get rid of it. It makes a great little blues harmonica amp, which is what I use mine for! Like they say, one mans trash is another mans treasure!
I have a Wabash Archtop guitar in my collection. From the 40s. Needs work.
Very interesting video. I am Glad you stuck with it and fixed it. In the passed I fooled around with Guitars and Amps but as far as Amps go I would stop at the tracing parts. Plus not having the exact part number or Values would be a road block for me. Gerald Weber had given me some advice with a few projects I had taken on (my own stuff) some simple testing Devices. I Dig those gismos you got there.Sounds good too.Thanks for the post.c];-)
Oh mah Gah 🤪
That Nirvana riff off Incesticide sounded so good on that amp. What a tasteful choice. This guy is the total package.
Awesome video. Resurrecting the dead never gets old.
Very interesting video. I always like the ones where there are lots of question marks. (Precious quality daughter time is a bonus.)
I enjoy her company.
Yo brad.. you look fine in the vid man... especially the sick "the Warriors" shirt!
Great job. Love your work and teaching ability.
Marcus Jones thanks Marcus.
You are amazing! Great work and great video!Thanks!
Much respect - love watching the masters on RUclips work. Only experience (and the brains to learn from that experience) allows the diagnosis/repair of a solid-state circuit without the schematic. No joke, that was impressive. I think it’s interesting that the kids today are clamoring for the ‘70s era MIJ junk - mass produced for sale by the catalog companies like Spiegel and Montgomery Ward -or found for sale at piano-organ stores that wanted to say they offered guitar gear (but were still Uber-lame LOL). We all cut our teeth on that stuff. I never learned how to chase down bad caps and output trans - but I *did* learn how to resolder stuff on the fly by flashlight - between sets LOL. Thanks to your resolder alone that amp is now the most reliable and ‘giggable’ it has been in 40+ years.
@The Guitologist I see there is a Kawai bass just like yours for 4 bones. I LOVED my Japanese CROWN SG bass more than my buddy's real Gibson. I'd actually put a '73 Gibson pickup in it. Well it was stamped Gibson into the pickup chrome cover and another friend who used to work at the Gibson factory said they only did that for one year. iirc it was 1973. Check out the *The Rambos - "New Shoes" - circa 1975* video. You'll seea gold one on an SG guitar. Btw Dottie Rambo was an incredible song writer. *Reba Rambo 'Songs Mama Taught Me* is a true classic album! She used the best Nashville players. sorry to ramble a bit, was going to erase it, but accidentally hit enter. oh well lol
Of course he includes Dive in his bass demo, love this guy.
I have accounts at FEDEX and DHL for importing from various countries to Oz and price wise are very similar. However, FEDEX actually do the customs clearance when a shipment changes aircraft in Hawaii, thus a quicker delivery time with no clearance required in Oz.
BTW this was an enjoyable and well explained repair to the "deluxe" bass head. Keep up the good work it is appreciated. There are now ads played at the beginning of your episodes, I hope people just let the ad play so you get a good return on monetizing your work.
Great job Brad on that old Kingston amp. I have a few lawsuit guitars Kingston made..!! Love those Ghetto Caps..!!
Good video. I like how you demoed the amp at the end. You certainly sounded more positive about the amp at the end than you did at the beginning.
When you swap out the capacitors for something different, does that affect the overall sound of the amp?
I disagree your component choices methodology however I have to acknowledge your resourcefulness of technique and understanding on amplifier circuit technology. Thumbs up Brad and keep teaching us using that component tester. They are fantastic! I know, I bought one too.
Greeting from Malaysia
Just got one of these from a buddy of mine, it powers on but I dont get sound, i hope with this video i can get it back in working condition
My family had one of theae amps in 1971 . we also had the matching 2 12" cabinet We used this amp to power a Heathkit Jaguar combo organ!
Brother Brad- The elder daughter has an awesome speaking voice. Hope you got her singing some tunes.. I'm sure you have..
She tries, but I don't think she got the music gene. The other one though...
First off it's educational and wonderful that you rebuilt this amp and I'm sure it's a solid 50 watts output.
The problem is, with modern bass cabs that trade off efficiency with extended frequency to cover low B and smaller high power handling cabinets, this amp doesn't give much headroom to play that loud.
That being said, a 4 ohm 15 inch woofer mounted in a properly tuned cabinet with a frequency response wide enough for a 4 string bass or guitar, will put out plenty of volume.
in 1972 i had a guitar and amp just like this and they were made by a company called winston. the guitar was a red teardrop whith a great neck. Phill A.
This was so great, thanks Brad. Really enjoyed it but I was much more familiar with the SS, I learned it in my electronics vocational school. We just didn’t do any tubes. Are you still liking the soldering iron setup you got? I need to get one...
That was some great bedhead at the end! lol.
I've been automatically recaping any amp from the 70's, those electrolytics dry out after 25-30 years
I don't know who this "michael ferrad" is but he sure seems to help out when it comes to these hear amps..thanks Mr.guitar man ..for ur expertise.
Good video-glad you are teaching your daughter-these skills are hard to find---
No need to blow fuse after fuse if you had a Sencore PR570! You can set it to cut off below value of fuse, You seriously need one for several reasons. Robert
it was fun to watch the fix..!
Sweet Dive playing and a nice dive into a solid state amp
Glad you got it fixed! I dig that bass guitar! It sounds great and looks great!
Thanks dude! Late 60s Kawai Kingston from Japan.
The Guitologist Awesome! Where did you find such a gem?
Bought it locally. Sometimes I get lucky on Craigslist...but not in the way you might think.
Lol! I did a search for these on Reverb and then realized you're selling it! Too bad I'm not in the market. What surprises me is these basses having a "zero" fret! Didn't expect that on something so early.
Not surprising the caps were bad. The electrolyte in them most likely evaporated a long time ago. It's a trip seeing old electronic.
looks like a nice little old kit amp. you can learn a lot from those.
Great repair Brad and that bass is awesome ...
I’ve got a guitar amp that’s the same cab and chassis. My dad got it at Sears and I’ve always thought it was a Teisco. It came with a 2x8 cab with not too great speakers lol. It has tremolo and reverb although the tank is bad and I haven’t found another, it’s a tiny little spring tank. It’s not much of a amp but my dad used it for a bedroom amp and he gave it to me when I got my first electric guitar so it has value to me because of that.
You did NOT like this bass amp until the last 10mins of the video...or so.
I could tell especially at the beginning that you weren't sure you were gonna continue. I'm glad you did though because it kept me entertained for 45 minutes. : )
Thanks
The tone produced by the signal generator is just above C# 4. Some of the buzzing/humming produced by his probe (oh yes😉) is exactly an octave lower.
That tester is otherworldly ,your the perfect owner.
Good job Brad!
I have an Accousic Bass amp. I usually check all the Caps and transistors on the power amp side first. this time I didnt check a 1000uf cap. it measures 1320uf I didn't have an ESR meter. I swapped out the cracked fuse and set the Variac to 40VAC it sounded raspy with a sig in the pre. I cranked it up to 120vac it worked for 5 minutes and smoked one of those .5 ohm 5W resistors and blew 2 pwr transistors. I ordered an ESR meter and 1000uf 100v Cap Sure enough it was the 1000uf highly leaky. This is a 42 year old amp. So axial caps are hard to find. I cant say enough about getting an ESR meter for caps. Looks like all the electrolytic caps could be bad. I suggest checking the power amp first If I would have done that I wouldn't have smoked $30 worth of transistors and caps saved a lotta time. Great video BTW
Glad you got it fixed, nice to have your daughter chime in.
I cut out the part where she was pointing at random components and asking me what they were. My explanation of transformers was pretty good, I must say.
I had a "Cameo" Bass that was similar in the 70's. Your kid is a ray of sunshine you a very lucky to have a nice family.
Hey Brad, nice bass - startin' to like that old Japanese stuff - I've often wondered why you haven't done a "guided tour" of your OWN gear that you use to play (and record) - The Fender Telecaster, the Ibanez with humbuckers, the Höfner violin-guitar and so on - and what's your favorite amps? And do you use ANY effects like delay? or phasers/flangers? And you should combine it with a little story about your OWN band/music - THAT would be cool :-)
Mikkel Heitzmann Nielsen got a vid about my amps coming up
You had me pretty impressed with your expertise, and troubleshooting ability, but when you start grabbing salvaged output transistors, you lost me. And BTW ,transistor with 2SA prefix are PNP, and ones with 2SC are NPN. The 2N3055s are generic output transistors used in a lot of low power, lowend amps, in the 80s and 90s. I was a tech for 35 years, just so you know where the criticism comes from.
Another great video! Love the shirt!
Thanks, George.
Nicely done Brad! Where can I find a probe like the one you probe around the circuit with and does it require a certain speaker impedance? Also, what camera do you use? The closeup autofocus works great.
I just had a little Peavey Rage practice amp screech at full volume then went quiet. I haven't pulled it yet, but I'm guessing the power transistor took a dump. The fuse is good.
My first bass was basically the same as yours, but single pickup and made by Toredo. The neck was laminated out of a ton of 1/8"ish thick pieces. I've still got some of the hardware and most of the neck in my basement somewhere. I had taken the fretboard off to make it fretless back in the mid 80s and never finished it. I have no idea what ever happened to the body which I had stripped and refinished around 1979.
So cool. Great job 👍🏼
structured repair :) , fun to watch thx
Looks like a quasi-complimentary output stage (two NPN transistors). Output signal would be on the case (collector) of one and on the emitter pin of the other.
I believe you are correct. My bad. The bad output transistor probably had signal on emitter when it worked. I did check all 3 off cam. Thanks for correcting me!
That is a kingston amp. Came with a (2 speaker) cabinet. They made a guitar and a bass amplifier. I have the guitar amp. Very cool old solid state amp. If you have both amp and speaker,they sell for about $300 today. I pluged it into a vintage Kustom cabinet and it sounded amazing.
I wonder how much that ended up costing the customer to get fixed? Cool little amp though, and I’m absolutely sure it sounds better then ever. Cool vid
Great repairing walk through ;-) only one question, the caps, don't you need to discharge it before testing? Thanks.
Nice job... practically a complete overhaul. I think I would have selected a 1A fuse, for longevity... I'm sure it will be fine tho, as long as it's a slow blow one!
It requires a 2 amp fuse on the cap of mine
Yep did enjoy this video bro and a great end result too. ATB
It looked like you forgot thermalpaste on those transistors. Great video.
I believe the amp your working on in this video was sold as a Kingston deluxe bass amp used to have one ,I believe there were two versions one was a combo and the one you’ve got I think came with a single 12 cab hope that’s helpful
Very possible it was badged Kingston. Wouldn't surprise me.
It looks like some of the stuff Marlboro Sound Works used to make.
I though perhaps it was early Panasonic.
Unless you have some emotional attachment to this 70's Deluxe Bass Tone Master moat of us could not # 1) Find a competent Tech to trouble shoot and diagnose the problems and meticulously go thru all the steps you did to repair this amp and. #2) Justify the bench time and parts costs to competently and completely repair this amp when there are quite a few inexpensive, tonally diverse and great sounding Class D amps on the market ?
Kudos to you for fixing this amp !
Hey Brad, thanks for this! How much time did you finally put into this amp? How much did you finally charge Buddy for the repair?
Genius! Love your videos, but I covet that wonderful tester!!!
(Just a quick note, for me RUclips did that thing where your video didn't show up in my subscription feed, just happened to see it on the side bar)
Hit the bell and select all notifications on my channel.
Those brushed stainless knobs are pretty cool.