This is why you should never upload videos when you're sick. I managed to upload the unedited version. Thankfully the edits were only minor and I'm far too lazy to do a reupload.
That’s what happens when you’ve got customers! I’m just sick because of dealing with family. Not enough customers to come in and make me ill. Least it means I’ve avoided the Rona.
I just had a quick look and a place in Melbourne has the combo equivalent of this amp for sale for $320, so you're right about how affordable they are.
Spot on. Meanwhile, just the matched pair of output tubes it needs will run $150. That’s before I’ve even touched the amp to turn it on. That’s what makes amps like this great for the home hobbyist to fix if you know what you’re doing. To pay people like me to fix it though doesn’t make much sense.
This is a good case for watching a few videos and giving it a go. "Not worth paying someone to repair amps" are a good place to learn. Solid state, non-SMD, non-computer amps are cheap as chips, and no big loss if you can't fix them. Check for burnt traces, a few capacitors or resistors and you can fix most. Work your way up to tube amps. So what if you toast a few in your learning curve. The dumpster behind your big box music center is your friend.
I bought a Peavey Deuce at auction for what would have been a pretty good price had it worked when I got it. I took it to a tech and was told it needed a full recap. The recap would cost more than what the amp was worth. I decided to have it repaired anyway so I ended up with an amp that cost me about double what a good working unit could be bought for, all told. I think it's worth it to keep an arguably good amp alive and not in a landfill somewhere. The cost will balance out with other things I've bought and sold for profit or perhaps in karma points if I sell it to some kid for a good price or give it to a nephew.
In that instance, a used amp wouldn’t have had the same recap done so would need it regardless. That’s the other consideration, if you buy another secondhand unit, has it had that work done? It’s why I still do plenty of Hot Rod and Blues Jr amps, once the repair work is done they become super reliable and won’t need work for another decade.
the issue i have with just getting another amp is you don't know if it'll die in the middle of a gig. If you repaired that one, i could feel more confident when i rely on reliability. I don't think I'd go and but an Ashton for reliability in the first place though.
That’s why I say there are amps I will do work on like the Hot Rod Deluxe and Blues Jr Series of amps as when you do the usual upgrades and repairs to them, they’re solid. They all have the same issues so any secondhand one will have the same issues.
With budget amps can come budget repairs, no need to replace all 4 tubes with new ones, that's where your costs are going up. You have 3 good output tubes (they don't need to be perfectly matched), most techs have spare used ones lying around, fix your trace, put in the used tube, see if amp works. If the customer is good with that I'd say give him a working amp with the caveat of saying you might want to put a good set of quads or duet in there when you have the budget.
Completely missed the point of the video. I don’t do half job repairs as it’s not worth it for the customer, nor for my reputation. Amps like these are worth less than the labour time to repair the issues. Why would I charge a customer more than what a nice secondhand one would cost? It’s what separates techs who know their work and respect their customer enough to be honest with them, and those who just want to make money.
I didn’t miss the point, and never said anything about dishonesty, in fact I made it a point to clarify to be clear to the customer, fixing amplifiers for 40 years that’s long enough to understand that a good repair can last without being shoddy. We can agree to disagree.
I gave up. Bought a Katana years ago. When it dies I'll buy another. It sounds really good and I dont even use the effects much. Everything I record is plugins or my pedals into an IR. Sold my tube amps with ease. Getting rid of 70s Peavey and Kustom solid state amps is proving to be a little harder.
I went digital a few years back. Sold about 45K of amps I’d accumulated over the years. It works well for me. Properly servicing and maintaining old tube gear is an increasingly expensive endeavor.
this is. common to many electronic devices unfortunately ... at the same time knowing that something that can be repaired with a medium effort goes to the bin is very irritating... guitar amps are simple electronic objects in the end and they should always be reparable in a sense...
Everything is repairable with infinite time and money. The problem is when the cost is beyond that of a decent used replacement due to how cheap the items can be new.
Everyone thinks on this like they're in their garage on a weekend. It's incredibly stressful having an actual bricks an mortar store (you know, the only ones many customers actually trust!). You need to account for every minute of every working day. And if you're not able to make what's required to cover overheads and live life and put some away for the future, you'd better not take that job. There are many loungechair critics in this game, many of whom have no skin in the game, thus they can be safely ignored.
Truer words there are not. We aren’t charities and have lives to live ourselves. I don’t care if someone else down the road can do it cheaper, they’re not us. We have the overheads we do.
So hey man, so just curious about the economics. So if this amp is $450 in good working order, can you give me a ballpark on what the repair would have cost a customer?
It’s still not fully operational so I can’t really say how much it would cost. Just based on the time I’ve spent on it thus far and a new set of output tubes, we’re at $375 on a head that’s sold for about $400 on the used market. I probably hazard a guess there’s another hour of labour in this as I was able to get signal up to the end of the preamp, so that may take it as high as $525.
Yeah they are a very cut rate amp. Sound great but repair is a nightmare on them. Nothing like the phenomenal LC15 amps. I had two of them for a mini stereo rig for small gigs years back. Picked them up for $200 each.
This is why you should never upload videos when you're sick. I managed to upload the unedited version. Thankfully the edits were only minor and I'm far too lazy to do a reupload.
That's why I didn't stream this morning. Sick again! Customers coming in coughing everywhere this week. How considerate of them.
That’s what happens when you’ve got customers! I’m just sick because of dealing with family. Not enough customers to come in and make me ill. Least it means I’ve avoided the Rona.
I’m just sick of pancakes.
@@thatampguy damn, now I want some pancakes.
I just had a quick look and a place in Melbourne has the combo equivalent of this amp for sale for $320, so you're right about how affordable they are.
Spot on. Meanwhile, just the matched pair of output tubes it needs will run $150. That’s before I’ve even touched the amp to turn it on.
That’s what makes amps like this great for the home hobbyist to fix if you know what you’re doing. To pay people like me to fix it though doesn’t make much sense.
This is a good case for watching a few videos and giving it a go. "Not worth paying someone to repair amps" are a good place to learn. Solid state, non-SMD, non-computer amps are cheap as chips, and no big loss if you can't fix them. Check for burnt traces, a few capacitors or resistors and you can fix most. Work your way up to tube amps. So what if you toast a few in your learning curve. The dumpster behind your big box music center is your friend.
I bought a Peavey Deuce at auction for what would have been a pretty good price had it worked when I got it. I took it to a tech and was told it needed a full recap. The recap would cost more than what the amp was worth. I decided to have it repaired anyway so I ended up with an amp that cost me about double what a good working unit could be bought for, all told. I think it's worth it to keep an arguably good amp alive and not in a landfill somewhere. The cost will balance out with other things I've bought and sold for profit or perhaps in karma points if I sell it to some kid for a good price or give it to a nephew.
In that instance, a used amp wouldn’t have had the same recap done so would need it regardless. That’s the other consideration, if you buy another secondhand unit, has it had that work done?
It’s why I still do plenty of Hot Rod and Blues Jr amps, once the repair work is done they become super reliable and won’t need work for another decade.
I'm reminded of Kenny Rogers The Gambler: you gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, Know when to walk away...Sad but true !
And, for techs considering whether or not to work on a Mesa, "know when to *run* !"
The sunk cost fallacy can be real hassles.
the issue i have with just getting another amp is you don't know if it'll die in the middle of a gig. If you repaired that one, i could feel more confident when i rely on reliability. I don't think I'd go and but an Ashton for reliability in the first place though.
That’s why I say there are amps I will do work on like the Hot Rod Deluxe and Blues Jr Series of amps as when you do the usual upgrades and repairs to them, they’re solid. They all have the same issues so any secondhand one will have the same issues.
With budget amps can come budget repairs, no need to replace all 4 tubes with new ones, that's where your costs are going up. You have 3 good output tubes (they don't need to be perfectly matched), most techs have spare used ones lying around, fix your trace, put in the used tube, see if amp works. If the customer is good with that I'd say give him a working amp with the caveat of saying you might want to put a good set of quads or duet in there when you have the budget.
Completely missed the point of the video. I don’t do half job repairs as it’s not worth it for the customer, nor for my reputation.
Amps like these are worth less than the labour time to repair the issues. Why would I charge a customer more than what a nice secondhand one would cost?
It’s what separates techs who know their work and respect their customer enough to be honest with them, and those who just want to make money.
I didn’t miss the point, and never said anything about dishonesty, in fact I made it a point to clarify to be clear to the customer, fixing amplifiers for 40 years that’s long enough to understand that a good repair can last without being shoddy. We can agree to disagree.
I gave up. Bought a Katana years ago. When it dies I'll buy another. It sounds really good and I dont even use the effects much. Everything I record is plugins or my pedals into an IR.
Sold my tube amps with ease. Getting rid of 70s Peavey and Kustom solid state amps is proving to be a little harder.
I went digital a few years back. Sold about 45K of amps I’d accumulated over the years. It works well for me.
Properly servicing and maintaining old tube gear is an increasingly expensive endeavor.
this is. common to many electronic devices unfortunately ... at the same time knowing that something that can be repaired with a medium effort goes to the bin is very irritating... guitar amps are simple electronic objects in the end and they should always be reparable in a sense...
Everything is repairable with infinite time and money. The problem is when the cost is beyond that of a decent used replacement due to how cheap the items can be new.
Everyone thinks on this like they're in their garage on a weekend.
It's incredibly stressful having an actual bricks an mortar store (you know, the only ones many customers actually trust!).
You need to account for every minute of every working day.
And if you're not able to make what's required to cover overheads and live life and put some away for the future, you'd better not take that job.
There are many loungechair critics in this game, many of whom have no skin in the game, thus they can be safely ignored.
Truer words there are not.
We aren’t charities and have lives to live ourselves. I don’t care if someone else down the road can do it cheaper, they’re not us. We have the overheads we do.
So hey man, so just curious about the economics. So if this amp is $450 in good working order, can you give me a ballpark on what the repair would have cost a customer?
It’s still not fully operational so I can’t really say how much it would cost.
Just based on the time I’ve spent on it thus far and a new set of output tubes, we’re at $375 on a head that’s sold for about $400 on the used market.
I probably hazard a guess there’s another hour of labour in this as I was able to get signal up to the end of the preamp, so that may take it as high as $525.
uneconomical jobs are perfect for hobbyists like me 😃
I’ve had a Laney Cub 12R in my shop for months! Just a terribly built poor quality piece of junk!
The inrush limiters on them are notorious for having troubles - causes intermittent loss of audio especially after warm-up
Yeah they are a very cut rate amp. Sound great but repair is a nightmare on them.
Nothing like the phenomenal LC15 amps. I had two of them for a mini stereo rig for small gigs years back. Picked them up for $200 each.