A very wise man told me this: “every amplifier has white smoke built into it, when the smoke comes out you can’t put it back in again and the amp wont work anymore”
“Sadly, Marvin the Martian had bought into the marketing hype. Little did he know that his “boutique” mod’r, the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, was made with cheap IC caps, used underspec’ed resistors, and had an asinine grounding scheme. But, all the cool Martians swore by their Illudiums. “It’s all about the tone, maaaan.” What made matters worse is that after he dropped off his Q-36 with his local tech (ticket says, “Makes no sound”), he stomped home to jam using his backup SpaceJazz Deluxe, only for a cheap, unbranded tube to fail and a fuse blew. And that’s when Marvin *really* went postal.”
It occurs to me that the problem with modern amps from Fender, Mesa and others is that they are designed and built by cynics: people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Depends on what kind of a response and attack you like. It raises the B+ though. I would actually be interested in hearing more about his opinion on this. I use a GZ34 in mine.
Can you show the speakers too and give us some more tones? 🙏 By the way what’s your opinion on removing the 10pf cap from the 3.3M reverb mixing resistor? (To darken a bright vibrolux)
@@comajoebuck999 , I was waiting for and expecting Lyle to touch the replaced resistor with his finger to see if it was getting overly warm ---- as I have done before and probably will again ---- while reminding viewers, "don't do what I do" ! (Normally there'd be minimal voltage on a cathode resistor anyway, unless the tube was shorted, as may have been the case here, or if the resistor was open, in which case there could be full B+ on the cathode of the tube as well as on the plate, waiting for an errant finger to stray to the cathode end of the resistor ---- I found that out the hard way once, and my other hand was on the grounded chassis, so.....). A friend of mine at work uses a thermal imaging device to look for overheating components, but as a former short-order cook myself, my fingers can take the heat; and I know that Lyle likes to cook.
I usually defeat that PULL BOOST nonsense. I have wired those pull pots to relays for different tone stacks, or something that sounds better than the pull boost sound. That leaves the door wide open for about anything because that pull boost sound is pretty awful.
Nice amp. Love the Marvin Martian reference 😆
He stole the pu-234 plutonium space modulator.
@@rat4spd - you have made me verrrry angry !
@@rat4spdthe later CBS versions used an illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator, I believe.
I wish I understood all this stuff, but I still find it fascinating
Lyle overcoming his usual credo: "IC cap, I replace cap."
That's because it's not a Fender sourced IC cap. They are generally of inferior quality.
I always wondered why Fender started waxing the board, now I know! Thanks for another great show and tell video.
In Fenders from this era, I'm pretty sure the stuff that gets embedded in the wax is grated Parmesan.
😅😂🤣😅😂🤣😅
Well, a bit of smoke is better than nothing I supose. Really nice end result.
What a beauty 😎👍
Well done!
A very wise man told me this:
“every amplifier has white smoke built into it, when the smoke comes out you can’t put it back in again and the amp wont work anymore”
One Q37 space modulater up in smoke, on que.
That chassis writing...
Are those the original illudium q-36 explosive space modulators?
Dating the caps in the dog house looks like a nice idea..
Those damn 680ohm reverb resistors, I see them eat the 12AT7 as well as toast the reverb transformer primary.
Yup. All to save the price of one capacitor.
“Sadly, Marvin the Martian had bought into the marketing hype. Little did he know that his “boutique” mod’r, the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, was made with cheap IC caps, used underspec’ed resistors, and had an asinine grounding scheme. But, all the cool Martians swore by their Illudiums. “It’s all about the tone, maaaan.”
What made matters worse is that after he dropped off his Q-36 with his local tech (ticket says, “Makes no sound”), he stomped home to jam using his backup SpaceJazz Deluxe, only for a cheap, unbranded tube to fail and a fuse blew.
And that’s when Marvin *really* went postal.”
It occurs to me that the problem with modern amps from Fender, Mesa and others is that they are designed and built by cynics: people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Call out to Marvin the Martian
Surprised to see a GZ34 rectifier. Most Vibroluxe of that era were using the 5U4
You can use either.
Depends on what kind of a response and attack you like. It raises the B+ though. I would actually be interested in hearing more about his opinion on this. I use a GZ34 in mine.
Can you show the speakers too and give us some more tones? 🙏 By the way what’s your opinion on removing the 10pf cap from the 3.3M reverb mixing resistor? (To darken a bright vibrolux)
Vibrolux AND Magic Smoke, such powerful clickbait! :)
Nice Video. What do you think of the reliability op those blue drop capacitors (after + 40years) in Fenders from the late 70's?
They are great sounding reliable caps.
I am disappointed. I'd hoped that when you changed the value of the resistor, we'd see different colored smoke. Well, maybe next time. Great job.
"One resistor burns much larger, and another one burns so small/ But the ones that Lyle gives you, they hardly smoke at all...."
@@goodun2974 That’s funny. Snort.
@@comajoebuck999 , I was waiting for and expecting Lyle to touch the replaced resistor with his finger to see if it was getting overly warm ---- as I have done before and probably will again ---- while reminding viewers, "don't do what I do" ! (Normally there'd be minimal voltage on a cathode resistor anyway, unless the tube was shorted, as may have been the case here, or if the resistor was open, in which case there could be full B+ on the cathode of the tube as well as on the plate, waiting for an errant finger to stray to the cathode end of the resistor ---- I found that out the hard way once, and my other hand was on the grounded chassis, so.....).
A friend of mine at work uses a thermal imaging device to look for overheating components, but as a former short-order cook myself, my fingers can take the heat; and I know that Lyle likes to cook.
Dang lyle. You install those push button switches on your wall or home that old? Like my grandmas.
House was built in 1912.
@@PsionicAudio , You just had to live in a house with "knobs" and "tubes" inside the walls, didn't you? 😁
I usually defeat that PULL BOOST nonsense. I have wired those pull pots to relays for different tone stacks, or something that sounds better than the pull boost sound. That leaves the door wide open for about anything because that pull boost sound is pretty awful.
Can you tell me the main difference or differences between a vibrolux and a vibrasonic say of the same year, 1972 to 1974?
the Vibrolux is a 35W 2/10" combo and the Vibrasonic a 100W 1/15" combo (basically a Twin Reverb with a 15" speaker instead of 2/12")
Is it bad to run these amps with the GZ34 instead of the stock 5U4? I hear different things from different folks, but the factory spec is 5U4.
Won’t hurt a thing. Just rebias.
very nice me want 😍😍
I think waxing is a good thing ....exciting, really.
Makes awful noise? Take lessons.
Makes awful noise? Take lessons.