4 upgrades that can make these amps reliable for gigging is A hard wired jack Raised ceramic resistors All caps replaced with F&T Replaced zena diodes The amp will then last as long as any amp on the market. These are very good amps once upgraded. I did my first Deville in the 90's and it hasn't missed a beat since.
@@NJSonye Very true. If you're in the USA, just put in a Weber and be done. If that's too pricey, my current favourite of the mass-produced speakers is the Celestion Creamback.
@@theguitaramptechGreat video! Speaker-wise, here in the States, it’s hard to beat WGS for quality and price. I love the ET-65 (voiced like a Creamback) in my HRD. Currently my amp is with the good people at Fromel, getting their full upgrade kit plus an aftermarket output transformer.
Very nice work Chris. I worked for the telephone company in the states, Bellsouth, back in the day and learned to lace cables, cable ties were not permitted and you took pride in how neat you could dress the cables and lace them in place. Sounds like you had a great mentor that taught you the importance of doing neat work as well as taking pride in the finished product. It shows in your videos and thank you for sharing.
Thank you JT. Yes, I think we learned a skill that is now consigned to history, sadly. You are exactly right in this skill being an integral part in taking pride in your work. I very much appreciate you sharing your experience and skill with me.
Pretty thorough job Chris! You tried to think of all the potential problems with this amp. It's called 'preventative maintenance'. Good stuff! They used lacing twine in Telecom years ago too. They taught us 'lacing stitch', not 'self-undoing stitch', as they called them back then. To keep everything laced in, they'd make us lace in other lengths of the waxed nylon twine along the run to lace up the 'branches'. We'd have to tie a 'constrictor knot' at the beginning of the lacing run, so it would not come undone, being sort of slippery from the wax. They never called it a constrictor knot back then, but my searching has actually confirmed the name. Just TRY to undo a tightly tied constrictor knot! - Ya gotta cut through it! I've managed somehow (?) to have a coupla big rolls of that very same lacing twine here at home! Ssshhh! Amazing stuff; you can't tear it off like electrical tape! - You'll deeply cut yourself! I've laced up a few looms on gear I've built, & even split the twine into thinner halves on the narrower looms, as it can flatten out to almost 3mm wide, which looks overdone. - Still you can't break it though! Ya gotta cut it or melt it! While we're not talking about cable ties, & after you heat tested your threaded nylon standoffs to 360° or whatever it was, I was a little puzzled as to why you didn't just use a nylon cable tie around that pair of 5W resistors, instead of contact glue? You'd just done the proof-of-concept experiment! As far as component leads 'clinched over' on the copper side of the board before soldering, I think it's a good idea. Regardless if it's a pita to replace the component. It gives extra mechanical stability to the joint, as well as more surface area of the component's lead actually soldered. When I built a pcb, I always 'clinch' component leads, except I.C's & sometimes TO-220 power devices. For neatness, I try to bend as close to parallel to the board as possible, & at 45°or 315° to the edge, whichever is most suitable to not have clinched leads shorting on each other. It looks quite neat too, & less kinda 'random'. I do this in preference to bending ' back down towards the track' as you do. - But I get where you're coming from though! I guess in that way I sacrifice a little bit of longevity for neatness! - Just a little though, cos I've never ever had a fault in anything I built or repaired as a result of a dry joint! Yep, those big old 'soldapullit' solder suckers definitely do a good job mate! I've just gotta remember to 'reload' mine over my solder 'ashtray' (a sardine tin with a felt base & a bunch of splashed [ashed] solder in it for weight), as it can spray out little flakes of solder about! Actually Jaycar sells a beige version, & new teflon tips too! - or they used to. I gotta agree with you on the solder braid too. Way too easy to overheat & lift tracks of the board with it. I find it useful sometimes when replacing SMD's (which you said you don't do), when I tin the pad then to get the pad nice & flat again for the new part. I've gotta cut the used part of the braid off very often though, as one false move not melting all the solder in contact with the braid & board will also rip fricken tracks off! Grrr! I'm old school as far as flux goes though. I use the honey type paste stuff. The pens never seem to apply enough for my liking. I'd rather apply too much & just exhale while generating all the smoke, then clean up with an I.P.A. soaked toothbrush/rag afterwards. The lid of my flux was nearly always fricken glued to the mofo jar, cos the flux goes so sticky, so I now just place an oversized plastic lid on top of the jar, & the adhesion of the flux shit securely holds the lid on till I break the seal to use the stuff! That's a nice looking ESR tester you've got there - with variable test frequencies & all! - Noice! I built the 'Silicon Chip' ESR meter in the cheap-ass jiffy box with the two 7 segment 1/2" led displays & a pushbutton. But it works a treat! It measures down to .01 ohms, but at only one frequency, at which I'm not sure. Did you clean the valve sockets? I never saw you do that. Have you seen those tiny little 'bottlebrush' type cleaners you can get for cleaning your teeth? They're called 'Pickers', or that's the brand. You can getem from Coles, & even more sizes from chemists. They're ideal for cleaning valve-pin sockets, with a dash of I.P.A on them. I love your idea of using dividers to set up & bend capacitor leads! I'm gonna steal that one! Actually I just bought a coupla metal nail files from Coles this arvo for cleaning contacts, as you suggested. At $2.50 each I bought two! - Gotta be one of the cheapest tools on my bench! Very handy to clean up my polystyrene military model parts too! Sorry bout the rant. I've gotta get a life! Actually I've gotta get a job! Too young to retire yet really.
I loved reading your comments, Neville. Please accept my apology for not responding to them all. From your experiences, I am thinking we must be of a similar age. I learned my lacing in the RAN. Yes, I (nearly) always clean tube sockets, but rarely show it in my videos as they are always too long. I used to use picksters but one boke off in a preamp tube socket and was a hell of a job to remove. Thanks for taking the time to write your message. Loved it.
I just tore the pcb out of a hot rod deluxe, a sublime pleasure. I bought it for 400 bucks, and im going to build a hand wired amp in it. 5f6a based. Basically, a 67 plexi - 2203 .. Got a layout from Jake from Jloewenheim youtube. Great guy . Previously, i built a 5f6a- plexi in a deville chassis based on a layout Jake sent me. Beutiful amp. Looking forward to the deluxe conversion. Its a pleasure to tear out all that pcb garbage from the chassis. Its sad that modern amps are built so cheaply , but i guess thats what we can expect with fractional reserve banking... #thecreaturefromjeckellisland Great video, as always !! Keep them coming !!!
That is so cool!! I would love to see photos of your conversion. I am so envious. I would love to do that, but I have so many repairs to get though, I doubt that day will ever come for me, so I live vicariously through you. You can send me photos through my website guitaramptech.com.au
I hope Fender sees these amazing vids and takes care AT LEAST of the resistors/capacitors! Either better design or metal resistors/capacitors to the chasis!
Excellent video again Chris!!! So good to have a local Guru!! I really like how you actually show the repair taking place rather than describing it and skipping to the finished task like others do. Nice crisp playing as well mate. Love your work.
Great work. I had an older HRD that had the +/- 15V dropping resistor overheating and noisy channel switching along with an ultra-sonic oscillation at about 22 KHz that was sensitive to presence control setting (negative feedback) and tube socket flex circuit positioning. It required adding series resistance in the tube grid circuits to kill which was not easy. I think we all should be more vigilant in routinely checking the output with a wideband scope.
Kester makes liquid flux. Not sure if you know this. I have 2 different types. One is clear and is a no-clean flux. It leaves no residue behind. The 2nd is a brown liquid flux that's pretty sticky and leaves a lot of residue to clean when you're done. I won't solder without them. Even if I'm just soldering a ground wire to a pot, I drip some onto the back of the pot and solder away. It makes all the difference in the world. I actually just bought a new 2024 Hot Rod Deluxe IV for myself and it came in today. It sounds incredible! I just tested everything to be sure there were no issues. Then I put it up in the hall closet because it's for my bday in 6 weeks. 😁 For those plastic jacks, I intend on just leaving a cable plugged in all the time and never removing it. Hopefully that will put less stress on the joints so they don't break loose eventually
Just make sure you wrap you guitar lead around the handle twice before plugging it in, and always throw a towel over the control panel when you are not using it. I agree that HRD's sound excellent once they have been set up properly.
@@theguitaramptech awesome. I didn't even consider wrapping the handle. Thank you! One thing I have been wondering about. I should probably wait until it's out of warranty before I have reliability mods done like new jacks, the 5w resistors lifted off the board, new caps, etc... right? Or before doing them myself possibly. I don't gig and usually only play for 20-30 mins at a time, up to 6 or 10x a day sometimes lol. So it won't be cranked up much, only the rare times that everybody's gone, and not for hours at a time. With that, I'm hoping maybe I can get a little more use out of it before the usual issues come up. Or perhaps they won't come up at all before the warranty is up. Does that seem logical at all? Or am I dreaming?
Hi Chris, thanks for another great video. If I lived in Sydney, I know exactly who I would trust with my equipment. It is a pleasure to watch your videos. Many greetings from Germany🍻🎸
@@markusf.3441 yes, I was lucky to have seen the magnificent Koln cathedral many years ago. I was actually driving from Germany to the Netherlands!! Stay well Markus.
I had considered it, but the consequence of the heatsink falling on to the valve PCB below was too serious to proceed. How did you secure the heatsink?
@@theguitaramptech there’s a “heatsink” compound which also acts as an adhesive. There are heatsinks which are about the size of two 5w “sandcast” resistors, with a mounting plate in the middle. It perfectly “glued” in the middle of the Resistors on the board adding rigidity so I do what you do and left them off a little bit To prevent heating being absorbed into the main board and bobs your uncle I’ve also done what you do and use the back plate of the amplifier cover as a heat sink as well great idea (if I do say so myself 😂)
I have a 1997 usa hot rod, I replaced the Caps, replaced and lifted the resistors, changed the grid resistors, and many diodes, other resistors and CAPs, on the drive channel volume is attenuated and distorted, any ideas?
Another excellent video, Chris. It never occurred to me that the Send/Return jacks could be so problematic. I had a Boogie Studio+ about 10 years ago that had an intermittent issue. I bet you this was the issue.
Would keeping a guitar patch cable connected across Send/Return jacks help eliminate/minimise this issue?... or would it cause other problems? Maybe Jedi Master Chris can comment.
Top job and outstanding video Chris ... you're a master and clearly enjoy your craft ! .... thanks for the excellent "repair" of this new to me amp. PS - I now know whom to go to get my light sabre built 🤟🎸
Bloody Awesome Video Chris..! Just fab, all the tips and tech info..Absolute 'ripper' as you guys say..Plus rounded off with a pro guitar demo..Whats a star mate..Love it..Stay safe..Ed..uk..😀
Great work, Sir! Are there any similar design/penny pinching flaws with the current models of the Vox AC15C1 and AC15HW amps that would benefit from "anticipatory/preventative maintenance"?
Hi Solomon. A good starting point is increasing the screen grid resistor from 100R to 470R. I'd also check the biasing of the two EL84's, and set your cathode resistors to give you around 95% dissipation +/- 5%. I may have covered this in my AC10 video.
Ha! You're lovely Mike. There are many good Techs in the US, but sadly there are also many bad Tech's, just like in Australia. It is such a shame that we don't have a governing body.
Good to find an amp genius almost in my neighbourhood. Having watched psionic and uncle Doug for a year or more RUclips finally offered up your channel. I have a relatively new Princeton 68 custom ,having had the fear of God put into me by Lyle at psionic,would you have any suggestions for looming problems( build inadequacy). I'm on the central coast ,amp techs are few and far between and you are obviously brave and effective enough to expose yourself to keyboard assassins. I have no problems just yet but it's a concern to be realised in the future, sincere regards
Hi Bruce, Yes, Uncle Doug is a legend. I believe he used to be a teacher, and it certainly comes across in how he shares his knowledge. Lyle is an excellent Tech even if he does come across as critical or negative at times. I share some of Lyle’s concerns (not all) and can certainly improve the tone and reliability of most modern production amps, including your Princeton. I would be delighted to work on your amp, Bruce, but I would be remiss to not inform you about Ivan Richards, one of Australia’s best Techs, located on the Central Coast at Wyoming.
@@theguitaramptech many thanks for your time and reply. My keyboard player ( and guitarist) bandmate may indeed have used Ivan, if I do head toward troubled waters I will seek one of you out. The amp is practically new,only used in practice so far but I heard warnings. I look forward to more content, amazing that RUclips had failed to expose your talent but such is,once again thankyou. As a PS,both music stores I have purchased from,in Gosford and Newcastle have not been tremendously helpful in repair contacts. Be good
@@brucehayes7251 Rest easy ... you are safe from an imminent failure of your Princeton!! Its sound can certainly be improved, as can its reliability at some stage in the future. It's not RUclips's fault that I have not ranked highly on searches. I always give higher priority to my repair customers. I also take MUCH more time with the production of my videos.
If it was my amp, I would install a little transformer with a linear low volt power supply for the IC's. That resistor/zener combo is such a bad design, amazing Fender dares to do it this way.
I have HRD that I did some mods to make the amp more reliable, the usual stuff. I can't figure out why I have no negative bias. Checked the diodes and changed out resistors in the bias network. Checked voltages, I don't get it. Any ideas???
G'day Ron. First check your work didn’t cause the problem. When you say “no negative bias”, where are you measuring this? What is the actual voltage? Are you seeing any neg voltage on the resistor before the bias pot? What about at the junction of the two 220K resistors just before the grid stoppers? Are you measuring at pin 5 of the 6L6? If that’s positive, you may also need to check for leaking coupling caps. If none of that guides you to the problem, then you may need to book it in with me or another knowledgeable Tech close to you.
@@theguitaramptech Thanks for your help and the first thing I did was check all the solder joints and connections where new filter caps were installed, dropping resistors all that good stuff, I put it to the side for now which I think is a good thing when you get aggravated with something leave it alone for a little bit but yes I will go back and revisit it again. Thanks
I know that feeling well, Ron. A Marshall JTM60 is kicking my butt now. Its impossible to test without reassembly only to find something else has cracked on that crappy PCB. Good thing Marshall canned it after a couple of years. Good luck, Ron.
Fenders are very good amps! Only thing I don’t like is the upside down chassis! Valves operated like this going to shorten their life and toast the components sitting above! I.e. Capacitors,resistors etc! Any views on this? Fraser
Amazing how Fender designed & built an amplifier with a little care have a very respectable product. The stock speakers they use in Blues Jr are horrible.
I agree with you, NJ. This hotrod series and the BJr can be made to sound so good with just a few upgrades and a correct bias. I understand that good speakers cost more and so they give us the cheap option, but there is no excuse for plastic jacks, IC caps, crappy pot mounting (on the BJr) and too hot a bias.
@@theguitaramptech You are just a little bit of a distance from me, but have you had any issues with Mesa Boogie Lone Star Classic (6L6 ) heads circa 2003 - 2005
Yes, NJ. I am a bit disappointed in the Lone Star Classic. I find them harder to burn to ashes without the use of an accelerant. (My sincere apologies if its your amp, NJ.)
dont know why they still doing it like this, what is the point of it bad reputation and no one who really knows about this problem will ever buy one again!
You hit the nail on the head. I assume you're talking about the 5w dropping resistors. Its the cheapest way to drop 60v to 16v. Most people don't know about the problem, so Fender keeps cranking them out. .
@@paranoid5332 It sure seems like it, paranoid. Although, "Reliability and ease of service" is what made Fender famous in the first place. Wouldn't it be great if ONE of the mass producers went back to that business model?
The l is silent in solder. That's why we don't say it. 🤦 Just like when you say schedule. There's a "C" in there but you don't say it. Instead, you say "shed-jewel". Where's the "C"? It's SKED-JEWEL. There's a C in there. Just like when you say SCHOOL. You don't say shool. You don't skip the C like you do in Schedule. Makes zero sense. You observe the c in one words that starts with "SCH-" but you ignore it in another word that starts with the same 3 letters and is pronounced exactly the same. We can say solder without the L all we want. It is you all who have the messed up language 🤷 it's SKED-JEWEL. Just like School. You don't say shool. So why say shed-jewel? That doesn't make sense. At all. Where's the consistency? 🤷🤷🤦
I hope you are joking, as was I. If you didn't know already, I love the USA (except for the gun laws and healthcare ;) ) I'm heading to LA in January for NAMM. I've lost track, but between doing shows, holidays and NAMMs, it would be at least 35 trips. I may have even seen more of your beautiful country than you....Maybe. Out of interest, how many times have you been to Australia?
4 upgrades that can make these amps reliable for gigging is
A hard wired jack
Raised ceramic resistors
All caps replaced with F&T
Replaced zena diodes
The amp will then last as long as any amp on the market.
These are very good amps once upgraded. I did my first Deville in the 90's and it hasn't missed a beat since.
Yes. Yes. Yes. And Yes. Agree 100%. The add to your excellent list "Setting the bias at a safe point" and they sound damned good.
I still think they need a different speaker. I’m finding that true about any of today’s Fenders.
@@NJSonye Very true. If you're in the USA, just put in a Weber and be done. If that's too pricey, my current favourite of the mass-produced speakers is the Celestion Creamback.
@@theguitaramptechGreat video! Speaker-wise, here in the States, it’s hard to beat WGS for quality and price. I love the ET-65 (voiced like a Creamback) in my HRD. Currently my amp is with the good people at Fromel, getting their full upgrade kit plus an aftermarket output transformer.
Very nice work Chris. I worked for the telephone company in the states, Bellsouth, back in the day and learned to lace cables, cable ties were not permitted and you took pride in how neat you could dress the cables and lace them in place. Sounds like you had a great mentor that taught you the importance of doing neat work as well as taking pride in the finished product. It shows in your videos and thank you for sharing.
Thank you JT. Yes, I think we learned a skill that is now consigned to history, sadly. You are exactly right in this skill being an integral part in taking pride in your work. I very much appreciate you sharing your experience and skill with me.
Thank you sir for great video helpful 👍
Thank you Raymond
Pretty thorough job Chris! You tried to think of all the potential problems with this amp. It's called 'preventative maintenance'. Good stuff!
They used lacing twine in Telecom years ago too. They taught us 'lacing stitch', not 'self-undoing stitch', as they called them back then. To keep everything laced in, they'd make us lace in other lengths of the waxed nylon twine along the run to lace up the 'branches'. We'd have to tie a 'constrictor knot' at the beginning of the lacing run, so it would not come undone, being sort of slippery from the wax. They never called it a constrictor knot back then, but my searching has actually confirmed the name. Just TRY to undo a tightly tied constrictor knot! - Ya gotta cut through it!
I've managed somehow (?) to have a coupla big rolls of that very same lacing twine here at home! Ssshhh! Amazing stuff; you can't tear it off like electrical tape! - You'll deeply cut yourself! I've laced up a few looms on gear I've built, & even split the twine into thinner halves on the narrower looms, as it can flatten out to almost 3mm wide, which looks overdone. - Still you can't break it though! Ya gotta cut it or melt it!
While we're not talking about cable ties, & after you heat tested your threaded nylon standoffs to 360° or whatever it was, I was a little puzzled as to why you didn't just use a nylon cable tie around that pair of 5W resistors, instead of contact glue? You'd just done the proof-of-concept experiment!
As far as component leads 'clinched over' on the copper side of the board before soldering, I think it's a good idea. Regardless if it's a pita to replace the component. It gives extra mechanical stability to the joint, as well as more surface area of the component's lead actually soldered.
When I built a pcb, I always 'clinch' component leads, except I.C's & sometimes TO-220 power devices. For neatness, I try to bend as close to parallel to the board as possible, & at 45°or 315° to the edge, whichever is most suitable to not have clinched leads shorting on each other. It looks quite neat too, & less kinda 'random'. I do this in preference to bending ' back down towards the track' as you do. - But I get where you're coming from though! I guess in that way I sacrifice a little bit of longevity for neatness! - Just a little though, cos I've never ever had a fault in anything I built or repaired as a result of a dry joint!
Yep, those big old 'soldapullit' solder suckers definitely do a good job mate! I've just gotta remember to 'reload' mine over my solder 'ashtray' (a sardine tin with a felt base & a bunch of splashed [ashed] solder in it for weight), as it can spray out little flakes of solder about! Actually Jaycar sells a beige version, & new teflon tips too! - or they used to.
I gotta agree with you on the solder braid too. Way too easy to overheat & lift tracks of the board with it. I find it useful sometimes when replacing SMD's (which you said you don't do), when I tin the pad then to get the pad nice & flat again for the new part. I've gotta cut the used part of the braid off very often though, as one false move not melting all the solder in contact with the braid & board will also rip fricken tracks off! Grrr!
I'm old school as far as flux goes though. I use the honey type paste stuff. The pens never seem to apply enough for my liking. I'd rather apply too much & just exhale while generating all the smoke, then clean up with an I.P.A. soaked toothbrush/rag afterwards.
The lid of my flux was nearly always fricken glued to the mofo jar, cos the flux goes so sticky, so I now just place an oversized plastic lid on top of the jar, & the adhesion of the flux shit securely holds the lid on till I break the seal to use the stuff!
That's a nice looking ESR tester you've got there - with variable test frequencies & all! - Noice! I built the 'Silicon Chip' ESR meter in the cheap-ass jiffy box with the two 7 segment 1/2" led displays & a pushbutton. But it works a treat! It measures down to .01 ohms, but at only one frequency, at which I'm not sure.
Did you clean the valve sockets? I never saw you do that. Have you seen those tiny little 'bottlebrush' type cleaners you can get for cleaning your teeth? They're called 'Pickers', or that's the brand. You can getem from Coles, & even more sizes from chemists. They're ideal for cleaning valve-pin sockets, with a dash of I.P.A on them.
I love your idea of using dividers to set up & bend capacitor leads! I'm gonna steal that one! Actually I just bought a coupla metal nail files from Coles this arvo for cleaning contacts, as you suggested. At $2.50 each I bought two! - Gotta be one of the cheapest tools on my bench! Very handy to clean up my polystyrene military model parts too!
Sorry bout the rant. I've gotta get a life! Actually I've gotta get a job! Too young to retire yet really.
I loved reading your comments, Neville. Please accept my apology for not responding to them all. From your experiences, I am thinking we must be of a similar age. I learned my lacing in the RAN. Yes, I (nearly) always clean tube sockets, but rarely show it in my videos as they are always too long. I used to use picksters but one boke off in a preamp tube socket and was a hell of a job to remove. Thanks for taking the time to write your message. Loved it.
I just tore the pcb out of a hot rod deluxe, a sublime pleasure. I bought it for 400 bucks, and im going to build a hand wired amp in it. 5f6a based. Basically, a 67 plexi - 2203 .. Got a layout from Jake from Jloewenheim youtube. Great guy .
Previously, i built a 5f6a- plexi in a deville chassis based on a layout Jake sent me. Beutiful amp.
Looking forward to the deluxe conversion.
Its a pleasure to tear out all that pcb garbage from the chassis. Its sad that modern amps are built so cheaply , but i guess thats what we can expect with fractional reserve banking... #thecreaturefromjeckellisland
Great video, as always !! Keep them coming !!!
That is so cool!! I would love to see photos of your conversion. I am so envious. I would love to do that, but I have so many repairs to get though, I doubt that day will ever come for me, so I live vicariously through you. You can send me photos through my website guitaramptech.com.au
@@theguitaramptech I'll definitely send some.
@@theguitaramptech ruclips.net/video/n5lhv0uYNiI/видео.html
That's Jake's video. Where I got the idea and layout from. I'll forward some pics as well
I hope Fender sees these amazing vids and takes care AT LEAST of the resistors/capacitors! Either better design or metal resistors/capacitors to the chasis!
Excellent video again Chris!!! So good to have a local Guru!! I really like how you actually show the repair taking place rather than describing it and skipping to the finished task like others do. Nice crisp playing as well mate. Love your work.
Thank you Michael. I really appreciate your words.
Great work. I had an older HRD that had the +/- 15V dropping resistor overheating and noisy channel switching along with an ultra-sonic oscillation at about 22 KHz that was sensitive to presence control setting (negative feedback) and tube socket flex circuit positioning. It required adding series resistance in the tube grid circuits to kill which was not easy. I think we all should be more vigilant in routinely checking the output with a wideband scope.
I agree 100%. Good tip about the grid stoppers. You can go higher than the stock 1K5 Fender values. Try doubling it. Thanks PDX!
Extra points for the happy shepherd!
I love him, Rico!
Excellent maintenance and repair. And nice playing too.
Thank you, ZBaby! I really appreciate that.
Kester makes liquid flux. Not sure if you know this. I have 2 different types. One is clear and is a no-clean flux. It leaves no residue behind. The 2nd is a brown liquid flux that's pretty sticky and leaves a lot of residue to clean when you're done.
I won't solder without them. Even if I'm just soldering a ground wire to a pot, I drip some onto the back of the pot and solder away. It makes all the difference in the world.
I actually just bought a new 2024 Hot Rod Deluxe IV for myself and it came in today. It sounds incredible! I just tested everything to be sure there were no issues. Then I put it up in the hall closet because it's for my bday in 6 weeks. 😁
For those plastic jacks, I intend on just leaving a cable plugged in all the time and never removing it. Hopefully that will put less stress on the joints so they don't break loose eventually
Just make sure you wrap you guitar lead around the handle twice before plugging it in, and always throw a towel over the control panel when you are not using it. I agree that HRD's sound excellent once they have been set up properly.
@@theguitaramptech awesome. I didn't even consider wrapping the handle. Thank you!
One thing I have been wondering about. I should probably wait until it's out of warranty before I have reliability mods done like new jacks, the 5w resistors lifted off the board, new caps, etc... right? Or before doing them myself possibly.
I don't gig and usually only play for 20-30 mins at a time, up to 6 or 10x a day sometimes lol. So it won't be cranked up much, only the rare times that everybody's gone, and not for hours at a time. With that, I'm hoping maybe I can get a little more use out of it before the usual issues come up. Or perhaps they won't come up at all before the warranty is up. Does that seem logical at all? Or am I dreaming?
Hi Chris, thanks for another great video. If I lived in Sydney, I know exactly who I would trust with my equipment. It is a pleasure to watch your videos. Many greetings from Germany🍻🎸
vielen danke, Markus. I have so many wonderful memories of Germany. I hope life's roads will lead me back one day. Which part are you from?
@@theguitaramptech I come from the deepest west of Germany, about eight kilometers from the netherlands. The next city you might know is Cologne.
@@markusf.3441 yes, I was lucky to have seen the magnificent Koln cathedral many years ago. I was actually driving from Germany to the Netherlands!! Stay well Markus.
a divider for bending the leads!! Brilliant!
Hahaha! Yes, I am a little OCD at times.
Love your puppy dups mate! Give him a pat & a scratch on the head for me!
Consider it so, Neville. I dedicate Harley's next tummy rub to you.
great video editing, i do guitar amp work in the usa. good organization as well!
Thanks Nathan. May the Lord smile upon you, and not send you any Mesa Boogies.
@@theguitaramptech thank you! and may the solder fumes always blow away from you!
Nice one Young Chris!!
Thanks, Dino!
I mounted Heatsink to the resistors
I had considered it, but the consequence of the heatsink falling on to the valve PCB below was too serious to proceed. How did you secure the heatsink?
@@theguitaramptech there’s a “heatsink” compound which also acts as an adhesive. There are heatsinks which are about the size of two 5w “sandcast” resistors, with a mounting plate in the middle. It perfectly “glued” in the middle of the Resistors on the board adding rigidity so I do what you do and left them off a little bit To prevent heating being absorbed into the main board and bobs your uncle I’ve also done what you do and use the back plate of the amplifier cover as a heat sink as well great idea (if I do say so myself 😂)
@@petertimp5416 Thanks Peter. That sounds very much like what I use to secure the 470R resistors to the chassis with..
thanks for the video. beautiful repair work, beautiful dog 👏
Thanks Lexi. My boy sure has a beautiful temperment.
I have a 1997 usa hot rod, I replaced the Caps, replaced and lifted the resistors, changed the grid resistors, and many diodes, other resistors and CAPs, on the drive channel volume is attenuated and distorted, any ideas?
Have you replaced V2? Check the operation and power supply for the relays K2 and K1.
Another excellent video, Chris. It never occurred to me that the Send/Return jacks could be so problematic. I had a Boogie Studio+ about 10 years ago that had an intermittent issue. I bet you this was the issue.
Would keeping a guitar patch cable connected across Send/Return jacks help eliminate/minimise this issue?... or would it cause other problems? Maybe Jedi Master Chris can comment.
Hahaha! A patch cable this condition could prove and a temporary solution apply. Remember, young ZK, a Jedi's strength flows from the Flux.
Top job and outstanding video Chris ... you're a master and clearly enjoy your craft ! .... thanks for the excellent "repair" of this new to me amp. PS - I now know whom to go to get my light sabre built 🤟🎸
HA! Anyone can repair a Light Sabre. Only the true Jedi would do combat with the evil starship Mesa captained by the evil overlord Darth Randall.
@@theguitaramptech ....YES ! ... much solid state Darth Randall use did... the tube force for the musician much better is. Keep rockin' Chis !
@@zk8241 hahahaha😂
Bloody Awesome Video Chris..! Just fab, all the tips and tech info..Absolute 'ripper' as you guys say..Plus rounded off with a pro guitar demo..Whats a star mate..Love it..Stay safe..Ed..uk..😀
Well....that's another beer from me! Thank you Ed.
@@theguitaramptech I'm gonna' be s*** faced soon if you keep buying me beers..! 🤣🤣 Thanks Chris.
@@edwardhannigan6324 HAHAHAHA 😂
I wish you were in Melbourne 😢
Thanks mate. That's very kind of you.
Great work, Sir! Are there any similar design/penny pinching flaws with the current models of the Vox AC15C1 and AC15HW amps that would benefit from "anticipatory/preventative maintenance"?
Hi Solomon. A good starting point is increasing the screen grid resistor from 100R to 470R. I'd also check the biasing of the two EL84's, and set your cathode resistors to give you around 95% dissipation +/- 5%. I may have covered this in my AC10 video.
Thanks so much for the quick response. I’ll definitely get those checked out.
And you did mention setting the cathode resistors at about the six minute mark of the AC10 video. 😀
Need you here in the states my deluxe is in bad shape my reverb stopped working
Ha! You're lovely Mike. There are many good Techs in the US, but sadly there are also many bad Tech's, just like in Australia. It is such a shame that we don't have a governing body.
Great job
Thanks Peter
Good to find an amp genius almost in my neighbourhood. Having watched psionic and uncle Doug for a year or more RUclips finally offered up your channel. I have a relatively new Princeton 68 custom ,having had the fear of God put into me by Lyle at psionic,would you have any suggestions for looming problems( build inadequacy). I'm on the central coast ,amp techs are few and far between and you are obviously brave and effective enough to expose yourself to keyboard assassins. I have no problems just yet but it's a concern to be realised in the future, sincere regards
Hi Bruce,
Yes, Uncle Doug is a legend. I believe he used to be a teacher, and it certainly comes across in how he shares his knowledge. Lyle is an excellent Tech even if he does come across as critical or negative at times.
I share some of Lyle’s concerns (not all) and can certainly improve the tone and reliability of most modern production amps, including your Princeton.
I would be delighted to work on your amp, Bruce, but I would be remiss to not inform you about Ivan Richards, one of Australia’s best Techs, located on the Central Coast at Wyoming.
@@theguitaramptech many thanks for your time and reply. My keyboard player ( and guitarist) bandmate may indeed have used Ivan, if I do head toward troubled waters I will seek one of you out. The amp is practically new,only used in practice so far but I heard warnings. I look forward to more content, amazing that RUclips had failed to expose your talent but such is,once again thankyou. As a PS,both music stores I have purchased from,in Gosford and Newcastle have not been tremendously helpful in repair contacts. Be good
@@brucehayes7251 Rest easy ... you are safe from an imminent failure of your Princeton!! Its sound can certainly be improved, as can its reliability at some stage in the future.
It's not RUclips's fault that I have not ranked highly on searches. I always give higher priority to my repair customers. I also take MUCH more time with the production of my videos.
@@theguitaramptech panic suspended
If it was my amp, I would install a little transformer with a linear low volt power supply for the IC's. That resistor/zener combo is such a bad design, amazing Fender dares to do it this way.
I have HRD that I did some mods to make the amp more reliable, the usual stuff. I can't figure out why I have no negative bias. Checked the diodes and changed out resistors in the bias network. Checked voltages, I don't get it. Any ideas???
G'day Ron. First check your work didn’t cause the problem. When you say “no negative bias”, where are you measuring this? What is the actual voltage? Are you seeing any neg voltage on the resistor before the bias pot? What about at the junction of the two 220K resistors just before the grid stoppers?
Are you measuring at pin 5 of the 6L6? If that’s positive, you may also need to check for leaking coupling caps.
If none of that guides you to the problem, then you may need to book it in with me or another knowledgeable Tech close to you.
@@theguitaramptech Thanks for your help and the first thing I did was check all the solder joints and connections where new filter caps were installed, dropping resistors all that good stuff, I put it to the side for now which I think is a good thing when you get aggravated with something leave it alone for a little bit but yes I will go back and revisit it again. Thanks
I know that feeling well, Ron. A Marshall JTM60 is kicking my butt now. Its impossible to test without reassembly only to find something else has cracked on that crappy PCB. Good thing Marshall canned it after a couple of years. Good luck, Ron.
@@theguitaramptech Yep that sums it up well my friend exactly.
Fenders are very good amps! Only thing I don’t like is the upside down chassis! Valves operated like this going to shorten their life and toast the components sitting above! I.e. Capacitors,resistors etc! Any views on this? Fraser
You are exactly right, Fraser, but the genius of Leo was the space savings when the tubes and transformers shared space with the speaker.
Amazing how Fender designed & built an amplifier with a little care have a very respectable product. The stock speakers they use in Blues Jr are horrible.
I agree with you, NJ. This hotrod series and the BJr can be made to sound so good with just a few upgrades and a correct bias. I understand that good speakers cost more and so they give us the cheap option, but there is no excuse for plastic jacks, IC caps, crappy pot mounting (on the BJr) and too hot a bias.
@@theguitaramptech
You are just a little bit of a distance from me, but have you had any issues with Mesa Boogie Lone Star Classic (6L6 ) heads circa 2003 - 2005
Yes, NJ. I am a bit disappointed in the Lone Star Classic. I find them harder to burn to ashes without the use of an accelerant. (My sincere apologies if its your amp, NJ.)
The head! I don’t think I can roll a combo let alone pick one up. It never travels without its road case. Still, I’d like to make it less volatile.
Funny, I keep posting comments and they disappear
That's weird. I can still see them. Are you referring to rebuilding a HRD chassis? Are you looking under the Hot Rod Deluxe video.
doggonit its sodder
AH HAHAHAHAHA!
Hey Monty, I think you should buy your lady a bunch of Fowers!! 😉
Waterhen!?!?
Watson TTB ... if it still exists.
check your web page inbox
dont know why they still doing it like this, what is the point of it bad reputation and no one who really knows about this problem will ever buy one again!
You hit the nail on the head. I assume you're talking about the 5w dropping resistors. Its the cheapest way to drop 60v to 16v. Most people don't know about the problem, so Fender keeps cranking them out. .
@@theguitaramptech imagine they build smothing that last 10 or more year they would go insolvent 😅😆
@@paranoid5332 It sure seems like it, paranoid. Although, "Reliability and ease of service" is what made Fender famous in the first place. Wouldn't it be great if ONE of the mass producers went back to that business model?
@@theguitaramptech that would be fabulous!!! gretings from austria
The l is silent in solder. That's why we don't say it. 🤦
Just like when you say schedule. There's a "C" in there but you don't say it. Instead, you say "shed-jewel". Where's the "C"? It's SKED-JEWEL. There's a C in there. Just like when you say SCHOOL.
You don't say shool. You don't skip the C like you do in Schedule. Makes zero sense. You observe the c in one words that starts with "SCH-" but you ignore it in another word that starts with the same 3 letters and is pronounced exactly the same.
We can say solder without the L all we want. It is you all who have the messed up language 🤷 it's SKED-JEWEL. Just like School. You don't say shool. So why say shed-jewel?
That doesn't make sense. At all. Where's the consistency? 🤷🤷🤦
I hope you are joking, as was I. If you didn't know already, I love the USA (except for the gun laws and healthcare ;) ) I'm heading to LA in January for NAMM. I've lost track, but between doing shows, holidays and NAMMs, it would be at least 35 trips. I may have even seen more of your beautiful country than you....Maybe. Out of interest, how many times have you been to Australia?
@@theguitaramptech I was. Sorry. I got carried away. 🫣 I apologize for that.
@@J.C... Not a problem, my friend