I’m a Yank with a Fender Blues Jr and it is currently my work amp. Even though I’m a geezer at 78, because I can play and sight read music, I still work in the orchestra pits for Broadway musicals. I like playing with a touch of reverb and it went out on my amp, bought a new tank and now in the process of replacing the caps and tank. Wanted to ask about the values of the caps and any specific brands or countries of origins to avoid. Also, since I was intimidated with the act of yanking the board out, I was impressed with your technique of accomplishing this procedure with it still bolted in. Great video…..please keep posting for us DIYers.
What can I say but a huge thank you for taking the time to make this video and share your amazing knowledge. Just got a great deal on a Blues junior but no reverb signal at all. Discovered broken wire in reverb tank, managed to strip and solder the tiny wire straight onto the terminal. Problem solved and I am an amateur at best. No awkward eBay returns necessary. Thank you again Stuart you have definitely secured a place in a class A hand wired heaven.
Hi Richard Well done, that's not an easy job, I've done a few myself. It's caused by the wires being bounced around all the time of course, they just break off.
Interesting your experience regarding the heavy ribbon wire. I just changed out the volume pots on my Fender Super Champ XD to have them be 50k audio taper rather than the stock linear taper. I worked carefully with that heavy ribbon wire connecting the controls board to the main board and fortunately got it back together without incident. By the way, my goal of getting the volume more manageable with audio taper pots was a success. Before the change, my channel 1 was loud and breaking up at level 3. Now that occurs around level 7. Love your videos, Stuart. Thank you.
Thank you, Stuart - superb presentation and valuable information. As a semi-professional guitarist and professional electrical engineer, who happens to have an almost 30-year old Jr, with a bad reverb tank hum, of course I found this video relevant. I hope you can spend a little time tuning that guitar you have there. Hearing the open strings strummed like that was a wee-bit painful. Definitely subscribing.
Howdy. Nice. My suggestion would be to use ferrules on the lead stumps. Ferrules with no sleeves. Ferrules just large enough to accomodate the original lead and the new cap lead. Then squeeze with a pair of pliers and solder. This way one can adjust the new cap. leads perfectly before glueing. Best regards.
Great show once again! It is timely for me as well. I just picked up a deluxe reverb that has a similar issue. It also is weak on the first set of inputs (sugestions?). I think the caps need replacing just as you have done.
Hello Stuart. I find your videos informative and entertaining. You have a natural gift for presenting your subject clearly :) Would you consider doing a Carlsbro amp next? I have a Sherwood 65w acoustic form the 90's. To know how to take it apart and look it over would be of great help. Keep up the good work.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Hi Stewart, thankyou for the reply. If you ever had a Carlsbro amp in your workshop, yes. Although I am looking for someone to check my amp over, if it needs repairs. I am in Wales though and not many guitar amplifier technicians close to me.
Although its possible for reverb-tank wires to develop metal fatigue and break off due to speaker vibrations if the amp is played loud regularly, it is more likely that they've broken off from the shocks and jarring that occur during transport to and from gigs (or during shipment to the store, or your home). Some vintage reverb tanks had a lever that allowed you to lock the reverb subchassis and springs before transport, but this was most often seen on organs and organ-speaker "tone cabinets" and rarely on guitar-amp reverb tanks.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 I think it's the same as the replacement tank in your video. My original tank (accutronics) failed and I found the MoX brand one on eBay. For £20 this replacement was easier than trying to diagnose and fix the old tank. Not sure if you see Psionic audio videos but also note that blues junior mark 3 has annoying design fault that means reverb can't be completely turned off with the knob. Earlier juniors, mk2s and 1s don't seem to have the problem.
@@ali2ndmail Oh yes I remember the brand now. I thought you were suggesting a solid state replacement or something. Yes I watch Psionic, I wasn;t aware of that reverb problem but of course I don;t tend to get new amps in the workshop, just the 10+ years old versions.
Yes in my view that's exactly what it is. Shameful. Save a few pennies and who cares about thousands of amps failing 5-10 years after you've sold them?
@@MB-st7be Hmm yes you're right. I've never really noticed which coil goes more often. The SEND coil obviously takes a bit of a bashing current wise, but as you say, the receive is a minute current.
The best thing to use is silicone sealant which you can get from a hardware store. It's not ESSENTIAL to glue them in like this but over time (many years) the movement can cause them to become unsoldered.
Hello, tell me on the red tulip wire that goes into the amplifier, should there be resistance?I looked at it on black, there is no 0.08kohm on red, the reverberation is very weak, what is the reason?tell me.Perhaps the wire is closing?
Yes you should measure a resistance on both of the leads going to the reverb tank. One will be higher than the other. If one is open circuit you will need a new reverb tank. BUT if it is oper circuit you will not hear any reverb at all.
Those little green and black wires are so delicate. All 4 of mine are broken, thanks for the repair tips!
Yes it's not actually that great a system. The spring bounces up and down and constantly flexes the joints.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 my output side is an open circuit too, guess I'm just getting a fresh one 🙃
@@HopefulWanderersEntertainment Yes once the coil is o/c it's a gonner.
I’m a Yank with a Fender Blues Jr and it is currently my work amp. Even though I’m a geezer at 78, because I can play and sight read music, I still work in the orchestra pits for Broadway musicals. I like playing with a touch of reverb and it went out on my amp, bought a new tank and now in the process of replacing the caps and tank. Wanted to ask about the values of the caps and any specific brands or countries of origins to avoid. Also, since I was intimidated with the act of yanking the board out, I was impressed with your technique of accomplishing this procedure with it still bolted in. Great video…..please keep posting for us DIYers.
Avoid IC caps brand. I like F&T electrolytics. I believe the HT cap values are 22uF at 450V and 47 uF at 450V All the best
Fortune favours the prepared! Another great video, your narrative is easy to understand and give insight to your investigations. Many thanks again!
Thanks very much.
What can I say but a huge thank you for taking the time to make this video and share your amazing knowledge. Just got a great deal on a Blues junior but no reverb signal at all. Discovered broken wire in reverb tank, managed to strip and solder the tiny wire straight onto the terminal. Problem solved and I am an amateur at best. No awkward eBay returns necessary. Thank you again Stuart you have definitely secured a place in a class A hand wired heaven.
Hi Richard Well done, that's not an easy job, I've done a few myself. It's caused by the wires being bounced around all the time of course, they just break off.
Interesting your experience regarding the heavy ribbon wire. I just changed out the volume pots on my Fender Super Champ XD to have them be 50k audio taper rather than the stock linear taper. I worked carefully with that heavy ribbon wire connecting the controls board to the main board and fortunately got it back together without incident.
By the way, my goal of getting the volume more manageable with audio taper pots was a success. Before the change, my channel 1 was loud and breaking up at level 3. Now that occurs around level 7.
Love your videos, Stuart. Thank you.
Sounds like a good fix. I'm surprised they used linar pots in a volume control position.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Marketing I'm sure. Loud amp at low volume.
Thank you! Your guidance was very helpful. I had the same issue with my reverb and I’m all fixed up now!
Thank you, Stuart - superb presentation and valuable information. As a semi-professional guitarist and professional electrical engineer, who happens to have an almost 30-year old Jr, with a bad reverb tank hum, of course I found this video relevant.
I hope you can spend a little time tuning that guitar you have there. Hearing the open strings strummed like that was a wee-bit painful.
Definitely subscribing.
Ha ha! It's in pretty good tune most of the time and I can tune it perfectly of course. Get a bit lazy when just usig it as a signal input.
Great video, and tech info from start to finish...Cool fix..Ed..Herts..uk.😀
Howdy. Nice.
My suggestion would be to use ferrules on the lead stumps. Ferrules with no sleeves. Ferrules just large enough to accomodate the original lead and the new cap lead. Then squeeze with a pair of pliers and solder.
This way one can adjust the new cap. leads perfectly before glueing.
Best regards.
Ok thanks for the tip.
Great show once again! It is timely for me as well. I just picked up a deluxe reverb that has a similar issue. It also is weak on the first set of inputs (sugestions?). I think the caps need replacing just as you have done.
Hi Michael The weak inouts MAY be preamp valves, try that. It won;t be caps.
My guess is that along the road your repair videos will turn out to be a goldmine :D
Very good lesson! Thks Stuart.
Thanks Nuno.
Hello Stuart. I find your videos informative and entertaining. You have a natural gift for presenting your subject clearly :) Would you consider doing a Carlsbro amp next? I have a Sherwood 65w acoustic form the 90's. To know how to take it apart and look it over would be of great help. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Otto. Did you meana video of YOUR Carlsbro? If not, I can only make bvids of amps which come my way of course!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Hi Stewart, thankyou for the reply. If you ever had a Carlsbro amp in your workshop, yes. Although I am looking for someone to check my amp over, if it needs repairs. I am in Wales though and not many guitar amplifier technicians close to me.
Great job, Stuart...looking forward to the next one.
Thanks Greg.
Good repair. When I'm told my guitar is out of tune, I say it was in tune when I bought it!
Ho ho!
Although its possible for reverb-tank wires to develop metal fatigue and break off due to speaker vibrations if the amp is played loud regularly, it is more likely that they've broken off from the shocks and jarring that occur during transport to and from gigs (or during shipment to the store, or your home). Some vintage reverb tanks had a lever that allowed you to lock the reverb subchassis and springs before transport, but this was most often seen on organs and organ-speaker "tone cabinets" and rarely on guitar-amp reverb tanks.
Yes I think you're right on that.
I got a MoX reverb replacement, and so far so good. Has survived transport in my car.
@@ali2ndmail I'm not familiar with that. What is it?
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 I think it's the same as the replacement tank in your video. My original tank (accutronics) failed and I found the MoX brand one on eBay. For £20 this replacement was easier than trying to diagnose and fix the old tank. Not sure if you see Psionic audio videos but also note that blues junior mark 3 has annoying design fault that means reverb can't be completely turned off with the knob. Earlier juniors, mk2s and 1s don't seem to have the problem.
@@ali2ndmail Oh yes I remember the brand now. I thought you were suggesting a solid state replacement or something. Yes I watch Psionic, I wasn;t aware of that reverb problem but of course I don;t tend to get new amps in the workshop, just the 10+ years old versions.
Thank you Stuart.
Great info, thank you for this
Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice vid...shame on Fender for knowingly putting junk caps into all of these amps... looking forward to the Marshalls!
Yes in my view that's exactly what it is. Shameful. Save a few pennies and who cares about thousands of amps failing 5-10 years after you've sold them?
My fender bassbreaker 007 has a low frequency hum and it's a new amp.
If I replace the HT caps with good quality caps, would that reduce the hum ?
I'd love to see you dissect a reverb recovery coil to see exactly where the open circuit occurred
Yes I've always wondered why they fail. But it's SUCH fine wire I guess it doesn't take much current to pop it.
Yeah but the receive coil is microamps, it doesn't add up. It must be vibration fatigue or something.
@@MB-st7be Hmm yes you're right. I've never really noticed which coil goes more often. The SEND coil obviously takes a bit of a bashing current wise, but as you say, the receive is a minute current.
Hello, I want to replace the caps. It's important the glue ? I don't have this glue.
The best thing to use is silicone sealant which you can get from a hardware store. It's not ESSENTIAL to glue them in like this but over time (many years) the movement can cause them to become unsoldered.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Thanks, I used silicone sealant.
Hello, tell me on the red tulip wire that goes into the amplifier, should there be resistance?I looked at it on black, there is no 0.08kohm on red, the reverberation is very weak, what is the reason?tell me.Perhaps the wire is closing?
Yes you should measure a resistance on both of the leads going to the reverb tank. One will be higher than the other. If one is open circuit you will need a new reverb tank. BUT if it is oper circuit you will not hear any reverb at all.
You are the master!
Cheers Josh! I'm just off to levitate...
: I could be completely wrong. Excellent attitude! AITMOAFU (assumption is the mother of all f... ups) ;-)
Are these fenders junk? They are rather expensive for what they are and always seem to go wrong, and use junk caps too
I Actually really like the FBJ. Yes they could have used better caps, agreed. But it's a nice little amp.
No risk that the hot glue melts of the heat inside the amp?
No way too low a temp for that. I've gone on to using silicon now though which is probably better.
If I’m going to mod a blues jr anyway does it matter what one I get?
Hi Eduard. No I dont think so.
It's a simple solution: the amplifier hums because it forgot the words..... :)
I'll see myself out the door now......
Brilliant! I've just realised that would account for the whistle I get from some amps too...
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Those wires in the reverb tank are so weak.
Yes they're not great.
Please tune up that guitar Stuart!
You're not the first! I just use it as a signal source with an open strum so I don;t care that much. If ever I play it (rare) it should be in tune.