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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 12:55 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:54 pm
Posts: 618
Disagreements aside, how does any of this help Tone chaser? I plead mea culpa, too.

He has an amp that doesn't work the way it's supposed to, and wants it to. He apparently wants to spend the money to fix it. Maybe so he can sell it and get something else.

I have no idea if he has another amp to use, but he has stated he uses it 12 times a year, which comes out to once a month averaging it out.

He needs a guitar amp tech, in the vicinity of Philadelphia.

How do you determine if a tech is good or not? Does he only work on guitar amps or does he work on everything under the sun like dishwashing or washing machine timing boards, including SMD based boards? In that case, he should be using a hot air re-work soldering station. In other words, is he a jack of all trades or a master of one?

My answer would be to talk to that tech before he begins to work on that amp. If Electrolytic caps need to be replaced, what brand will he replace them with? Parts per million aside, The 16V supply is a common problem with this amp, has he encountered this problem before? Is he aware of certain resistors overheating? How does he alleviate that symptom when he encounters that? Maybe there are other issues in the 16V supply besides the 5 watt resistors, as has been talked about before here.

pcalugaru,

We will live another day to debate RoHS solder or other things, (hopefully) how about right now we try to help Tone Chaser with useful advice.



Regards,


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:22 pm
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Hobbyist
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Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:14 am
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Great replies and thank you. We were okay at last jam as the amp worked clean. My mate always throws out songs to play and he goes into White Rabbit. I do have another amp (68 Custom Virbrolux) which I bought as a backup AND to get my band mate to use tube amps and not his Vox valvetronix. I play the 68 and turn my reverb up and did the same on the hot rod and realized the same problem has resurfaced.

I’m not knocking my amp. Had it a long time. Output trans repair was only once. The one time I pulled a preamp tube to look at it the amp crackled when I turned it back on and blew a fuse. Tube sockets on the board I broke a solder joint I think.

I’m too broke right now so the plan is to get the amp from my friends house and drop it off at the same place that fixed it last time. I’ll keep everyone posted. I don’t use the drives but the reverb is top notch. Arjay I’ll throw another hundred at it. Someday maybe I’ll upgrade. 68’s been a great amp. Some design upgrades - tube sockets off the board. I’d recommend this amp to anyone. Barely need the knobs it just sounds great. Fender amps rule!

Last time there I noted the age and thought maybe preamp tubes would be replaced? Tech noted nothing back. I’ll ask about that and caps and see what happens.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 6:09 pm
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Quality electrolytic caps (F&T's, Sprague Atom's, or equivalent) should be good for ten years or more. Tubes are another story altogether -- you should keep spares on hand just in case......

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:14 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:54 pm
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Some good advice in this thread for R78 and R79, and reverb. (thanks for the pic, Arjay)

https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=106168


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:29 am
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Hopefully Tone Chaser may get some ideas for reliability enhancement.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:34 am
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I’ll ask for some info about the tech when I drop it off. Maybe if the caps aren’t leaking he’ll leave them alone. I was going to state the issue with no reverb and channel switching and ask him to check the preamp tubes and caps.

Thanks for the link to the other thread. I read a lot of these threads so I was expecting this repair eventually, ha ha.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:38 pm
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Dropped off today. Went to original place and guess what they aren’t doing amps anymore. Their tech said because he wasn’t an authorized place he couldn’t get stuff fixed. Some bla bla. So I called another shop. 25 min run. Drop it off and a van is there getting amps to be picked up for service. Owner says this is Alessandro and he’ll be working on it. I look and say this is him? He says no it’s Andy? cause he works on PCB. So had a chance to say preamp tubes were old and he said well those you can change yourself. Told him I’d rather not. Asked to check caps and he said he would didn’t flinch when I told him their age. So we’ll see. We have a good tech a different tech and I spoke right to him so maybe the hot rod will live on!


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:36 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
That's a lot of jack to keep one mediocre amp in the game......

I haven't spent half of that on servicing five vintage Fender's in the last fifteen years.

You sure you want to continue flogging that dog?

:shock:
Arjay


To be fair, you aren’t paying someone else to service your amps. :wink:

I give myself a huge discount on labor when I service my own amps. :lol:

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 10:17 pm
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Perhaps, but when an amp strands me at the altar more than once I'm gonna shitcan that POS the moment I get home from the gig.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Fender Hot Rod no channel switching, again
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2019 2:29 pm
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Got it back one week! Repair was as follows:
Repaired low voltage power supply and reverb send amp. Reworked intermittent pc board connections. Replaced noisy microphonic preamp tubes. Adjusted bias. Cleaned pots and jacks. Test unit - $140.00

Interesting on re bias. Last guy installed the power tubes. Nothing mentioned on the caps.

One more roll of the dice with my old amp. Hopefully this repair lasts longer.


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