$75
Amp “Tune-Up” service
One of the services I recommend and regularly perform is an amp “Tune-Up”. This is a useful service for older vintage amps as well as brand new out of the box amps.
“Tune-Ups” include:
- Bias adjustment
- Voltage checks
- Re-soldering of circuit boards, jacks, switches, and tube sockets
- Cleaning pots, switches, jacks, and tube sockets
- Measuring output power
- Re-tightening ground connections and other mechanical connections
- Visual inspection of components and wiring
- Looking for damage or any other evident problem areas
- Test and check tubes for quality
- Blowing dirt and debrief out of the chasis and cabinet
- Checking speaker wiring
- Inspecting speakers for tears, cracks, and obstructed cone travel.
Older amps can develop many problems with age. Circuit boards, tube sockets, switches, and jacks can become corroded or just plain dirty and not make as good of an electrical connection as they once did. Tube sockets can become loose fitting and require re-tensioning of the openings themselves. Control pots can become worn and/or dirty causing your amp to become excessively noisy. Resistors crack with age due to excessive heat. Capacitors can weaken with age and sometimes even leak internal materials that can be visually spotted. Transformers can overheat and also internally leak materials that can also be seen.
A corroded capacitor terminal
A weak solder joint
A broken solder connection on a PC board
Even brand new out of the box amps have problems due to the “cookie cutter” fashion in which they are manufactured today. PC boards on newer amps are wave soldered and are usually done with a minimal amount of solder covering the connections. This makes for a weak solder joint that,under normal use, can lead to compleatly or partially broken connections between the component leads and the printed circuit traces. This leads to all kinds of problems. Intermittent problems can be the worst. A failure or a noise can happen at various times without warning. This could be at a gig or in the middle of that “perfect take” at a recording session. These problems are usually very hard to diagnose and can be very frustrating for the musician. Preventive maintenance on your amp is your best line of defense. Prevent problems before they happen!
Another problem with newer amps is in the bias circuitry. Many manufactures use resistors rather than a variable pot to set the bias in a fixed bias amp. The problem here is two-fold. First the you cannot bias the amp because there is no pot to change the bias voltage. Secondly, the factory usually sets the bias “cold” so as to avoid warranty problems that can arise from working the amp harder but still within its limits. This cold bias setting makes for a amp that sounds thin and lifeless. The amp has the potential to sound killer, but since the bias cannot be changed and it has been preset by the factory the sound of the amp becomes anemic.
Tune-ups can also be done on many other types of audio gear as well, such as power amps. Just inquire and I will let you know.
Basic tune up service charges on a amp may vary but are normally $75.