Re: '77 Fender Delux Reverb has weak output,.neel & bob wrote:
> On Thu, 1 May 2008 11:17:21 +0100, "Gareth Magennis"
> <sound.service@btconnect . com > wrote:
>
>> "fenderhead" <yada@dada . com > wrote in message
>> news:hkoi14tcvaa07cnkth6u3kt664j4tqiqn8@4ax . com ...
>>> Hi, I have a '77 Fender Deluxe Reverb with super weak output. You
>>> can't hear it pass any signal until you dial to ten, then you can hear
>>> it but just barely. About as loud as a quiet conversation. It's the
>>> same for any input. I tried swapping tubes around but no difference.
>>> Anybody ever seen this symptom before? The amp was supposedly gone
>>> through by a pro not long ago and has new looking Fender tubes. Newer
>>> Eminence speaker. It looks really clean and not cruddy like a bar room
>>> amp. Thanks for your time.
>>
>>
>> Amp techs have the luxury of being able to put in a complete new set of
>> valves. This tells you in one minute whether it is a valve problem or not.
>> Paul is right that simply swapping around valves is not always going to make
>> much of a difference if the faulty one is just moved to another critical
>> position.
>>
>>
>> What you could try is pulling all the preamp valves except the phase
>> splitter V6. (Leave the output valves in) Putting your ear to the speaker
>> means you should hear a quiet hiss and hum. Plugging the other preamp
>> valves here should give an identical noise. If one results in a much
>> quieter noise or nothing at all then that will be faulty. Don't assume
>> there is only one faulty valve though.
>>
>> But thre are many other things other than faulty vales that can cause this,
>> but I wouldn't attempt to go any further than this without a decent
>> knowledge of valve amps. Remember there are VERY dangerous voltages inside
>> that can stay there long after the amp is switched off. Trust me, you do
>> not want to experience them first hand, you could die.
>>
>>
>>
>> Gareth.
>>
> Thanks everyone. It was the .001 cap that feeds pin 2 on the phase
> splitter. The Optivisor revealed it to be visibly disconnected.
> Also, someone removing one of the power tubes had twisted it as if it
> were a bayonet type preamp shield and snapped off the locator pin,
> which was left stuck in the socket hole so the replacement 6V6 they
> stuck in wasn't inserted etc. but did ram the broken stub into the 5
> watt resistor that goes across the socket. (grid?) This is the second
> one of these I've seen this winter- must be a rock and roll thing.
> The amp was completely unmolested, just like a time machine when I
> opened it. It does have an Eminence Legend 12" speaker. This is a
> replacement, right? It sounds fabulous, with incredible punch- the
> reverb makes me weep. I'm fixing it for a friend,.. Is it wrong to
> tell people you're waiting for parts and just play it for a while? Is
> $750 usd out of line for an old amp like this?
> It has a bit of hum at idle but you don't notice it with the volume up
> past two and a half, which is surprisingly loud. That pot accessible
> from the tube side of the chassis is some kind of hum balance for the
> bias circuit? If you turn the Reverb all the way up the hum gets a bit
> louder. The vibro ticks a little bit when you stop playing for a few
> seconds and sweeping the Intensity knob changes the tone and output
> level noticeably.
> p.s. Was it common with this era Fenders to have a coiled light gauge
> wire wrap as some kind of rf shielding on some of the bundles? It's
> tied to the brass ground thing that's common to all the pots.
> Thanks again.
Sounds like it only needs a complete recapping in order to function for
another 30 years. Caps might 'not' be the source of the hum, but it's a
good bet.
jak