Diminished response

[stokes]

We did have some heated "discusions" about this,didnt we.Its hard to teach an old dog... Always just chalked it up to a couple of thick headed NY'ers.Good to know we are on the same page on something.

 

[Boogiebabies]

You can take a boy out of the Bronx, but you can't take the Bronx out of a boy !!!

Amen to that....

 

[Shep]

I have to say reading the value of all the cap's in my C+ where fine so read better than the new ones i was replacing them with , but when i replaced them the tone was improved to a point that's almost silly i didn't do it sooner.Amazing to think What they can do.

 

[stokes]

I have to say reading the value of all the cap's in my C+ where fine so read better than the new ones i was replacing them with , but when i replaced them the tone was improved to a point that's almost silly i didn't do it sooner.Amazing to think What they can do.

Thats what I've been saying for years.I'm no engineer,and really could care less from ESR,but I have never changed a set of old caps,even for people who swore they didnt need them,I even had one who got his amp back from Mesa and was told his caps were fine,and didnt have the owner amazed at the improvement.

 

[DrewV]

Sorry for taking so long! I thought I posted . The transformers look good. I did a cap job a little over two years ago ( all electrolytics). I think swapping out tubes is a good idea. Also, I hadn't thought about cleaning the pots. They have never been cleaned. Re: Old Caps. Yesterday a friend brought over a Fender Champ. A 1954 Tweed Fender Champ Combo with an 8" speaker. One 6v6, one 12ax7 and one 6W4. He's had the amp for >20 years and never looked inside...so we did! Totally original guts...maybe twenty caps and resistors. The amp fires right up and sounds fantastic, like a mini Bassman to my ear. Now, here's my question, How can caps that are 54 years old not only work, but sound fantastic?!! Boogiebabies, thanks for the great info! DrewV

 

[Boogiebabies]

I just did a cap job on a 1967 Fender Twin. 100% bone stock and cleaner than an ER inside. The caps were original and worked, but after a while
an acrid burning smell would appear from somewhere in the amp. Sure enough, the caps were getting so hot they were cooking. The appeared perfect and
tested fine, but in the end they were really smelly. The amp sounded fine, but it really came back to life after the cap job.

In your photo it's hard to see the writing on the caps and the 220uf caps on the power board are not shown so we just assumed
it was time.

As for tone chasing, I gave up a while back. Even with the same guitar, amp, cord, tubes, planet alignment and position in a room the tone
is never the same as the glorious grail tone you had days earlier. You can blame it on the outlet voltage, your head, ear fatigue and the tone trolls.
These days I just plug in a deal with it. I'm so used to the settings and tone from the IIC's that it's second nature to make a slight adjustment to get you close.

 

[stokes]

Sorry for taking so long! I thought I posted . The transformers look good. I did a cap job a little over two years ago ( all electrolytics). I think swapping out tubes is a good idea. Also, I hadn't thought about cleaning the pots. They have never been cleaned. Re: Old Caps. Yesterday a friend brought over a Fender Champ. A 1954 Tweed Fender Champ Combo with an 8" speaker. One 6v6, one 12ax7 and one 6W4. He's had the amp for >20 years and never looked inside...so we did! Totally original guts...maybe twenty caps and resistors. The amp fires right up and sounds fantastic, like a mini Bassman to my ear. Now, here's my question, How can caps that are 54 years old not only work, but sound fantastic?!! Boogiebabies, thanks for the great info! DrewV

Sure,the amp sounds fine,but if you change the caps,it will sound better,I can guarantee that.Like I've said before I get people all the time saying they dont need caps,the amp is fine.I always give the guarantee that if the fresh filters dont make a noticable improvement I will put the old ones back,no charge.I've never had to put them back.I rarely saw Boogie amp repairs before I found this board a couple of years ago,I must have done 100 Boogies in the last 2 years or so.90 of them cap jobs,and half of them for "doubters" who now see that caps do need to be changed from time to time just like tubes.Its really something you have to experience to see what kind of improvements it makes,after doing it to an otherwise good sounding amp you will realize that your bass was flabby and the overall response wasnt tight as it could be.Oh,and this,in my opinion is only true if you use top quality caps.I like Sprague and F&T only.I have done a bunch of cap jobs on fairly recent Fenders,and the Sprague and F&T's gave a big improvement over the fairly new Taiwanese crap the factory uses.

 

[DrewV]

I used Sprague 30uf/500's and F&T 220uf/300's in the power supply. The rest of the electrolytics are Nichicon I think. Just so I am clear on the subject of re-capping, both electrolytics and "orange drop" type caps should be replaced on amps of a certain age or older, say + or - ten years old or more?

 

[stokes]

The orange drop and other non-electrolytics usually dont require changing unless they become leaky or inductive,which is rare,they do not require routine maintenance changing.The 30uf and 220uf's are the ones that I insist on using the Sprague and F&T's,I find the lower voltage electro's are okay with the Nichicon or whatever.

 

[DrewV]

Thanks stokes, that's what I've always thought. I'll post once I've had a chance to clean the pots and do some tube swapping...dv

 

[DrewV]

OK, so I scored these four NOS Sovtec 5881 WXT's. They look to be manufactured around the mid 80's. I have a pair that I bought around 1986. The only difference I see is that the pair I bought have very short bases compared to the four NOS's. Trying random pairs, I did hear a slight improvement in power tube break up compared to the Mesa STR 454's that I have been using, but nothing to rave about. So I then bought a pair of Shuang 12ax7's. I bought both these tubes because the triodes were balanced (both 110/110 on a Hickock). I replaced the 12AX7EH in V5 and wal - la, MAGIC!!! I then replaced the SPAX7 in V1 with the 12AX7EH getting a little sweeter top end. Replacing V5 made the biggest difference overall. It is amazing how good this amp sounds now, very touch sensitive and yes, SPONGY! Thanks again dv