Do amps ever need a good re-furbishing?

[PigWings]

I have an early 90s Mark IV long head and wile it sounds great I wonder if there would be any reason to take it to a tech to get it a little cleaned up and checked out mechanically. Do any of the parts wear over time or should I not bother since everything seems to work and sound fine?

 

[Boogiebabies]

If it aint broke, dont fix it. The term amp tech is a misnomer as well. Some are and some pretend to be.

 

[Allen]

Hi Pigwings-
Filter caps and any other HV electrolytic caps and, to a lesser degree, rectifier diodes all need to be watched on older amps. Check to see if the caps look "puffy" on the ends. You also can get faster acting diodes to minimize ripple on the power supply.

I changed all of this on my IIC+ simul combo and was surprised with how much better it sounded. Quieter, smoother, tighter sound. Don't try it yourself if you are a novice with a soldering iron, but it's a pretty simple job for an experienced tech.

Someone else here may know of other specific things on your amp, but those are the main concerns with most any amp that is 10 or more years old.

 

[Dirt123]

When I got my Mark II, it had been "neglected", to be polite. Tolex was trashed, weird conglomeration of cheap tubes in it, dirty & a bit rusty in spots. Even the metal corners were dented & rusty. I did this:

1. Took it apart.
2. Blew out the dirt.
3. Cleaned to pots (& tried to clean the relay)
4. Recovered the cab (I kept the tolex on the back panel, it was just dirty. Kept the grill too, it has a small tear, but what the heck).
5. Put new corners on it (Ernie Balls were an exact replacement)
6. Re-tubed it (I put in Mesa tubes, seemed like a good place to start)

Mike B at Boogie told me not to worry about the rust on the transformers, so I don't.

Not a lot of work, except the tolex part. Next time, I'm paying somebody to do that.

Dirt

 

[wolfgang6505]

Aaa.. No reason to not at least clean it up alittle. Buy your self a 5oz. can of Deoxit and unplug the preamp tubes (one by one) and spray a very small shot up in there(the sockets). Just do the pre-amp tubes sockets not the powers. Give all the pots alittle shot aswell, spin them back an fourth a couple times maybe even give em another little shot if they're real bad and then let the cleaner dry for about 20 mins. Put the chasis back in the the cab that you've dusted off and I'll bet it works nice and quiet. I wouldn't take it to an amp tech unless something isn't working right. Just for a good cleaning, you can do that yourself. Don't be afraid, your not going to hurt anything!

 

[stokes]

After ten years the filter caps should be changed.Dont look for signs of swelling or any indication that they are about to go.Quite often they just blow without warning,and when they do it gets real ugly in there,I've seen it happen too often.The price of new caps is small compared to what can happen if they blow,and it is fairly easy to do.If you want you can email me and I can explain how to do it.Or just do a search over at Ampage.

 

[LHanson]

After ten years the filter caps should be changed.Dont look for signs of swelling or any indication that they are about to go.Quite often they just blow without warning,and when they do it gets real ugly in there,I've seen it happen too often.The price of new caps is small compared to what can happen if they blow,and it is fairly easy to do.If you want you can email me and I can explain how to do it.Or just do a search over at Ampage.

I recapped my Fender Bandmaster recently, and it was so quiet afterward, I thought I had messed something up until I discovered the guitar volume was down. Not only is the amp quieter, but sounds better, due to lack of 60 cycle mixed in with the guitar, which gives you a weird ring modulator noise.

 

[fdesalvo]

www.ampage.org rocks. I've learned so much about vacuum tube circuits and design from those guys over the years. It's well worth your time to check it out.