Short Path To Learning Basic Amp Repair?

soundchaser59 · Oct 24, 2014

I mean without having to quit my day job, won't make me move to another city for school, and won't break the bank.

I have an Associates AAS background in Electronics, so the basics would come back to me easy enough......I just haven't used it because I got into programming instead, it paid better.

But now that I'm up to my ears in buying and selling tube amps and unrelenting amp and pedal GAS.....and partly because the only tube amp whiz kid here in my town dropped dead last year from a heart attack.....I find myself wishing that I could do basic amp repair and cap jobs and tranny upgrades, etc, for my own good and to help the other players here in this area. Besides, I figure it's probably a good skill to have on the side 10 or 15 years from now when I retire.

So what's the shortest route to reach the point where I could start telling other people here in town that I can fix their amps? Are there local users groups? Correspondence? Anybody ever attended the Bruce Egnater amp building class? Is there enough resource online to let me sort of teach myself?

Markedman · Nov 3, 2014

Dude, there is so much to learn and soooo much equipment to buy that if you just stick your toe in to see if the water is warm, you'll never swim. It takes a huge commitment to learn everything, not only to fix amps, but to deal with the people who will want their amp fixed for nothing. Sometimes we have no idea about something and it's best to take a long look at it. Work for someone first and see if you like fixing amps or playing guitar, two totally separate things really.

knotts · Nov 3, 2014

I would say work for someone. You're probably going to end up volunteering your time to learn on the weekends etc, but ultimately if you commit to it and put some effort into learning, it will pay you back at the end of the day.

I think it would be a great hobby. To fully commit you will have to become a hoarder and fill your basement or garage with amp parts and equipment from the 60's. I love going into hole in the wall repair places or some guys workshop in his house. Usually you'll find some socially awkward individuals that chain smoke and haven't seen day light in years. Most of them don't talk much and offer some vague explanation of what they found or did to your amp, but "it's working now".

That's been my experience and I love it. Those guys put a little magic in those amps when nobody is looking.

Don · Nov 4, 2014

I love building and working on amps as a hobby and for friends though I can't imagine doing it as a pro.

I've repaired and modified many amps, rebuilt a '67 Fender Super Reverb, a '62 Ampeg Jet, built Fender 5F1 Champ, 5E3 Deluxe and Princeton Reverb clones and recently finished repairing a Mesa DC-3 and a basket case Marshall DSL401, both bought cheap on CL.

I acquired this knowledge slowly over many years by reading books, talking to techs and doing much smaller electronics projects. From the beginning, I was the kind of geeky guy who amp techs knew they could talk through simpler jobs on the phone once they met me.

David Hunter's book, The Guitar Amp Handbook, made it all click for me. It's not overly technical, but is great used along with much more technical books (or the OP's educational background).
I recommend this book for all guitar players- just so you know what's going on inside your amp.

soundchaser59 · Nov 4, 2014

Thanks everybody!

Yeah, I am not going to make a living doing amp repair, but I have done some simple stuff on my own amps and I like the gratification I get when I turn it on and it's fixed and it still works correctly a year or two later.

I just want to be able to maintain and repair my own amps, plus help some other players here in town when they need a break from the $60 dollar an hour guy at the mall who may or may not make them return 3 or 4 more times to get it completely fixed. Believe me, I completely understand how much there is to know, how much I already know, and most importantly how much I don't know. I respect the machine, but I'm not afraid of it.

I figure a minimum $1000 dollar investment in basic tools of the trade (oscope, good meter, good soldering station, signal gen) plus all the hand tools I already have should be enough to get me poking around and trying a few things. I also like the idea of building a few from scratch just to help cement my understanding of how the different stages work and how they play together. I actually am tempted to re-learn a few things and then try a cap job on my '65 Champ.

RR · Nov 4, 2014

Did you post this question at the Weber Forum? I'm sure they can help you.

My buddy has an AA deg. in electronic -- went on to get his BS degree as Electrical Engineer -- but he said as far as tube amplification, its an old technology so you have to read up on it. He did building a tube guitar amp. Actually he used my Mark IIB schematics and a duet EL84 power section.

So you are ahead with your education background.

He said the AX84 forum is good and aikenamps has plenty of good reading on the tech info site.

Check out Kendrick Amplification Webinars.

Did my buddy pursue more tube amp projects? As of now, not yet, other than having a second child, he got into Home Recording. Quite impressive programming drums where they don't sound too sequential machines like Hip Hop Artist.

Good luck. :wink: