Name: Justin
Email: justnd@localnet.com
Subject: Concerning transformers
Thread: 59
Time: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 09:37:23 UTC
If you want to find out if the power capacitor's have been changed, just take the chassis out and flip it upside down and remove the four screw's that hold on the metal cover that protects the power cap's. But beware that this is where the power is, you can zapp yourself real good if you touch the leads to caps. If they are still original, most likely they will be silver colored Mallory cap's. They may be different but most of the earlier amps use them. You can also tell if the solder joints look like they been touched. Even the cleanest tech's work will look different then the original, be it shinier, or have solder flux (brown looking stuff) around the joint. While you have them open, you should inspect them. If you see any small bubbles on the end of any of the capacitor's, even just a little one, its time to change them. They can still need replacing and not have a bubble, but if they do, you know its time. The same goes for the rest of the inside, looking around with some light, you should be able to spot any solder joints that have been re-heated. If you see a joint that looks different, it could have been heated. While you in there, do yourself a favor and dont mess with anything. The two blue pots are not user-adjustable. One goes to the Bias and the other goes to the Tremolo. Messing with them will only make things worse, unless you are setting up the power tube bias or changing the tremolo transistors. As long as you have the amp open you could clean all of the pots on the front panel. Using something like De-oxit, or similar contact cleaner will work. The same goes for the tube sockets. With age and use, carbon tracks will form in the tube sockets. Spray a little contact cleaner on each pin of each tube and put the tube in and take it out a few times to clean the conecters. Make sure that you wipe up any excess spray and that everything is dry before turning the amp back on. All old amps will benifit from standard cleaning and care. Even of you dont notice any change in the sound after doing this, you'll prevent things like strange noises and so on.
I hope any of this helps and if you have any more questions, I would be happy to try and anwser them.