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A Good one for you all
- Thread starter iriegnome
- Start date
jeffmaxwell
Commercial User
Did the repair guy charge you for the tube? If so why didn't you mention it to him when you picked up the amp? Didn't he give you an itemized invoice? A side note-SWR power amp sections can be quirky to get right sometimes. You have to heat them up and then set the idle current if you want it to be stable. Also a good idea to change all the output devices if any of them fail. Fender provides sets of output transistors for those amps at reasonable prices. Good luck with the amp.
B-string - I know, Thanks.
jeff - No itemized bill, blanket charge for the repair.
My new question is to the ability of a repair guy. His speciality and passion for repair is for tube amps and not SS or Hybrid amps. Now I still took it to him thinking he would still be able to repair the amp, but it seems that his lack of knowledge/understanding/background might not make him the best choice to repair my amp?? Maybe? I don't know.
jeff - No itemized bill, blanket charge for the repair.
My new question is to the ability of a repair guy. His speciality and passion for repair is for tube amps and not SS or Hybrid amps. Now I still took it to him thinking he would still be able to repair the amp, but it seems that his lack of knowledge/understanding/background might not make him the best choice to repair my amp?? Maybe? I don't know.
Agreed. I prefer an EH 12AX7 in my Basic 350. It sounds better than the Groove Tube that came in it, and even beat a NOS Sovtek.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,350
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Yeah. There's some seriously different technology in modern hybrid and SS stuff in comparison to classic tube amps. I also like an itemized receipt, not just because I like to check against what I think (as a non-tech) was done, but also because I like to track what changes, mods and other things have been done to my amps...
I not only itemize but provide a CD with before, during and finished repair pics. 
No question at all what was done.
No question at all what was done.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,350
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I not only itemize but provide a CD with before, during and finished repair pics.
My guy is happy to invite you in while he's got your amp open and show you what he's going to do or what he's done. Also, if you walk in while he's working on other projects, he's happy to show you what he's doing and discuss.
Sounds like a stand up guy. I'm just overly anal about documentation I guess. That is the reason I deleted over 20 gigs of amp repair photos not long ago spanning several years past
.
Geez....this thread...
Yup, couple things to fault the tech for....itemized details of work done, and possibly lack of thorough testing afterward. The whole tube controversy would be part of that itemized list. It's a modern-day cheapass token preamp tube. They're all cheap, including this one. Nothing special about it at all.
But.....I think the OP is just pulling our leg. This stuff is too nuts to all be true.
Take up literally hours of this guys time on the phone going on and on about some $12 tube when you've got a whole amp that doesn't work?....really??
Take the amp home after the first repair and don't even play it for a month, then take it straight to a gig?....really??
Plenty of old tube techs woukd rather not mess with transistor amps if they don't have to, but this doesn't become apparent after hours of conversation?....really??
Admittedly be more upset over this one little pre tube being different than the fact that the whole amp doesn't work?....really???
Plenty of techs have ended up with some pretty nice collections of vintage tubes by replacing them with new ones when they don't really need it, but face it, nobody is going to even bother with that just to end up with some $12 new production JJ, or any other brand for that matter. Guy probably has a drawer full of them and just swapped one to see if it made a difference in whatever he was testing. Maybe he just forgot about it, got sidetracked, or figured it didn't really make a difference as far as function of the amp. (It doesn't, miniscule tonal differences aside). When asked, he pulled it out of a drawer and said, "here you go". That's because it's no more valuble than any other cheap one and probably doesn't make any difference as long as it works. I've had some amps where pre tube rolling made some fairly noticable differences in tone....my SM400 was not one of them.
It's just some cheap pre tube that he got back. It's not like it's a vintage Mullard or something. If I was all hell-fired concerned about it, I'd make sure the GE was in there that the amp came with.
The obsession over this little tube is just bizzare. It's so irrational, I'm beginning to doubt if it's even true.
If it all is true, the way the OP comes across in this particular situation, he'd be one of those customers who's stuff nobody would want to work on. You couldn't bill enough to compensate for all these mountain-making out of mole-hill type of irrational obsessions, IMO.
Yup, couple things to fault the tech for....itemized details of work done, and possibly lack of thorough testing afterward. The whole tube controversy would be part of that itemized list. It's a modern-day cheapass token preamp tube. They're all cheap, including this one. Nothing special about it at all.
But.....I think the OP is just pulling our leg. This stuff is too nuts to all be true.
Take up literally hours of this guys time on the phone going on and on about some $12 tube when you've got a whole amp that doesn't work?....really??
Take the amp home after the first repair and don't even play it for a month, then take it straight to a gig?....really??
Plenty of old tube techs woukd rather not mess with transistor amps if they don't have to, but this doesn't become apparent after hours of conversation?....really??
Admittedly be more upset over this one little pre tube being different than the fact that the whole amp doesn't work?....really???
Plenty of techs have ended up with some pretty nice collections of vintage tubes by replacing them with new ones when they don't really need it, but face it, nobody is going to even bother with that just to end up with some $12 new production JJ, or any other brand for that matter. Guy probably has a drawer full of them and just swapped one to see if it made a difference in whatever he was testing. Maybe he just forgot about it, got sidetracked, or figured it didn't really make a difference as far as function of the amp. (It doesn't, miniscule tonal differences aside). When asked, he pulled it out of a drawer and said, "here you go". That's because it's no more valuble than any other cheap one and probably doesn't make any difference as long as it works. I've had some amps where pre tube rolling made some fairly noticable differences in tone....my SM400 was not one of them.
It's just some cheap pre tube that he got back. It's not like it's a vintage Mullard or something. If I was all hell-fired concerned about it, I'd make sure the GE was in there that the amp came with.
The obsession over this little tube is just bizzare. It's so irrational, I'm beginning to doubt if it's even true.
If it all is true, the way the OP comes across in this particular situation, he'd be one of those customers who's stuff nobody would want to work on. You couldn't bill enough to compensate for all these mountain-making out of mole-hill type of irrational obsessions, IMO.
I think it's crazy too.
Earlier in the thread the OP said that that the amp is pretty much going to need everything replaced. If that is the case then I'd consider this amp a total loss. The tube BS is moot at this point.
Probably just trolling!
Earlier in the thread the OP said that that the amp is pretty much going to need everything replaced. If that is the case then I'd consider this amp a total loss. The tube BS is moot at this point.
Probably just trolling!
Fat Steve
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it.
Two points to make to the OP:
1. To wait until gig time to try out an amp after repair is just foolish. Period. However...
2. With 4 kids and a sick wife, you say that you were too busy to test the amp, that you are very busy. I get that and can sympathize. However, you don't seem too busy to come here and make post after post justifying yourself to a bunch of internet strangers. In fact, the last thing I would be doing is justifying myself to a bunch of internet strangers with so much real life serious stuff to take care of.
I think we're being trolled, which in this case is kind of sick.
1. To wait until gig time to try out an amp after repair is just foolish. Period. However...
2. With 4 kids and a sick wife, you say that you were too busy to test the amp, that you are very busy. I get that and can sympathize. However, you don't seem too busy to come here and make post after post justifying yourself to a bunch of internet strangers. In fact, the last thing I would be doing is justifying myself to a bunch of internet strangers with so much real life serious stuff to take care of.
I think we're being trolled, which in this case is kind of sick.
Don't spend a fortune repairing it. I'd sell you my first year 750x for half the new price.
I never got really into tube lingo. I can say every amp I've ever had with tubes i ended up selling because when the tube(s) were replaced they never sounded exactly the same to me. I use my 750x as a power amp for a sans amp RBI partially for that reason. No more tubes in the signal chain. Wether my sound is as good without tubes is up to debate but the nice thing about not dealing with tubes is everytime i turn my rig on it sounds the same.
I never got really into tube lingo. I can say every amp I've ever had with tubes i ended up selling because when the tube(s) were replaced they never sounded exactly the same to me. I use my 750x as a power amp for a sans amp RBI partially for that reason. No more tubes in the signal chain. Wether my sound is as good without tubes is up to debate but the nice thing about not dealing with tubes is everytime i turn my rig on it sounds the same.
