Hi guys, I play or did play my 360 Ric through a 70's silver face fender twin but the amp made a very bad noise and now all it does is buzz, no sound. I've sent it to an amp shop I know to find out whats wrong with it.
What would be wrong with it that would make it cheaper to buy a new amplifier? It might be a minor thing but I really doubt it! What would really make the amp dead?
please help!
Rickenbacker 360 through a 70's fender twin
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simondohertyuk
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Rickenbacker 360 through a 70's fender twin
pig sick left handed player
Simon: While this is for the amp gurus, I have developed the opinion over the years that the majority of problems with tube amps are related to the tubes themselves. While "very bad noise" may not be diagnostic to a trained technician, I have had a similar experience and the fix was a simple tube replacement. I hope the same is in your future.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm
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Yeah Simon, there are 4 power tubes in your amp, 6L6's and you need to change them every so often depending on how often you play, what kind they are, etc. A good visual check is this: If you see that one is glowing a lot brighter than the other three shut it off immediately and bring it to a repair shop. It will usually hum louder than normal when it does this also. Peter is right, 99% of the problems with tube amps are caused by tubes that should have been changed long ago.
Hi Simon,
The good news about older point to point wired amps like your SF Twin Reverb is that they are pretty easy to work on, and many repairs don't cost much more than the hourly labor rate. If it's not tube related, my guess is that your going to be told that it needs a "cap job". This is very common in tube amps once they get beyond 25 years old. The electrolytic capacitors are what filter the main power, or smooth out the pulses of the AC current. They eventually tend to dry out and either start making a lot of noise, or they burst and the amp quits. I'm not guaranteeing that this is what happened because there are a lot of parts inside the amp, but it's very probable.
The good news is that most parts inside are relatively cheap (except the transformers) and that's why it usually doesn't cost much more than the techs diagnostic time/rate. A cap job and tune up should take him 1-2 hours and will probably run $125-200 (with about $50-60 being the cost of the capacitors) depending on what he finds wrong, also assuming it isn't a major component. You can't buy any amp that will touch that Twin Reverb for that kind of money.
The good news about older point to point wired amps like your SF Twin Reverb is that they are pretty easy to work on, and many repairs don't cost much more than the hourly labor rate. If it's not tube related, my guess is that your going to be told that it needs a "cap job". This is very common in tube amps once they get beyond 25 years old. The electrolytic capacitors are what filter the main power, or smooth out the pulses of the AC current. They eventually tend to dry out and either start making a lot of noise, or they burst and the amp quits. I'm not guaranteeing that this is what happened because there are a lot of parts inside the amp, but it's very probable.
The good news is that most parts inside are relatively cheap (except the transformers) and that's why it usually doesn't cost much more than the techs diagnostic time/rate. A cap job and tune up should take him 1-2 hours and will probably run $125-200 (with about $50-60 being the cost of the capacitors) depending on what he finds wrong, also assuming it isn't a major component. You can't buy any amp that will touch that Twin Reverb for that kind of money.
Peter and Bob are right, tubes go out more, but you also need to change all your electrolytic capacitors if they are over 10 years old (and you are WAY, WAY, WAY overdue if they haven't been changed since the 70's), and the most expensive things to replace can be the transformers. If you have carbon plate resistors in the amp, they need to be changed also. Ditto for worn scratchy pots.
Before you soak a load of money into an old 70's Fender amp, you might want to consider there are lots of good used amps out there for well under $500. An old vintage tube amp with extended use is not reliable unless it has been thoroughly overhauled, and if you can't do it yourself, the labor will probably be cost prohibitive. If you want really decent output tubes in the Twin, that alone will set you back $70-$200+ depending on import or NOS tubes used. Then figure $10-$25 for each preamp tube.
Pull your Twin tubes and check them. If you find a bad one, then check the resistors and capacitors in that circuit. If there are no burned smells and the components check out, then try retubing. If no tubes test bad, then some other component has failed.
Tube amps mean regular maintenance. If you play tube amps a lot, buy something simple like a B&K 667 tube tester on eBay and check your tubes for leakage, shorts, gas, and emission at least twice a year. These cheap testers will not measure gain, but matched pairs are not necessary in my YCV40 or many other amps. Just set the bias correctly for each output tube. Some tubes like the Tung-Sol 5881 can last for several years in daily use.
Before you soak a load of money into an old 70's Fender amp, you might want to consider there are lots of good used amps out there for well under $500. An old vintage tube amp with extended use is not reliable unless it has been thoroughly overhauled, and if you can't do it yourself, the labor will probably be cost prohibitive. If you want really decent output tubes in the Twin, that alone will set you back $70-$200+ depending on import or NOS tubes used. Then figure $10-$25 for each preamp tube.
Pull your Twin tubes and check them. If you find a bad one, then check the resistors and capacitors in that circuit. If there are no burned smells and the components check out, then try retubing. If no tubes test bad, then some other component has failed.
Tube amps mean regular maintenance. If you play tube amps a lot, buy something simple like a B&K 667 tube tester on eBay and check your tubes for leakage, shorts, gas, and emission at least twice a year. These cheap testers will not measure gain, but matched pairs are not necessary in my YCV40 or many other amps. Just set the bias correctly for each output tube. Some tubes like the Tung-Sol 5881 can last for several years in daily use.