The Amp Garage

Lyle C (Psionic Audio) is in Memphis. A combo amp is a really tough environment. I recall TAG member Stevem suggesting a couple of things: Usung silicone to stabilize the wires connecting the transducers to the jacks, and making sure that the coil forms are fixed to the transducer cores using a dro...

As I was reading through I came across the reverb post currently on this page and it got me thinking - has anyone come up with a way of ruggedizing modern spring reverbs? I wind up getting a lot of amps used by some of the road warrior players who are putting 100k miles and 200 shows a year on their...

I used to deal with this regularly in the late '60s when I was restoring old console radios. The last one I did was in 2009 when I converted a RockOla amp to a guitar amp. Had to use a 5K/30W resistor. It's the big brown wire wound resistor on the left side of the chassis... That's very cool. How d...

I would be tempted to try an inductor (choke) that had similar spec’s to the field coil. That almost seemed like the more "proper" course just because the coil isn't a direct resistive load. As my un-schooled mind works, it seems like it would be similar to the role of a choke vs. a resistor - whil...

sluckey wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:07 pm Replace it with a resistor of equal resistance value and power rating sufficient to handle the heat dissipation.

Thanks - I've seen that mentioned before, but it seemed WAY too simple and straight forward. lol

This isn't a specific issue that's currently on the bench, but more a general question to try and get a best-case reference or method since there seems to be a lot of varying information I've come across. What is the best way to eliminate a field coil speaker from an antique amp? From time to time I...

So I just wanted to bring this to a tidy conclusion in case anyone comes across this in the future and finds use in the info... This amp is done and happily back to its very neurotic owner and he is happy. It seemed that age took its toll on a lot of components. The heater balance was worked out by ...

I have a consistent 2.9 and 3.4 on the two leads direct from the transformer @117vac and pretty much all through the entire set of tubes. Not perfect, but definitely not as imbalanced as I've seen some. There's no actual CT on the PT, so all that unbalance is coming from the hum balance nw, and dep...

The incandescent bulb across the heater string is dimming intermittently? If you have monitored the PT voltage and it's steady, then I'd suspect a problem with the lamp socket or solder connections, or perhaps a component in the hum balance network. That seems to be where I'm leaning. I was actuall...

I have a consistent 2.9 and 3.4 on the two leads direct from the transformer @117vac and pretty much all through the entire set of tubes. Not perfect, but definitely not as imbalanced as I've seen some.

A buddy asked me to look at his 1980 Bassman 135 because of some power dropping issues. Yay me - this was the double-punch of a problem that wasn't readily reproduced and the owner is slightly neurotic. But, that's the fun of this stuff, right? After going through the amp, it was pretty apparent it ...

For those asking, here's a picture of the bulb in question. There are no destinations on it - at least that have survived almost 50 years, but the base is stamped "westinghouse".

A good start would be to measure the voltage across the lamp socket. Look at the circuit and see if you can determine what it's connected to. Post a hi rez pic of the lamp. This ebay item shows a partial schematic and has the lamp connected to 120VAC. So just find a 120vac bulb with the same base.....

I tried to search and see if there was anything previous both here and on The Google, but I've had no luck, so I figured I'd pose a quick question or two: A buddy of mine has a Gretsch 7154 Nashville amp he picked up. It's definitely cool and huge but trying to get some information on it is proving ...

A java kit was the very first amp I ever built. I still have mine. It has been slightly modified and works fine as far as I am concerned. I am able to dime all the controls and the amp does not oscillate. Which is one of the typical "bench tests" for this amplifier. Sure this may not be the best la...