Anyone in the southeast/east coast have experience servicing Lab Series amps?

[vipor3D]

I have a vintage Lab Series L5 that needs to be serviced, and it's my understanding that they're not the easiest amp to service and requires a fair degree of expertise to do so. My local amp tech was a wizard and I would've trusted him to work on it, but he recently passed away so that's no longer an option unfortunately.

The amp isn't dead, it does work. However, the last time I powered it on a few weeks ago, a loud fizz sound came through the speakers even though the master volume was on zero. The fizz lasted a few seconds then faded away. Once that stopped, everything on the amp worked as it should except that the total volume output was significantly less than I know it to be. Just due to the age I'm guessing at minimum it'll need a cap job, if not more.

I'm more than willing to ship the chassis to a tech that is able to work on/service the amp, but when searching online I see many techs won't even work on any solid state amps. Just wondering if anyone here is able to service these types of amps, or if anyone here can recommend someone (preferably southeast US/east coast) that could service these types of amps? Thanks in advance

[Reeltarded]

Cap job is generally easy and that sounds like your problem. There has to be a person who has a web page about how he fixed his Lab with a cap job, no?

[vipor3D]

Cap job is generally easy and that sounds like your problem. There has to be a person who has a web page about how he fixed his Lab with a cap job, no?

There are definitely forum posts and such online that I've come across related to repairing Lab Series amps, but I think that would be beyond my skill level. I've built a few pedals, but haven't made it to amps yet. And that's just partially due to having very limited workspace in my small apartment. Plus, I've always read that lab series amps are pretty complex as far as amps go. I just wouldn't be comfortable taking my first crack at working on an amp with this one.

[Reeltarded]

The caps are probably easy to get to, and there aren't more than ten BIG solder connections. This is not tiny underboard work on amps of that era. I could be wrong. Do you have a gut shot of your amp?

EL caps are seriously easy and we can talk you step by step. You only need a table top, a general purpose soldering iron, and the 4-6 caps.

Shipping would cost a shipload! With the things laying on the table, 25 minutes later amp is closed up and you are playing it at volume without hum.

I swear.

[imjonwain]

Where in the SE exactly are you?

[Reeltarded]

I'm in Savannah. If he is close he can come here with parts and I will watch him and yell like a drill sgt the whole time.

[vipor3D]

The caps are probably easy to get to, and there aren't more than ten BIG solder connections. This is not tiny underboard work on amps of that era. I could be wrong. Do you have a gut shot of your amp?

EL caps are seriously easy and we can talk you step by step. You only need a table top, a general purpose soldering iron, and the 4-6 caps.

Shipping would cost a shipload! With the things laying on the table, 25 minutes later amp is closed up and you are playing it at volume without hum.

I swear.

I'm willing to give it a try, but it will probably be next week before I can crack it open. I'm out of town this weekend. I won't have a gutshot of my actual amp until I remove the chassis, but there are some online I can provide links to for reference.

I have a desk and the soldering iron, so I'd just need the caps. I guess I'd need to check the schematic to determine which caps are needed. I could order them now so they'd be here by next week

[vipor3D]

Where in the SE exactly are you?

I'm in upstate South Carolina in the Greenville area

[vipor3D]

I'm in Savannah. If he is close he can come here with parts and I will watch him and yell like a drill sgt the whole time.

I'm about 4 hours away in the Greenville SC area. Someone yelling at me like a drill sergeant might be just what I need to get over my fear of working on amps lol

[Reeltarded]

I'm in Savannah. If he is close he can come here with parts and I will watch him and yell like a drill sgt the whole time.

I'm about 4 hours away in the Greenville SC area. Someone yelling at me like a drill sergeant might be just what I need to get over my fear of working on amps lol

Just order the parts and we will walk you safely through it. A drop of confidence takes you anywhere you can imagine.

[pompeiisneaks]

I'm in Savannah. If he is close he can come here with parts and I will watch him and yell like a drill sgt the whole time.

hey I was stationed at Ft Stewart and did basic at Ft Benning! were you one of my drills? Went up to Savannah quite a few times.



~Phil

[dorrisant]

I lived and traveled all around Savannah too... Catching gaters and snakes gets you prepped up for jobs like this! Trust Reel. We can help.

[Reeltarded]

No, they wouldn't accept me. Bad aptitude or attitude or something like that.

I have driven through the range on Stewart after 3am and had red streaks suck the air out of my car and a tank tried to run me over once.

Watch for cross traffic. It's the thing casting daylight from the treeline. haha

[pompeiisneaks]

No, they wouldn't accept me. Bad aptitude or attitude or something like that.

I have driven through the range on Stewart after 3am and had red streaks suck the air out of my car and a tank tried to run me over once.

Watch for cross traffic. It's the thing casting daylight from the treeline. haha

HAHAHAH

I definitely thought Savannah is an outstanding city. I wouldn't want to be in the middle of a live fire exercise, but I guess technically i was, but it was against people trying to hit me

~Phil

[Reeltarded]

You want me to rough 'em up? I have a mouth that won't stop until everyone is crying.