Replacing transformer leads

[otter]

A previous owner of my 76 Twin appears to have gotten a little overzealous with the soldering iron on power tube pins and nearly melted through the jackets of the blue and brown OT leads. It's not completely through but it looks really bad. Is there a way to replace these leads at the transformer rather than just splicing a new lead on the end? In other words, can I open up the transformer and get at the taps to replace the leads?

[Randall]

That would be a very bad idea IMHO. Just do a nice soldered in line splice and put a couple of layers of heat shrink tubing on it and move on.

[greekie]

I've replaced leads on the output side of a Bassman OT some time ago, as the original leads were cut too short.

It's not hard, but it can be hard. Be sure to use the right kind of rated wire, and reseal the OT again, so you don't degrade it's quality.

[Phil_S]

So far, you have a split opinion. I've done it and it can be challenging. If you haven't done it before, maybe you don't want to start on a valuable item like yours. I think I'd go with the splice and heat shrink. This is a case of, "it's better to feel good than to look good." No one will know but you. Don't go looking for trouble on this particular amp.

[boogiesg]

I agree with Phil_S, but you can make it look good too if that is important to you. Get yourself a roll of white ETFE insulated wire and some some cloth wire jackets from hoffman's site. Look for Mil-w-22759 in the datasheet. It isn't cheap (about $0.30 per foot for 18ga multi-stranded) but it's worth it when you have to get a splice right the first time, besides a replacement transformer will cost you a whole lot more. UL wire insulation is only rated to 80C so it melts, shrinks, chars and just turns into an ugly mess when you try and splice an extension like this. ETFE Mil wire is typically 150C or better and the copper strands are already tinned for you.