I inherited this amp. Suggestions?

[LeftyStrat]

I inherited this from my father-in-law. Marshall JCM800 1982 anniversary series. I need to make sure when I fire this amp up, I am not destroying it or it's value. I can do the light bulb limiter thing, but if I do a cap job, will that diminish its value? Would sticking Solens in it hurt i's value?

[sluckey]

That's a lotta knobs! You gonna play it or sell it?

[martin manning]

Hi Tommy! If the caps are original, and somebody wants to play it rather than just look at it, then it needs new electrolytics. But, you could try bringing it up very slowly to reform the caps: Put a 100k 2W resistor between the rectifier and the reservoir (first filter), which will limit the current to a few mA. Clip a DC voltmeter across the resistor and apply power, with all tubes removed, standby on play. You can monitor the voltage drop across the resistor to see how much leakage current is flowing, and how it diminishes over time. You might have to wait for several hours before the reading stabilizes.

[xtian]

Matching fawn! So. Bitchin'.

[Colossal]

That is a sweet amp!

[The Ballzz]

Certainly one of the cooler of the cool!
Just Sayin'
Gene

[LeftyStrat]

That's a lotta knobs! You gonna play it or sell it?

I'm going to tinker with it, and probably hold on to it (but let my kids know its value).

[LeftyStrat]

Hi Tommy! If the caps are original, and somebody wants to play it rather than just look at it, then it needs new electrolytics. But, you could try bringing it up very slowly to reform the caps: Put a 100k 2W resistor between the rectifier and the reservoir (first filter), which will limit the current to a few mA. Clip a DC voltmeter across the resistor and apply power, with all tubes removed, standby on play. You can monitor the voltage drop across the resistor to see how much leakage current is flowing, and how it diminishes over time. You might have to wait for several hours before the reading stabilizes.

Thanks Martin!

[thetragichero]

oooh purty

[Scumback Speakers]

I inherited this from my father-in-law. Marshall JCM800 1982 anniversary series. I need to make sure when I fire this amp up, I am not destroying it or it's value. I can do the light bulb limiter thing, but if I do a cap job, will that diminish its value? Would sticking Solens in it hurt i's value?

That's the exact model amp with two 4x12's stolen from my house in 1993. It probably needs a cap job by now, maybe some other stuff. You don't toss a car because it needs new brakes and tires, and a tune up. Just fix it up the way it was from the factory, then decide on what to mod. God knows I'm guilty of all that myself, but only after I checked to make sure the stock setup didn't work for me.