Peluso 22-251 - Another Episode of "Cheap Tubes of Mystery"

And, stretch......

Jamie's recording session slowly soothed into karmic relaxation with the gentle sounds of far off crashing waves. Too bad she wasn't recording a yoga retreat compilation. No, that mind numbing white noise was the no name 12AY7 hiding in her mic. I've never heard of "Chinese Leaf Hologram Sticker" brand tubes, and I probably won't be recommending them any time in the future. A nice new EHX  6072a made a world of difference.......

and, exhale........

Peavey Butcher - A tale of beer and high voltage

Rich from Hideous Creep decided it was time to introduce his vintage Peavey Butcher to the fine art of beer drinking. It went about as well as my first beer. The power tube board was pretty crispy. But these old Peaveys were built tough. After some new sockets and a good scrub we were back in business. In my clumsy excitement I manage to spike one of Rich's old tubes like a football. Fortunately, I had been saving a matched set of NOS Sovtek wafer base 6L6s for a rainy day.  

Crate GFX50 - Finishing up where Crate left off.

Crate-Amp-Amplifier-Solid State-Solder

The mighty Crate GFX50 Student Model!! Twin inputs! Twin headphone jacks! Stereo CD input that plays in mono through its one 12 inch speaker?! Or at least it would have if Crate had finished soldering the pins on the power amp transistor. Depending on which way you shake the amp you get either stunning silence or a jet engine roar. You can't teach your students the solo from "Crazy Train" note for note if your amp was left halfway built at the factory.

Kustom Defender V50 - Smoke!

Kustom-Amp-Amplifer-Tube-Repair

At one point Musicians Friend was practically giving these away. Knowing that it wasn't worth much, and that it was a step away from being on fire, I would normally suggest that it was time to go amp shopping. But this guy loved his amp and love conquers all, right? As it turns out, the majority of the components inside are repurposed from Kustom's more expensive 'Coupe series. So, worth saving after all! Rebuilt the crispy high voltage supply, replaced the burnt, cheap (also wrong!) stock tubes, and life was restored.

Fender Hotrod Deluxe - Retube and bias

Fender Hotrod Deluxe

Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I once had a previous employer tell me "all you know how to do is change tubes." I wasn't bothered so much by the fact that he was wrong (my lasagna making skills are unstoppable.) It was more that he somehow thought of the most common and requested bit of maintenance work as unworthy. It would be like telling the mechanic at Speedy Lube "all you know how to do is change oil" without realizing that there were multiple nation wide franchises doing millions of dollars in business all for providing a basic and much needed service. Anyway, all I did to this Fender Hotrod Deluxe was change its tubes.

Marshall DSL401 - Bridge Rectifier Disaster

Marshall DSL401

Marshall DSL401

At some point in its history, someone replaced the notoriously lacking bridge rectifier with an EVEN SMALLER ONE! The resulting heat was enough to melt the hot glue supporting nearby caps which ran across the board and out the tube socket. Glued the tube to the socket and the socket to the board. Also toasted the nearby channel switching relay. Wave soldering is why we can't have nice things around here!

Carvin X100 Series III 212 combo. Low voltage supply rebuild.

1983 Carvin Series III

1983 Carvin Series III

1983 Carvin 212 combo. Needed the low voltage supply rebuilt. A common issue with these amps as they age. Everything else was in amazing condition, right down to the hard to find original foot switch. Someone truly loved this thing. A sturdy, American made, 100 watt tube amp for a fraction of what you would pay for a new Fender or Vox import.