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Vintage amplifiers are a pain in the ass!


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I have been messing with this Fender Super Reverb that was converted to head and modded too the hilt....

 

When its working properly, it is the greatest sounding amp I have ever had. I think its a heat related issue because it doesn't cut out until I push it pretty hard. It cuts volume by 1/2, just out of the blue....

 

I thought it was the ground switch...had it replaced

thought it was the standby and power switch...had them replaced

the filter caps were leaking...had them replaced

had it converted to a modern grounded cord

I tried different tubes

I tried a solid state rectifier

I sprayed out all the pots

 

 

TODAY...I went through and tightened all the prongs on the tube sockets AND cleaned them.....STILL CUTTING OUT

 

I'm so F****** frustrated with this amp!!!! I wanted to be able to bring it to PSP....but its not looking good right now....I will prob just not bring an amp, to make room for someone else's rig.

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What?? no BrentrocksRIg? That's unthinkable.

 

Once I changed the tubes in my National, it's back to humming along. Noisy 6V6 was the problem. But the Patriot cost me about $170 to fix. A wire on the feedback circuit was loose, cutting in and out, and finally lost the connection. The power tubes and two EH 12AX7s were weak, so we replaced those. I went with Ruby's for now. Its back to running good.

 

But just because its PtP, doesn't mean it can't have a problem somewhere. On the other hand, my Classic 30 was up to its voice coil in water about 6 years ago and its still chugging along fine.

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I have been messing with this Fender Super Reverb that was converted to head and modded too the hilt....

 

When its working properly, it is the greatest sounding amp I have ever had. I think its a heat related issue because it doesn't cut out until I push it pretty hard. It cuts volume by 1/2, just out of the blue....

 

I thought it was the ground switch...had it replaced

thought it was the standby and power switch...had them replaced

the filter caps were leaking...had them replaced

had it converted to a modern grounded cord

I tried different tubes

I tried a solid state rectifier

I sprayed out all the pots

 

 

TODAY...I went through and tightened all the prongs on the tube sockets AND cleaned them.....STILL CUTTING OUT

 

I'm so F****** frustrated with this amp!!!! I wanted to be able to bring it to PSP....but its not looking good right now....I will prob just not bring an amp, to make room for someone else's rig.

 

 

You've spent a lot of time on it. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a different tech take a look at it.

 

^ ^ ^ ^

This

 

 

 

 

Replacing parts on speculation is never a good idea. You need a tech who can troubleshoot. It sounds like a cold solder joint to me.

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I had the same problem with my '67 Deluxe Reverb. It was the grounding to the chassis. One of those big dime-size looking solder spots on the inside bottom of chassis was coming loose.

 

I agree it is a grounding issue and make sure those big silver dime-sized ground wires are secure. I also agree you should have a good tech do it.

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You've spent a lot of time on it. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a different tech take a look at it.

 

This. A second pair of eyes might catch something.

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Start looking at the resistors in the power section, particularly the screen resistors. If one had overheated and cracked it might work until it got hot and viola, instant volume reduction. They take a beating or cooking if you will, and if they are originals, get rid of them and get some NOS measured and matched replacements. I have a SR redone and blueprinted, it's a great circuit. Got my stuff from vintagefenderamprepair.com, they specialize in all vintage amps Fender and Mike is a good guy...

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I would look at the solder connections on one of the power tube sockets

 

+1... Classic Cold Solder joint symptom.

 

Cheers!

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