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Hello-Help with Fatboy amps

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  • Hello-Help with Fatboy amps

    Hello to all-I posted on here before it became such a great looking forum.I got some great advice but I'm here again to hopefully find a way to fix two of my favorite guitar amps.

    I own a Fatboy Chubby 2 channel 1x12 combo and a Fatboy F1 3 channel head. They were both built by Norb Funk before he sold the company. Pretty kick butt tone from a pcb design and never gave me any problems. I'm told Norb made a handful of both the heads and the amps in the 90's and then sold the company to a few gentlemen in Texas that eventually stopped building them. Both are 80 watt EL34.

    Recently a tech used a faulty speaker cable with the head and blew a fuse before realizing the problem. After replacing fuse the amp ran smoothly for another 1-2 months. At a rehearsal the amp blew a fuse again, and now will blow fuses whenever switching from standby to on. The amp powers up, channels switch, tubes light up, but the second you flip the standby it's shitsville.

    The combo has performed flawlessy for 10+ years and was my main amp and received pretty consistent use. At another rehearsal my bass player and I noticed that my guitar's volume amd character we're not cutting through like they usually do. I keep master volume around 2.5-4 which is pretty ear splitting. Upon applying more volume 5-6 we noticed no difference in volume, and also the eq did nothing. This was in the dirty channel, the clean channel has almost no volume at all.

    I figure a transformer is shot in the head, and I was told that the capacitors had gone south in the combo, but everyone I've taken them to really just pull the chassis and scratch their heads. I wish I was qualified to do this myself but I'm not. If I would have known this was gonna happen I would have played these amps everyday.

    My question to you guys is this-who out there is or knows someone who can fix these amps? The specialists that looked at them said they were both loaded with proprietary designs and exotic parts, but I know Norb got most of his supplies from local/national electronics surplus outlets. Is there anyone out there who knows these amps, or maybe even someone involved with the company Norb sold the designs to? I need these fixed because people deserve to hear them, I just don't know who to take them to. I appreciate everyone's time and consideration, and I'm not expecting too much. I hope I can get some help. Thanks ya'll.

  • #2
    I own a Fatboy F1 head, and a good friend of mine has one of my old F1 heads. I'd sure like to be able to contact Norb Funk or somebody who really knows these amps, even though mine works fine, I do have a few questions about them myself. Nobody I've talked to seems to know anything about them. Great sounding amps!!!

    If you want to contact me privately, you can email me at:
    corky *at* hutchtel *dot* net

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    • #3
      Fatboy Help

      I've been good friends with Norb for many years if you would like help with your Fatboy questions send them my way!! I own the first prototype F-1 head and a 1x12 Chubby. I just started to work with Norb to help the beta testing of Version 2!! So my Chubby is up for sale to make way for the new.
      The Chubby is on Craigslist(chicago) and Ebay if anyone is looking.

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      • #4
        Could be a shorted power tube. If you power the amp up with the power tubes removed, does the fuse hold?

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        • #5
          Yeah - it wouldn't hurt to run through R.G.Keen's most excellent Tube Amp Debug steps.

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          • #6
            Hello, I own a 2 channel chubby now and have owned a three channel Fatboy two twelve purple suede combo. I had the same problem with my three channel blowing the fuse when I took it off of standby and it turned out to be the output transformer. Norb Funk fixed it for me with a Mercury Magnetics Axiom output transformer. As for the Chubby problems that doesn't have much punch, I'd first check all the preamp tubes and proceed to the output tubes. Checking the obvious first. Thank you and peace out!!! Ken

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            • #7
              I would hope that the guy replaced the power tubes before assuming it was the output transformer.

              I've owned 5 F1 heads over the years, and currently own two. I can't find an amp that compares.

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              • #8
                If anyone has a Fatboy for sale, please email me. No ebay fees, quick and easy (as long as the amps works correctly and the price is fair of course). You can select my user name and send me an email through this post. Cheers!!-Kris

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                • #9
                  I need a footswitch for the 3 channel head. Anybody know a substitute?

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                  • #10
                    Fatboy Chubby 112 here

                    Hi there. I recently bought a Fatboy Chubby 112 from a guy who was closing down a recording studio in Dallas (imagine that!). Anyway, I have only really seen one issue with it, that was easily fixed. The amp was losing power, becoming muddy, sounding hissy with no input etc etc. Well, this Chubby was one of the prototypes, no serial number, and I don't know if this issue was ever addressed, but there were no top hats on the tubes, causing them to wiggle loose, and not be seated correctly after the amp was moves just a little bit. I bought some spring top hats, riveted them into the chassis, re-tubed the amp, and checked the bias (which was normal to begin with). After all of that, she flat out SINGS.

                    Man, I gotta tell you guys, this amp is simply got the best distortion I have ever heard, and the 'green' clean-ish channel is bad ass too. I own a Mark Sampson era 1994 Matchless HC30, which has been my main amp for years (since I bought it new in 1994), and ever since I got hold of Chub, I haven't turned HC 30 on once. If you have a Chubby, you know that the distortion, pick attack, and feedback sounds are just incredible. The feedback is so controllable that you can use feedback reliably in a musical way. Even the clean green channel has a nice depth, a 3-D quality that makes this amp very special. I always trip out when I am playing a gig and I look at the little Chubby--I keep thinking that there's no way that those sounds are coming from that amp. Brilliant!

                    Thanks


                    dcmf

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