Hi, I need a part number for a Crate Vintage Club 50 amp...

[cowabungamusic]

Hi, my friend has a Crate Vintage Club 50 combo amp and the clean channel volume control is cutting out. I found the schematic online but I can't find a pictorial with the part numbers for it, so I was hoping someone here might be able to get me the part number for it. Thanks in advance for any help you can give and thanks for your time.

[Jazz P Bass]

Call Loud Technologies.

Tel: +1 866 858 LTEC (866 858 5832)

[Enzo]

The part number should be right on the control. It looks something like 70-503-01

[cowabungamusic]

The part number should be right on the control. It looks something like 70-503-01

I'm going to to have a look at it this evening and (hopefully) I can get the number from the back of the control. Thanks for that bit of info, Enzo.

[Jazz P Bass]

Might as well get the value while you are at it.
It appears to be a 1Meg, but the taper is not specified.

That sounds like a Crate part#.
You may still have to call Loud Tech.

http://www.blueguitar.org/new/schem/...ge_club_50.pdf

[Enzo]

70-105-22 is the part number. I have no idea what taper it is, but that part number will get you the exact part. Part list does not mention taper, just value.

It's just a volume control, the same taper 1meg part as any other volume control.

[cowabungamusic]

Thanks Enzo, that indeed is the part number, I took the back cover off and had a look around this evening. I sent an email off to our local repair center and he thinks he has that part in stock or if not, the equivalent that will work as he also works on a bunch of other brands of audio and music stuff, so I am going to run by in the morning and see what he has.

[Enzo]

Any 1 meg pot will work electrically, the trick is to get it to fit.

The pots they use in the crates tend to have shaft dimensions and mounting footprint unlike others, at least as far as I know. Every amp maker has his controls made to order anyway. So it really behooves one to use the real part instead of a sub so it fits in the hole on the panel and the holes on the circuit board, plus the shaft is such that it fits the knobs.


But have you cleaned the control and checked the solder on its terminals yet?

[cowabungamusic]

Yeah, I tried to clean it the other day. DeOxit helped for about 10-15 minutes then it went back to acting up. You touch or bump the control and it gets a TON louder, and sometimes it will pop.... I checked the solder joints on it as well, because Crate is well known for cold solder joints.

[Enzo]

"check" them or resolder them?

If you have cleaned it and resoldered it, and it still doesn;t work, then yes it sounds like time for a new one. So in the what is there to lose department, pull the control off the board - you are going to do that anyway, right? And carefully disassemble the control. The rear cover is held on by some little tabs bent over the front. Get under the tabs with a small screwdriver or a heavy Xacto blade or something, and bend them up so it comes apart. pay attention so it can go back together. Inspect the carbon strip. Is there dirt and debris? Cleaner is fine, but it won;t always push lint and stuff out of the control. Then inspect the wiper blades carefully, use a lens. Sometimes fibers of god knows what will catch in the tip of those things. I usually use the point of an Xacto blade to carefully push any such stuff off the wiper. Sometimes I need to reform the wiper blade. reform is a technical term that means bend it. Wipe down the resistance track with a Qtip or your finger, leaving a light coating of DeOxit or equivalent. Now put it back together and bend down the tabs to close it securely. Now stick it in and see if we saved it.

[cowabungamusic]

Actually I did just resolder it, takes longer for the iron to heat up than it does to resolder it. I went ahead and hit all the stress points at the pots and jacks just to be sure when I had it apart the first time. I'm not sure but what the carbon strip might be cracked, I didn't take the pot apart since I didn't take it out, but it has a lot of play in the shaft at one point, so I think the best bet may be to just replace it. The local service center guy called me this morning and he has the part, and it's not expensive, so I think I'm going to just go that route. Thanks again.