Fender Deluxe Reverb II - repair?

[chickenPlucker]

I purchased a DRII about a year ago. It is my first tube amp. When I bought it the guy told me the jewel light was burned out, but it was no big deal to replace it.

One day recently I was playing and the amp made a loud static noise and the sound went out. As quickly as it went out, it came back on and, lo and behold, the jewel light lit up brightly and has worked ever since. As a matter of fact, it seems overly bright.

I took the chassis out and gave it a look-over, but didn't notice anything obvious. I did however wonder about small black spots on the orange drop caps, almost like burn marks, and a bit of crusty material on one. Like I said, I'm new to amps, having used acoustics up until recently. (That's why I call myself chickenPlucker - I'm not good enough to call myself a chickenPicker yet).

Also, the eyelet board is warped. Is this typical and will it affect the amp's functioning?

Here are some pics. What do y'all think.

[Tom Phillips]

Dear C Plucker,

My input:
Basically, I don't see anything to worry about.
1) Photo of “Gunk & deformity” on your orange drop cap. The “deformity” is just part of the structure of the cap that is under the orange stuff that Sprague coated the cap with. The “Gunk” looks like someone touched the body of the cap with a soldering iron. I don’t believe there is any damage there. The crusty material could be solder flux that spattered and dried. Very common.
2) “Board delaminated and warped”. You are seeing the two boards used in the construction. The top one holds the parts and the bottom one is an insulator to stop the part leads from touching the metal chassis. The warping is very common and seen in virtually 100% of the Fender amps constructed this way.

Regards,
Tom

[bob p]

wow, that wiring looks like a real rat's nest. when were those amps made? i ask because i noticed the somewhat odd combination of carbon comp resistors and orange drops.

[Amp Kat]

Looks like it was modded too as there are shielded cable runs on the signal wires. I'd at least have it checked out by a reputable tech. What maybe $20 to $40 at the most. At least you'll know what's going on.

[Tom Phillips]

Looks like it was modded too as there are shielded cable runs on the signal wires....

Kat,
That looks like stock Fender work to me with the possible exception of the white heat shrink tubing. Fender did use shielded signal wires starting in the early '70s.
Tom

[chickenPlucker]

It's one of the Rivera hand-wired channel-switching models made in the 70's. It was designed to compete with the Mesa Boogies - i.e. hot-rodded. I didn't realize that when I bid on it on ebay. The guy offered to cancel my bid, but I figured, what the heck, I'll try it. I really wanted one with tremolo, which the DRII doesn't have. So, I just bought a '65 Ampeg Reverberocket R12-RT ($325 on ebay). I really like it. The tremolo and reverb are sweet (to steal a phrase from my teenager's vernacular).

[Amp Kat]

So, I just bought a '65 Ampeg Reverberocket R12-RT ($325 on ebay). I really like it. The tremolo and reverb are sweet (to steal a phrase from my teenager's vernacular).

Ok Tom that's what I was referring to so I didn't know they did that or hadn't seen it yet However Plucker I do have one of those reverberockets that just came in the other day and it looks sweet so can't wait to hear it. The reissue one is a pretty damn nice amp too. It has a key lock so you can keep unwanted players off your amp,it has an attenuator,and lots of gain. Nice Amps.