Pulled Coupling Caps

[The Dude]

We need to find things that might actually interest kids in electronics.

Someone needs to come up with a modern electronics kit and market it well.

One of the problems with that is that component level troubleshooting is becoming a thing of the past in most industry. It's down to board swapping. I look at it as sort of a supply and demand thing. I am now an employee, but a few years back I had my own shop. I remember trying to hire a tech to help with the work load. I could not find a good tech, even fresh out of tech school. Most of the "tech schools" these days teach very little component level electronics. Sure they go over the basics, but pass by it quickly to get on to teaching skills and knowledge that will actually help their students gain employment. Since that employment is not likely to include much if any component level troubleshooting (for the most part), they're on to PC diagnostics, med tech skills, etc.- jobs with a higher pay scale than what most of us do on this forum. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with teaching someone real world skills- just pointing out the state of things. I couldn't find any fresh grads who could even BEGIN to work without a schematic. In short: Since there isn't much demand for component level troubleshooting any more, there's not much interest in learning about it.

[trem]

Someone needs to come up with a modern electronics kit and market it well.

One of the problems with that is that component level troubleshooting is becoming a thing of the past in most industry. It's down to board swapping. I look at it as sort of a supply and demand thing. I am now an employee, but a few years back I had my own shop. I remember trying to hire a tech to help with the work load. I could not find a good tech, even fresh out of tech school. Most of the "tech schools" these days teach very little component level electronics. Sure they go over the basics, but pass by it quickly to get on to teaching skills and knowledge that will actually help their students gain employment. Since that employment is not likely to include much if any component level troubleshooting (for the most part), they're on to PC diagnostics, med tech skills, etc.- jobs with a higher pay scale than what most of us do on this forum. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with teaching someone real world skills- just pointing out the state of things. I couldn't find any fresh grads who could even BEGIN to work without a schematic. In short: Since there isn't much demand for component level troubleshooting any more, there's not much interest in learning about it.

My 24 year old Nephew is an IT Tech. He worked in San Jose CA for a few years. The company moved to Houston, and offered to pay to move him...and keep him at his CA salary with a pretty decent raise if he would move to Houston.
He is a wizz with networking and computer "repair".
He does not own...nor does he know how to use an O-Scope. When I bought one a few years ago...I called him for advice...he told me he does not know anything about them.
The World Has Changed.....

[Enzo]

Other than it is what they run on, computers is not electronics. About all a computer guy needs to know is how to verify the power supply works. He won;t be fixing mother boards or video cards, he will identify the problem and replace the board.

It's like this, if you mail out written instructions for out of towners to get to your house, and half of them get lost, the problem is not likely their car or the roads. Computer problems are not usually electronics parts. Maybe swap out a CAT5 cable to see if it is bad.

Dude:

Someone needs to come up with a modern electronics kit and market it well.

Sure, but a kit of what? The kid who will buy a kit of anything just to build it is already there, we don;t need to sell him. But what would a kit be that attracted someone from outside the hobby. That they might generate an interest once involved.

Those 25 in one or 50 in one kits like they sold at Radio Shack are really pretty cool, they do a lot. But you have to be interested. One thing they do is use clips so no soldering or other tools are required. No kid wants to buy a $30 kit for something and find he also has to spend $40 on soldering irons and tools. Velleman make a wide array of electronics kits. I think most of them are really only interesting to people already in the hobby. I doubt the average novice starts by making a 12v power supply without having a use for it in mind.

Board swapping is just the modern parts swapping. We used to identify the bad transistor and bad resistor. Now we identify the bad board. It is a part, as sure as a transistor is a part. Our industry is a component level repair industry. No one tosses their QSC when it stops working. No one pays to fix a $100 TV set, but no one throws out a $1500 TV set when it breaks.

I will say what I always say about tech schools. That associates degree in electronics is not worth a lot. The course teaches theory and background, it is not a source of practical experience. I will always prefer a self taught guy who has been fixing amp in his basement over a kid fresh out of tech school with no practical experience. When I hired techs, I was not very interested in fresh school diplomas, I want the guy who has done roadie work, knows how the stuff is used, how it is connected. I can teach him the electronics.

[The Dude]

Agreed, and that's exactly what I ended up doing. I hired a sound tech and taught him how to fix things. He's still a better tech than most guys who went to tech school. Guys who can hook up a complicated sound system at least understand the concept of a "mental flow chart". Mixer to EQ to Compressor to Crossover to Amps to Speakers = Power supply feeds Tubes/Transistors feeds Transformer feeds speaker (or whatever). There's a logical flow to how everything electronic works. Some people are able to grasp that, others- not so much. I rarely reach for a schematic and usually when I do it's do identify a part or get a part number.

[dumbassbob]

Ok, at last things are getting clear now, after all this wasted time.
You could have saved us all a lot of time, and saved yourself much trouble, $$, time and bad nights no sleep.

There'a a couple things you must hammer into your brain:

1) this is a regular, run of the mill amplifier, bought as a "house amp" by the Hollywood Bowl or whatever, for Musicians who didn't carry their own, for various reasons.

2) it is not special at all, they just went into a shop, asked for "a few amps" got these, paid the bill, picked them up. Period.

3) this particular Bassman (or whatever) just happened to be in the showroom or, still packed, closest to the door at the warehouse.
The point is that it was exactly the same as any other amp, same brand and model, at that shop.

It isn't as it was specially built, or modded or tweaked at all, just a plain vanilla Fender amp , equal to thousand others.

4) when in the Hollywood Bowl, it sat there.

*If* somebody used it, famous or not, it stayed the same.

If you imagine "The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water" (from now on abbreviated to "THSLB") had a Tech open the chassis and tweak it to some "golden sound", forget it, and amps do not change sound on their own, no matter who plays through them, they stay the same.

In this case, a plain vanilla available anywhere Fender amp.

5) if you think "THSLB" went through 2 dozen amps until they found *the one*, forget it.

Typical dialogue:
-Hi guys !! Er ... you brought no amps with you?"
- "No, we travel light ... we'll use the house amps"
- "We have a few Fenders" .... might get a couple Acoustic(Kustom/Standel/etc.) if you wish"
- "Don't worry, we'll use the Fenders"

If you think the plain vanilla Fender got "better" after being played by "THSLB" ... forget it.
Still the same.

6) so I hope you understand we are not dealing with actual SOUND here, but intangible Mojo, just "who" (by sheer chance) played with them.

7) so you made the BIG mistake of actually playing with it.
Who cares how it sounds? That was never the point.

You shold have placed it inside a glass box, with a couple spots illuminating it, preferrably in a subdued lighting room, and charge a few cents for the privilege of having a look.

Don't forget to prominently display the bill, the list of users, a couple yellowing BW pictures, maybe some famous shows tickets, etc.

8) there's nothing GW or any other Tech in Earth can do to restore the original Mojo, if lost.

An impossible quest.

I'll refrain from suggesting you Mods, parts, even Techs, because nobody can go back in Time, and that's what you need.

9) and by the way: it had a few years accumulated "THSLB" mojo .... in 1971 ..... the next 42 years it has lost that and has been filled with DUMBASSBOB mojo, so ..... what else did you expect?

10) the final point: by now I feel no sympathy for your useless quest, and pity any Tech who is fool enough to be carried by this madness.

Do I have anything to suggest you, one way or another?
Nothing at all, you are on your own.

Good luck.

It IS BACK like it always was..You are wrong

[The Dude]

Does that mean it's finally working? Did you get this amp sorted out?

[52 Bill]

It IS BACK like it always was..You are wrong

So please tell us all what you finally did and what needed to be done to the amp to get it working again. We all spent a lot of time trying to help.

[Leo_Gnardo]

It IS BACK like it always was..You are wrong

Back to working the way your ears are happy with it? Sacré bleu! What happened? Inquiring minds want to know.

Only wishing the best for you DAB! Honest! This is a long running shaggy dog story & hoping it ends well.

[Chuck H]

It IS BACK like it always was..

For now... As your current evaluation. These things can be subjective and may change. Though I hope it doesn't. And rather than just saying "You are wrong" could you share more information. I haven't been much nicer than JM about this with the exception that I was more diplomatic and I still want to know what was actually going on!!!

[Leo_Gnardo]

Chuck, others, the "reveal" is at a new thread - The Dumbassbob 63 Bandmaster amp is Fixed!!!!!

We should stick a fork in this one - it's done. And aged @ 90 days besides. :

[dumbassbob]

63 Bandmaster

Does that mean it's finally working? Did you get this amp sorted out?

Yes Skip Simmons amp repair fixed it in one hour and only charged $100,00 shipping included

[dumbassbob]

So please tell us all what you finally did and what needed to be done to the amp to get it working again. We all spent a lot of time trying to help.

I tried to get Bruce at Mission to do it ,but that big flood in Colorado might have kept him from replying back.I sent it to Skip Simmons Amp Pepair in Loma Rica Ca,He said the board was OK,The 2)power tubes plate wires were switched around,put the Big problem was the Ground wires going to that brass plate were corroded under all the solider and in a few other places,the Power tube sockets were loose,and he changed 3 filter caps that Gerald Weber put in,He told me I was ripped off $1,200.,and that this amp has a unusually good sound...Skip Simmons did it all for $100.00 including shipping it back and matching up my best 3 pairs of RCA 6L6GC

[dumbassbob]

Yeah... You can pull up video of Hendrix using Strats through Marshall's or a Flying V through Dual Showman. He still sounds like Hendrix. If you listen to Santana at Woodstock he definitely sounds like Santa but he says they were "dreadful" solid state amps that he hated. The point is the mojo is in the talent of the artist. I have no doubt that amp sounded great with Hendrix playing through it.... Or anything else...

You missed the point I NEVER said it was a Magic amp with all this Mojo You people said that..All I said was I was 16 years old and they were selling off the old amps and stuff during the 1971 Hollywood Bowl remodel,and in the paper work they gave me it said who used the amps and for how long,so Hollywood Parks and Recreation could bill them,and so to a 16 year old kid That seems pretty fucken cool

[Randall]

It is.