Fender Twin 135 Watt

[bsco]

Back after a few days dealing with other stuff...I think I have this figured out....Did some general searching and found out that the ext speaker out jack is supposed to be isolated from the chassis with the use of plastic shoulder washers......somebody else apparently had this same problem and this was the cause......the shoulder section of the washer(s) was wore down and prevented the jack from being centered in the hole in the chassis....I removed this jack from the chassis, plugged a speaker into the regular spkr jack and it worked great....Lots of volume....no distortion......re-install the jack and the problem returned.....So I have to insulate this jack from the chassis.......in the back of my mind I was expecting something stupid and foolish.......there are some bad pots there that need to be replaced......the cabinet needs a very good cleaning, etc....and probably other housekeeping issues but the main thing now is that is seems to be working......I would have never thought that a worn shoulder washer would have caused so much grief......one thing is for sure...I will never forget this one.....once I have the other stuff taken care of I'll let you guys know how it is working.....my thanks to all........
Cheers,
Bernie

[bsco]

Hi guys....I finally found some suitable pots for the amp and installed them.....The amp was sounding very nice and after playing it for awhile, I ended up with the original problem the owner had....snapping and popping....so I started probing around and checking some voltages...noticed that the bias voltage would vary....then swing back to where it was originally.....tried swapping output tubes and same thing...so I took a gamble and replaced all four output tube sockets as they were original......and them problem went away.....so now I have to give this amp a very good check out to make sure nothing else is going to cause any problems......Just thought I would let everybody know about the progress.....
Cheers,
Bernie
P.S. now, when using the light blub dimmer, it does not light up at all...not even at high volumes.....

[Jazz P Bass]

P.S. now, when using the light blub dimmer, it does not light up at all...not even at high volumes.....

Please keep in mind that the Lamp Limiter bulb wattage matters here a great deal.

Plus the limiter is, well, limiting.

If the amp is pulling 100 watts from the mains at idle, it will cause a 40 watt lamp to glow.
A 300 watt lamp will not light.

[bsco]

Please keep in mind that the Lamp Limiter bulb wattage matters here a great deal.

Plus the limiter is, well, limiting.

If the amp is pulling 100 watts from the mains at idle, it will cause a 40 watt lamp to glow.
A 300 watt lamp will not light.

Yes, I realize that...I am using a 300W blub and the blub was lighting up.,,,dimly.....now it does not light at all....left it turned on for the entire day and kept checking it...played a strat through the amp at different volume levels.......did the same thing again the next day....the third day, I gave it back to him.....so far so good....

[Jazz P Bass]

Why would you run an amp hooked up to a lamp limiter.
Is that your way of measuring total amp current draw?

If you really want to get slick, get yourself a Kill-A-Watt meter.
P3 - Kill A Watt

[J M Fahey]

So, you had a shorted output?

[bsco]

Thanks Jazz...I did that to make sure that everything was working ok.....I will check out that link...Thanks....
@ J M.......the tubes are fine....there must have been something wrong with one or more of the sockets but couldn't pin-point it exactly........so if I was going to go through the
trouble to replace one, I might as well replace all four.....seeing as that they were original......once I checked the amp out with the limiter, I installed the proper fuse and ran the amp for two days........by the way, the owner sent me an email after he used the amp.....this is what he said:::::::::::


Hey Bernie,
Had a go at the amp this morning for a couple of hours. Tried my Strats and Les Paul and I got to say , she sounds awesome. Best time it has sounded since I owned it. It has more power, is more responsive and pedals up nicely. I think she would make a crappy guitar sound good. You have done a wonderful job bringing that amp back to life and I never did doubt that you wouldn’t. So, thanks so much for your patience and attention to detail. There are not too many of you guys out there and I’m pretty pleased to have found you. Keep up the good work !. I will be sending you a pic. of my old Kustom shortly and am thinking of getting that one looked at as well. Will be in touch later. All the best !!

I want to thank everybody for all your help and support....if not for you people, I probably wound not have been able to fix it....

[The Dude]

Nothing like happy and appreciative customers. Nice work Bernie!

[bsco]

Nothing like happy and appreciative customers. Nice work Bernie!

Thank you....when customers say these kinds of things, it makes you feel good that they really appreciate what you can do for them.....

[audiopete]

Thank you....when customers say these kinds of things, it makes you feel good that they really appreciate what you can do for them.....

Especially because there isn't that many of us around that can do this kind of thing. I find my clients are super appreciative..and I work hard to keep them that way! Nice job.

[bsco]

[QUOTE=audiopete;365994]Especially because there isn't that many of us around that can do this kind of thing. I find my clients are super appreciative..and I work hard to keep them that way! Nice job.[/QUOTE


There used to be quite a few radio/tv repair shops here back in the 70's and 80.s...now there are only 2 shops here....one guy doing antique radios and a couple of
people doing music repairs after hours from their regular job.....I am the only person doing this as a living.....

I have had some people 4 and 5 hours away from me bring me their equipment to repair for them.....they repeat the same old story...they can't find anybody to repair electronics in their locale....even high schools have sent me stuff...

a happy customer is fantastic advertising.....and it's free.....I also go out of my way to keep my customers happy.....when they give me their hard earned money, they expect high quality work, and like you, I go out of my way to give it to them......that is probably why they keep coming back.......

however if it wasn't for experienced people on this forum it would take me much,much longer to figure out some of these problems.....keep up the great work here guys...your experience and wisdom in this field of electronic repair is very much appreciated.....

[Enzo]

Never lose sight of this:

The best at any game still take lessons. Tiger Woods has trainers and coaches. Every pro football quarterback has coaches, someone to train him where to step and how to throw the ball. Grammy award winning musicians pay other musicians good money to teach them more than they know now. Oscar winning actors have acting coaches. There is no field you can go into that doesn;t have people in it who can teach you. No shame in it, and take advantage of every opportunity.

[bsco]

Never lose sight of this:

The best at any game still take lessons. Tiger Woods has trainers and coaches. Every pro football quarterback has coaches, someone to train him where to step and how to throw the ball. Grammy award winning musicians pay other musicians good money to teach them more than they know now. Oscar winning actors have acting coaches. There is no field you can go into that doesn;t have people in it who can teach you. No shame in it, and take advantage of every opportunity.

Thank you Enzo!!!

[audiopete]

If it wasn't for forums like this, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of what I do.

<respect>

[bsco]

If it wasn't for forums like this, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of what I do.

<respect>

I know exactly what you mean......