Cost Of Stupidity

[Ted]

I have in front of me a 135W Bassman Head

Someone has at some point wired around the back panel fuse. (Because obviously thats what you do to prevent regular fuse blowing)

Both of the main 220uF smoothing caps are shorted
Two of the four rectifier diodes are shorted
The output transformer has a shorted primary winding.
The power transformer has an open circuit primary

It didn't have any 6L6s in it when it arrived, so I can only imagine what happened to them.

[bob p]

Fuses blow for a reason.

[Enzo]

Yep, fuses are not the disease, they are the symptom.

[nickb]

Yikes!



I had this on the bench yesteday, mercifully nothing as bad as your horror. One cap was just hanging loose.

[Ted]

It's actually really unusual for the cost of repair of classic guitar amp to approach it's market value.
Even if the 135 Bassman is not a terribly highly though of (or priced) amp.

[mikepukmel]

I have in front of me a 135W Bassman Head

Someone has at some point wired around the back panel fuse. (Because obviously thats what you do to prevent regular fuse blowing)

Both of the main 220uF smoothing caps are shorted
Two of the four rectifier diodes are shorted
The output transformer has a shorted primary winding.
The power transformer has an open circuit primary

It didn't have any 6L6s in it when it arrived, so I can only imagine what happened to them.

Niiiiice. Maybe they were interested in home made pyrotechnics.

[dstrat]

thats what I call letting the smoke out.

[mikepukmel]

Yikes!
I had this on the bench yesteday, mercifully nothing as bad as your horror. One cap was just hanging loose.

There's a line from the old cult flick Fast Times at Ridgemont High "I can fix it, man, my father's got the ultimate tool set", Mr Spicoli.
I can't imagine that the person with the skill set to do this kind of repair had their *fingers* inside this amp, discharged the caps before the repair, and used sensible safety procedures.

[dstrat]

Yikes!



I had this on the bench yesteday, mercifully nothing as bad as your horror. One cap was just hanging loose.


[ATTACH=CONFIG]44354[/ATTACH]

bet the caps were not the original problem either.

[bob p]

It's actually really unusual for the cost of repair of classic guitar amp to approach it's market value.

IME it's more common than you think. It's exactly how classic amps make their way to the junkpile.

Where do you think all of the ebay chassis projects come from? Stupid fixes, I'd bet.

Tubes, iron and caps have always been the main cost centers in an amp. Blow them all and there's not much value left in resistors and wire on a chassis. In general I think it's the rule, rather than the exception, that a catastrophic event will result in a constructive total -- especially with the high powered amps. Add in a reasonable labor cost and you're better off shopping for a replacement.

[Chuck H]

It's actually really unusual for the cost of repair of classic guitar amp to approach it's market value.
Even if the 135 Bassman is not a terribly highly though of (or priced) amp.

So this is a repair request for a customer? I figured it was, but thought I'd ask to for clarity in the thread. If so, bummer. Can't rescue them all though.

[Justin Thomas]

It's actually really unusual for the cost of repair of classic guitar amp to approach it's market value.
Even if the 135 Bassman is not a terribly highly though of (or priced) amp.

I find myself personally in this dilemma a lot. I came across a Bassman 50 a few years back that someone had "Marshallized" (more accurately "mosquito-ized) for a kinda crazy price. Admittedly, it was about $50 more than a fair market book value, IF it had been in good working order (meaning, sounding like an actual FENDER). I paid for it, knowing I could set it arights, and even if I couldn't, I'd have well under what it would have cost me to source parts to build a similar amp. So I take the "parts value" into consideration.

I got it fixed, learned a valuable lesson about grounding, and got my money back (minus my time, but education costs, too). But if a FRIEND or customer had asked me if they should buy it, I would have said "no more than $100," because I knew they'd be paying ME a wad to fix it.

Which brings us to another point: a vintage Fender with a Marshall channel does <NOT> increase in value, just because YOU put in the time and money to "improve" it. As far as THIS one was concerned, it was $&#@ed up & BROKEN. A Bias Mod is one thing; a Hack Mod is another.

Justin

[Chuck H]

I don't think most guys that mod their amps believe it adds any value. I was hacking my amps twenty five years ago and I certainly didn't. I've also never seen anyone try to sell a modified amp for more because of the mod unless they were claiming some famous guru did the work or some similar nonsense. I remember when modified Marshalls were sort of the rage but I don't remember anyone getting better than market value for them and still a little less if any holes were cut. I can't imagine today that anyone would think modding a classic is even a good idea. But then, what's a classic and what might be the next classic? I remember when you couldn't give a silver face Fender away. Now fender has reissued the sf Deluxe Reverb. I'd never hack into a plexi but I've modded a couple of JMP mater vol models. I'd never hack even an early sf Super Reverb but a sf Vibro Champ is fair game. Those JMP's and Vibro Champs should probably be classics now?

[Justin Thomas]

Hey Chuck,

It was a consignment shop for music gear, so, I know everything is going to be "more than it should," but some of it was ridiculous. It's not that the mod added value, but that the "mod" was so badly done as to render any intrinsic value the amp had to be worthless. I paid a "higher end of Fair" price for it, but only because of the potential - I paid for the POTENTIAL amp - a bulletproof rock & blues machine that IS the Fender Bassman head. But to the average person, it was "broken."

The same shop had an unmolested Bassman 10 for $900. Just the head. The cab was $400 extra. Funk Dat.
And down the road, another shop had a SF Bandmaster Reverb, late 70s, nodded with a Marshall channel, a few holes drilled, etc... $1,200? Aw, hell no...
So, yeah - SOME guys think mods add value to their amps, a wee (or huge) bit too much! And, enough to dupe the unsuspecting musician who doesn't know better...

Justin

PS: I'm not sorry (yet) that I hacked my 79 Champ into a Vibro-Blaster... Or my Bassman 100 into a 100W version of my AB165 (yeah, I drilled a hole. But that one was already trashed, cosmetically, and is now an ongoing art piece)

[Chuck H]

Yeah, I'm not too sorry about the master volume JMP's either. They still sell for about a grand. Roughly $200 more than when I bought mine two and a half decades ago. I never even think about the Champs. They were all from the 70's and 80's and as of this writing no one cares too much about them. Some old Traynor amps have also been victims of my bench. The only mods I've done to any bf Fender were things like grounded AC cords and minor mods that don't change the cosmetics or basic topology and are all easily reversible. I've never modded a truly classic Marshall. Though I do have a first year plexi reissue (91 I think) that's been horsed around with quite a bit. If I ever get around to it I plan to rebuild it stock on a piece of brown perf board using Sozo caps and such, take lots of pretty pictures and unload it on *bay for a s-ton of some suckers money. I even have a trio of Mullard 12ax7's to stick in there to drive home the faux authenticity I don't think this is dishonorable. With new filters, power tubes, my Mullard 12ax7's, maybe some other clique/mojo priced components and the work it'll be hard to charge less than a s-ton just to break even. And whoever gets it will surely enjoy it.