JCM 2000 DSL50 WATT, Problems!!!

[projectx102]

Well as someone who runs an amp repair business to make a living I really appreciate remarks like that. I work hard to fix people's stuff, I skip my lunch break to be here at a time convenient for the customer. I pass up other opportunities for the same reason. I answer questions spending far more time that I really should, just to be helpful. I don't charge for it. I spend a couple hours a day online helping less experienced people learn how to do what I do without paying me for it - people like YOU. I ask nothing in return other than a little respect, and there is no charge to you. SO let me tell you , comments like yours make me feel real warm and fuzzy inside.

All these years of helping people, and I could have been just making stuff up. Apparently building a reputation as an honest repairman was wasted effort. I guess me thinking that people talk to one another and ask things like "Gee, who does good repair work around here and treats people fairly?" was stupid of me.

I once had an asshole call me up wanting to bring his Fender Rhodes piano in to the shop for repair. But he then said he wanted to make an appointment for the actual repair so he could stand there and watch me do it so I didn't charge him for work I didn't do. Said that to my face. I told him to shove his Fender Rhodes piano up his ass and never walk into my shop again, thank you very much.

Every time I accept someone's personal check, I run the risk of it bouncing. I have had people walk into my shop and steal things. I have people bring in a speaker with a blown driver, and I fix it, then they come in the next day with the identical speaker claiming I didn't fix it right, the driver doesn't work. They thought I would not notice the serial number was different.

I have cheap bastards come in and complain that I should charge less to work on amps that are less expensive - as if my time is worth less on some amps. They piss and moan if I sell a set of tubes for more than Musician's Friend does.

And at the end of the year, I still cannot afford to put a new roof on my house. I still have to keep the furnace set at 55 degrees all winter - not just at night, but all day long. The only kind of meat I can afford is ground. Apparently i should just be ripping people off.

Merry Christmas dude.

Well trust me Enzo,your help is mucho appreciated by me.I know I'm new here but I can tell you are a class act and have been very helpful to most of the people on this board not to mention the people who come to your shop.Don't let clowns with remarks like that get you down.It happens in all fields of work,trust me.It's tough to get a compliment in this day and age.Just know that without you,there would be MANY more people out there playing through Line 6's and sounding worse for it.

[Enzo]

Thanks guys. I wasn't fishing for compliments, the kid just pissed me off.

TV repairmen, the vanishing breed? ANd try finding someone who wants to look at VCRs even.

But it is worse than that. I have been looking for a teaching gig for a long time now. I want it in this area, not interested in moving. Here in Lansing we have Lansing Community College - pretty large place, Lansing as a whole is about 400,00-450,000 people. The vocational electronics programs there are being phased out. All they want to teach these days is IT - computer maintenence - as in mainly board swaps. N othing wrong with that, but electronics work in general is slowly evaporating. it turns out I have no one to teach. Very sad.

[Mark Black]

Enzo - First thanks for your past help to me and the time & effort you bestow on others. Truly a gentleman.

Regarding the teaching idea - perhaps an ad on Craiglist or the local paper? Lots of guys (and girls) seem to do OK with that when it comes to teaching students how to play an instrument. Granted the client base would be much smaller, and you run the risk of teaching some of your potential customers how to do it themselves.

Then again the required investment in equipment and the realization that there is value in past experience might push them to your shop instead.

It is sad that component-level repair appears to be a dying art/vocation, but I'll bet there are at least a few young (or maybe older) folks out there who might be interested.

I've noticed some local recording studios around here offer recording classes - maybe it could work something like that...

[rf7]

Enzo - First thanks for your past help to me and the time & effort you bestow on others. Truly a gentleman.

+1 on that.

[pbdog]

Enzo Thanks for your help.

You have helped me alot more than you know. Thanks pb

[Drewfish86]

Hey

Enzo , plz , i appreciate your thoughts but you took that a little far , mate your helping me online for free , i appreciate that so much , i wasn't pointing the finger at you. Mate its the dodgy mechanics out there that make it hard for the rest k!

Peace and Regards,

Drew

[Enzo]

I am not going to carry a grudge or something Drew, we're OK. But you pointed to a group of which I and a number of others here are members.

Mark, thanks. I do have a couple clients here that come in for an occasional paid lesson. We cover specifics they want to know, or get personal assistance. But I am not looking to teach amp repair, I just want to teach general electronics and in particular troubleshooting. Never thought of Craigs List. Looking for a steady full time gig at teaching.

[Paleo Pete]

I can kind of see this from both angles. On the one hand, I'm a computer technician and closed my shop two years ago mainly because I was sick of putting in several hours to get all the spyware, trojans and other malicious software cleaned out then only being able to make one or two hours' labor since people would scream. I have no idea how many times I've heard "Well I can get a new one for another 50 bucks"...

On the other hand, I don't know of a reliable electronics tech here, one that's good but the one time he worked on my amp he replaced the filter capacitors, which I had already replaced a week earlier, and was not supposed to replace any parts, just confirm whether the tubes and transformers were good, and let me know, by previous agreement. So I avoid taking mine to the shop as well due to a good possibility of someone replacing parts that don't need replacing, presumably to make more money, for the labor charges if nothing else. A computer shop here did the same, one of my customers marked everything in his computer before bringing it to me so he'd know if I swapped anything. We're now good friends...it turned out the other shop had ripped him off and he wasn't happy. He took it to them with 256MB RAM and a 40GB hard drive, got it back with 128MB and a 20GB hard drive.

I realize those are the exception, not the rule. The tech who repaired my amp 10 years ago in another town was good, reliable and honest, the only thing he replaced was a bad internal fuse, the fee was $35, not bad at all at the time.

I figure the amp cost me $60 at a resale shop, the original repair to get it working was $120 for labor, a couple of diodes and two new tubes, that's under $200 for a good working amp, not bad. $35 repair bill 10 or 12 years later, then more recently another $35 or 40 to troubleshoot it and $120 for a primary transformer that I soldered in myself, I'm still well under what I would pay for a new amp. I don't have any complaints about that at all. But I have had dealings with less than honest repair guys too, and not only in electronics. Computers, automotive, lawn equipment, gunsmith, I've been bit by more than one so I can see why someone would be wary.

I also can see why you would take the original response as an affront, it could have been done more tactfully...after all you guys do sit here and do this free...I've done that a whole lot on a computer related forum, I can definitely understand where you're coming from.

[Drewfish86]

Yeah

All in all it is much of a muchness. I mean look at enzo , im sure he is totally legitament and beyond, helping everyone on here. He should be awarded for his time. I completely understand how my comment about repairers being dodgy could be annoying to fathom when he is such a helpful and honst guy. It all comes down to the assholes out there who do have an element of dodginess that ruins it for the rest. Therefore it is much better to get an idea of what it can possibly be. Enzo i do intend on taking this Amp to a repairer. What oher choice do i have? Im trying to eliminate what would NOT be wrong with it though for when i do take it into this guy.

Regards,

Drew

[Alex R]

Drew, like the guys said at the outset, a likely scenario is that the heater rectifier has melted its joints, and/or the heater fuses are gone. But it could be something else.

You walked into some grapeshot there man, but give credit, everyone held their fire the first time you said it, what did for you was your second generalised crack about dishonest repairmen, on a forum full of honest repairmen helping people for nothing. Now that was a bit of a misjudgement...

There are some dishonest guys out there but ime that's usually someone who doesn't deal with customers direct, ie works for some big music store (like I do sometimes but never mind that). If you go round and see an independent guy who works on his own then it is unlikely that he will chisel you because he is dealing with you face to face.

Anyhow you have to make the same decision about whether you trust someone whenever you deal with anyone about anything in this life. I mean I get chiselled all the time but it's almost always by big companies, banks etc. Especially banks.

[Enzo]

Drew, and everyone else, the key to getting good service is to find out from others who have already had good service. I can't imagine no one in the area has had an amp break. Chat up people at the music stores, ask online about an area. look for referrals, call the local BBB or similar group.

Guys like me, all we have to sell is our reputation. The local pawn shop might have a great guy, but they also might just have a BS artist, because they don't build a erlationship with the average buyer. The shop like mine won't last long if it gets around that we rip people off. My customers need their amps working, and if I can;t make it work, they don't play the gig. if i treated them dishonestly they wouldn't return.

[Drewfish86]

Does anybody know where abouts the Heater rectifier is and what it looks like? Also if one tube was not working , would the others still heat up? Thanks

[clintronics]

Guilty

Im guilty of feeling that way about auto mechanics. I recently bought a used car and the previous owner saved his receipts. $1700 for brake work. OUCH! some regions of the world are less honest than others. (of course I wouldn't be posting this on an auto mechanics forum, hehe)

But I love the "pawn shop guy" reference. LOL I get him often in my store too.
That line made my day.

[Amp Kat]

Drew, the rectifier comes in two shapes and is usually black. It is either square or round and has four legs. Usually have WO5 or WO8 on the top. If you follow the heater traces from the power tubes it should lead you right to it.

Enzo, Come on down bro I got a teaching job for you as soon as you get here and I'm not kidding. Enzeaux on the Bayou I can see it now. Oh wait, Enzeaux and Wenzeaux on the bayou would be the ticket.

[Paleo Pete]

"Enzeaux on the Bayou" lol...

Before I even looked I knew where you were from, only place I've ever seen anyone spell things that way is cajun country. My father used to joke about spelling the dog's name "Fido" as Phydeaux...I'm wondering if I met you when I lived in Gonzales. I met a guy there who had a good reputation for working on tube amps, but can't remember who it was. I played for a band called Bootlegg, then another named Bad Mannrz and Henry Broussard's band for a while, plus a year or so with a guy from Plaquemine (can't remember if that spelling is right or not). This was late 80's. I was just then learning that tube amps wre the only way to fly, Henry Broussard's guitar player was the one who got me hooked on both tubes and volume pedals.

I'm in the Monroe area now, nothing going on here at all, seriously thinking about a road trip soon as I can scrape up a few bucks, and see if anything is happening around your neck of the woods. Save me some crawfish!

Sorry to sidetrack the thread guys, just had to say hi when I realized someone else from La. was hanging out here too. And that spelling is a dead giveaway...