Critical thinking... Or lack there of

[Enzo]

I knew a guy whose father was black and his mother was Japanese, and every December 7th he attacked Pearl Bailey.

[J M Fahey]

Pearl Bailey

I had to Google that one ...
Although I recognized the picture when I saw it ... a late Saturday TV classic. (Late night almost meaning early Sunday)

[Enzo]

Yes, that is my ALL TIME favorite joke. But alas, the Pearl Bailey reference is lost on today's youth. She was a huge star in her day.

[Chuck H]

+++ on Pearl. It IS an older reference for sure though. At 42 I'm right on the edge of missing the reference (but I didn't have to Google her)

And FWIW my wife CAN read. But she also has a sense of humor... She's already heard the (if I thought I could take her) joke.

[Enzo]

Holy crap, I just thought about it. I have been telling that joke for over 50 years now.


There was a band in the Detroit area about 30 years ago (for all I know they could still exist) called Pearl Harbor and the Explosions.

[J M Fahey]

Pearl Harbor?

Kids don't know what Vietnam is !!! Check for yourself !!
If anything, they *might* have watched some re run of "Born on 4th of July" or "Platoon" but it certainly was "just another war movie" to them.
The only Japanese "bad guys" they know are the villains in "Dragon Ball Z" and not even so, because many villains there sport fair hair and tiny pointy noses or have 17th Century Portuguese faces.
Oh well !!
EDIT:
Korea war? ...Ah !!, my Epiphone is Korean !!!

[Enzo]

The Beatles? That was Paul McCartney's band before WIngs, wasn;t it?

I have been told before, "Beatles? I have heard of them."

You are right, they have no idea what Korea was, and that 50 years later it still goes on. VietNam is something grandpa did.

[Merlinb]

The Beatles? That was Paul McCartney's band before WIngs, wasn;t it?
You are right, they have no idea what Korea was, and that 50 years later it still goes on. VietNam is something grandpa did.

*Caution, sattire*

Go easy, it's not easy to keep up with all of America's wars!

[Dave H]

*Caution, sattire*

Go easy, it's not easy to keep up with all of America's wars!

Our government doesn't seem to have a problem keeping up.

[olddawg]

Just thought I would put my 2 cents int this thread. I was the lead tech/sm at a largish consumers and professional electronics shop for many years. That meant that anything that someone got stuck on invariably ended up on my bench along with what the manufacturers sent me from other shops. You are all right, there are a lot of good techs out there, but....... many if not most people in this business IMHO are parts changers. The sad fact is that they can make a living doing it. It's also not just this industry, try getting your car fixed by a good mechanic. Anyway, you have no idea how many times I was told that something needed a board when all it took was a block diagram, a schematic, a scope, a half an hour, and a 35 cent capacitor, an open 500K resistor, or a bad connection. My wife is a scientist. She swares that reason has left the lexicon for the past two generations. We now have to import it from India. In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

J..... many if not most people in this business IMHO are parts changers. The sad fact is that they can make a living doing it. It's also not just this industry, try getting your car fixed by a good mechanic. Anyway, you have no idea how many times I was told that something needed a board when all it took was a block diagram, a schematic, a scope, a half an hour, and a 35 cent capacitor, an open 500K resistor, or a bad connection.

It's even worse than that, they not only make a living out of it, sometimes they even manage to get rich.....and the amp biz is only one of the many possible areas....think about gas boilers...in that field things are even worse....years ago I had a crappy one that broke three times within the warranty period, so they fixed it at no charge, then it broke a fourth time right after the warranty period expired.
The part chang.....uhm....tech that we called said the control board needed replacement, and the new board cost some 400 Euros (more than 500 USD), he also asked the old card back (so that it could be repaired an used to rip off another customer).

I kindly invited him to leave my home running as fast as he could (and used a .357" Mag as a stimulant ), took the board off and repaired it myself by changing a single resistor that had gone south.

The problem with it is that what I did was considered illegal (I was not entitled to repair a gas boiler, by law only "authorized techs" can do that) while they're granted by the law the right to rip off people.

In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.

This is very true, and our Latin Fathers Rightfully used to say that 2000 years ago already : Beati monoculi in terra caecorum....

Cheers

Bob

[Mark Black]

Oldie but still a goodie:

Labor Rates
$80 per hour standard
$100 per hour if you watch
$120 per hour if you help
$160 per hour if you worked on it first

[mikeboone]

I'll chime in here and add that I have learned that I will get more help here when I do the following:

1. Search the forums for similar problems to mine before asking.
2. Try to assume I know less than the people I asking for help. Humilty!
3. Dont argue with their answers... That floors me when people do that.
4. Provide as much info as possible without complicating my question (doesnt always work!!!)

All of you guys have been very helpful. I started hacking at a 5e3 I bought and didnt like. I am on my 4th build now.

Another thing is that South Louisiana is not over populated with amp repair techs. The word got around my little town that I can fix tubes amps and now all the crazys are digging out their old amps and getting me to fix them. All of the local music stores are now calling me too... Its overwhelming at times.

If only you guys earned commission on the advice you have handed me!!!

I try to help less expereinced guys than myself with some simple "is it plugged in? is it on?" type of advice so I can give back to the forum at least part of what I have taken...

[Enzo]

Yeah well, add that old "plug a cord from FX send to FX return" thing to your repertoire and you will cover an amazing number of problems.

[Chuck H]

Yeah well, add that old "plug a cord from FX send to FX return" thing to your repertoire and you will cover an amazing number of problems.

+++

What's especially funny is that I have to talk to myself (in my head of course) like a product support guy with each new build:

Ok, great... Let's make sure all the tubes are in, I'll wait... Ok now let's be sure it's plugged into the cabinet... Good, good, now we're going to check all the voltages. That's great, your doing just fine...

I crack up when I get excitable and skip over stuff. (WOW, I didn't even hook that up!?!) Makes me feel silly but I'm glad in a way that my enthusiasm still makes me stumble some times. I hope it shows didication at a deeper level and not just absent mindedness.

Lot's of folks here have witnessed my tendancy to rush ahead. But so far everyone's been very graceful about it.

Chuck