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Hi Jeremy,
Excellent news! My heatsinks arrived yesterday and I’ve tried them out with the same result as you – the problem has vanished, at least in the ambient temperatures in my lounge! Of course, there will be extreme cases where the fix won’t prevent the dropout issues (for example, where the heatsink is very cold and the ambient air is relatively hot), but I think in many cases it will be just the easy fix that is needed.
The soldering issues you’ve got might be due to the solder composition. I’m guessing here, but I think that between the time they made the amp and now they’ve switched to lead-free solder which from experience I know doesn’t flow quite as nicely as old lead solder. You’ve probably got lead-free rework solder there.
You might want to see if you can get some lead solder (they do still sell it exactly for the purpose of repairs – it’s difficult to come by though) – what you want is 60/40 tin and lead solder.
Also, try a “flux pen” – it’s a pen with stuff for making the solder flow when you apply heat. All you do it use the felt end of the pen to really wet the solder joint before you solder it, then when you do it helps to form the solder joint correctly. Just make sure you remove the reside with a suitably solvent (sometimes they sell them in a 2-pen pack, flux and remover). ;0)
No worries at all for helping you out – post the fix and tell other bass players about it! Barry was really kind to share his schematics with me to help me find the fix and fixing stuff is all about sharing information!
Happy playing!
Cheers,
Grant
Excellent news! My heatsinks arrived yesterday and I’ve tried them out with the same result as you – the problem has vanished, at least in the ambient temperatures in my lounge! Of course, there will be extreme cases where the fix won’t prevent the dropout issues (for example, where the heatsink is very cold and the ambient air is relatively hot), but I think in many cases it will be just the easy fix that is needed.
The soldering issues you’ve got might be due to the solder composition. I’m guessing here, but I think that between the time they made the amp and now they’ve switched to lead-free solder which from experience I know doesn’t flow quite as nicely as old lead solder. You’ve probably got lead-free rework solder there.
You might want to see if you can get some lead solder (they do still sell it exactly for the purpose of repairs – it’s difficult to come by though) – what you want is 60/40 tin and lead solder.
Also, try a “flux pen” – it’s a pen with stuff for making the solder flow when you apply heat. All you do it use the felt end of the pen to really wet the solder joint before you solder it, then when you do it helps to form the solder joint correctly. Just make sure you remove the reside with a suitably solvent (sometimes they sell them in a 2-pen pack, flux and remover). ;0)
No worries at all for helping you out – post the fix and tell other bass players about it! Barry was really kind to share his schematics with me to help me find the fix and fixing stuff is all about sharing information!
Happy playing!
Cheers,
Grant
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