Pulled Coupling Caps

[dumbassbob]

64 bandmaster from Hollywood Bowl

Will you please tell us ***WHO*** played this amp who makes it so special?

I grew up in hollywood.. in September1971The Parks dept remodeled the Hollywood Bowl..They had a few amps that they would use for different artist backline....I got a 65 Bassman that had a bad OT,and the64 Bandmaster...from the Hollywood Parks and Recreation dept....When I got the reciet,the guy asked me if I wanted the list of who used them and some repair bills from West Coast Amps on Highland ave...All I will say now, is almost everyone who played there used these amps.... I think that makes it kinda special... The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water,

[Leo_Gnardo]

September1971 - - the guy asked me if I wanted the list of who used them and some repair bills from West Coast Amps on Highland ave...All I will say now, is almost everyone who played there used these amps.... I think that makes it kinda special... The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water,

Hope you got all that paper safely stored.

Gettin' anywhere with making it work right? If that amp could talk... hey come to think of it Joe Walsh used to use a Bandmaster to drive his talkbox.

[dumbassbob]

I spent a few hours looking with a magnifier glass and a probe,I found a broken 220K resistor,and unless you looked really hard ,you would miss it,I also found that the 500pf cap that GW pulled was OK but he put 2 of them in parrael and one leg was Not soidered ..So the bas resisor went too the 2 caps Also someone had put 2 5.6k R on each #5 pin output wire...This is what I found in 3 hours and I have never worked on a Fender amp He did put ALL the Blue caps back in I checked them and there all OK,He said that they leaked,and charged me another $465.00 lyning prick...I ordered some new CC resistors,when they come I am starting a New Thread,so I can get this great sounding amp working again......

[Leo_Gnardo]

someone had put 2 5.6k R on each #5 pin output wire...I can get this great sounding amp working again......

5.6K not the worst thing in the world but you will be swappin in 1.5K before it's all over to be 'riginal. Good find on the 220K. Awful live & learn experience. GW seems 10-thumbs except for writing the bill. Band up thisaway (Troy NY - Super 400 - xlnt band) sent him an SVT and scads of money. It was still a wreck & I wound up having to set it to rights. OK 'nuff slaggin' GW the ol' slag heap that he is. Looking forward to new thread & let's get'er fixed.

[J M Fahey]

I grew up in hollywood.. in September1971The Parks dept remodeled the Hollywood Bowl..They had a few amps that they would use for different artist backline....I got a 65 Bassman that had a bad OT,and the64 Bandmaster...from the Hollywood Parks and Recreation dept....When I got the reciet,the guy asked me if I wanted the list of who used them and some repair bills from West Coast Amps on Highland ave...All I will say now, is almost everyone who played there used these amps.... I think that makes it kinda special... The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water,

Ok, at last things are getting clear now, after all this wasted time.
You could have saved us all a lot of time, and saved yourself much trouble, $$, time and bad nights no sleep.

There'a a couple things you must hammer into your brain:

1) this is a regular, run of the mill amplifier, bought as a "house amp" by the Hollywood Bowl or whatever, for Musicians who didn't carry their own, for various reasons.

2) it is not special at all, they just went into a shop, asked for "a few amps" got these, paid the bill, picked them up. Period.

3) this particular Bassman (or whatever) just happened to be in the showroom or, still packed, closest to the door at the warehouse.
The point is that it was exactly the same as any other amp, same brand and model, at that shop.

It isn't as it was specially built, or modded or tweaked at all, just a plain vanilla Fender amp , equal to thousand others.

4) when in the Hollywood Bowl, it sat there.

*If* somebody used it, famous or not, it stayed the same.

If you imagine "The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water" (from now on abbreviated to "THSLB") had a Tech open the chassis and tweak it to some "golden sound", forget it, and amps do not change sound on their own, no matter who plays through them, they stay the same.

In this case, a plain vanilla available anywhere Fender amp.

5) if you think "THSLB" went through 2 dozen amps until they found *the one*, forget it.

Typical dialogue:
-Hi guys !! Er ... you brought no amps with you?"
- "No, we travel light ... we'll use the house amps"
- "We have a few Fenders" .... might get a couple Acoustic(Kustom/Standel/etc.) if you wish"
- "Don't worry, we'll use the Fenders"

If you think the plain vanilla Fender got "better" after being played by "THSLB" ... forget it.
Still the same.

6) so I hope you understand we are not dealing with actual SOUND here, but intangible Mojo, just "who" (by sheer chance) played with them.

7) so you made the BIG mistake of actually playing with it.
Who cares how it sounds? That was never the point.

You shold have placed it inside a glass box, with a couple spots illuminating it, preferrably in a subdued lighting room, and charge a few cents for the privilege of having a look.

Don't forget to prominently display the bill, the list of users, a couple yellowing BW pictures, maybe some famous shows tickets, etc.

8) there's nothing GW or any other Tech in Earth can do to restore the original Mojo, if lost.

An impossible quest.

I'll refrain from suggesting you Mods, parts, even Techs, because nobody can go back in Time, and that's what you need.

9) and by the way: it had a few years accumulated "THSLB" mojo .... in 1971 ..... the next 42 years it has lost that and has been filled with DUMBASSBOB mojo, so ..... what else did you expect?

10) the final point: by now I feel no sympathy for your useless quest, and pity any Tech who is fool enough to be carried by this madness.

Do I have anything to suggest you, one way or another?
Nothing at all, you are on your own.

Good luck.

[olddawg]

Lmao... The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl used Standel amps. A huge pile of them.

[Chuck H]

Now wait a minute Juan! Bob didn't name drop or volunteer this info until it was requested. And at this point he's taking real steps to repair the amp himself. This IS probably his best resource for help and information. We can guess that it won't be easy. He's not trying to hide behind some slick screen name. I, for one, am here to help (at my own convenience and from an anonymous position in a remote location ) And I know you'll continue following and pipe in when you have something to offer too. You don't fool me with your high talk and your tough exterior. There's a creamy center of rich and tasty goodness in you that you can't deny.

[DrGonz78]

Now this thread has, currently, 96 posts and nearly 2000 views at this time. Seems like a pretty famous amp to me!!

[Alex R]

... I have learned a lesson...Never tell someone to fix your amp,Have them Tell you what they found first...

Just picking up this small point. Personally I would not recommend this approach to employing a repair technician. A tech working in the most efficient way will not usually know that he has found everything that was wrong with your amp until he has totally fixed it. That's to say, the best way of finding out what is wrong with an amp is to fix it. For that reason, I don't do estimates, and I advise people who want them to go elsewhere. (And pay a whole lot more.)

Further to that, I would not go for a tech who promotes himself. Why would he need to do that? Any tech with a good reputation will already have more than enough work without advertising beyond the usual listings and a website.

Those bills are outrageous man .

[J M Fahey]

Dear ChuckH, I deeply respect your kindness to us all, but I think that this thread has a problem.

Which to begin is: it is not about a real technical problem but a "Mojo" one.

It got so bad as to probably *now* causing real problems ... which never were there before.

The only repair this amp needs is to get it back to normal, with regular new commercial parts, proper value and rating as suggested by the original schematic .... period.

Will dumbassbob like it?

He has already shown he does not, loudly complained about that, and sent truckloads of money towards any con man who follows his mad .... er .... "passion."

No well meaning Tech, you and me included can solve *that*.

Why do I say this?:

Just a few quotes:

all the BlueCD Caps pulled,How much do they make for the vintage sound..

if "good"caps are used as replacments will it be close to as before

So a Amp I bought for $125. GW got $1200.and it only took 2 yrs

It still an't the same,but I am giving alittle time to break in..

Speakers break in, not amps !!!

the bass sounds ok, but I do not like the highs

Our friend Soundguruman gave the proper answer any normal Tech would:

I sincerely doubt that I would have charged more than $300 to completely service it, including caps and tubes.

but more important:

You know what?
I don't think there was anything wrong with the caps either.

Back to the OP:

I did take it to a tech in OC he didn't do anything and got $235. out of me...I went back to him and stood over him for 2 days and he used a scope and could fix anything....... I finally walked out

Glad you did, after 2 days of you breathing in his neck, he was about to:

this defines the situation: you had a good Tech, properly equipped, who "could fix anything" ... yet you were dissatisfied with him and went straight back to:

I would give GW one more shot

Why? BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT A TECH SOLVABLE PROBLEM AND ONLY GW PLAYS ALONG WITH YOU

I gave him $1,000.00 to do the work...

Excuse the French, you are crazy.

To all kind folks offended by that word, I'll gladly pull it and replace it by another that conveys the same meaning. I'm open to suggestions.

All I asked was to make the amp sound like it did 3 years ago...

best would have been not to mess with it at all.

Or if it had a Tech problem (worn tubes, leaking caps, whatever) *that* should be solved.

No Tech can guarantee "a sound" which is in your head, all he can is "it works as Factory specified" .... "hum/buzz/hiss was greatly reduced" , "now Tremolo works" but never ever "it sounds like ...... " because that's not a measurable parameter.

By the way, why am I wasting time here?
A guy who signs Chuck H has already diagnosed the same as me :

For all we know Gerald (or one of his team) has been doing competent work. But for some reason Bob doesn't like the way it sounds. So Gerald says "Well I sure as hell fixed it. What's actually wrong?"... Then Bob explains that is "just doesn't sound right" and then a discussion between Bob and Gerald translates into more work. Not necessarily continued work. But we don't know (nor am I interested) in such finite details. Gerald is a known hustler and Bob is, well, self admittedly prone to questionable decisions. It's a match made in heaven!

Not much else to add after that.

Except, maybe, just to remind us all that this story is not new, and was told earlier in a long thread approppriately called:

How do fix a Amp when you Do Not Know Whats Wrong

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t27768/

EDIT as of:

Now wait a minute Juan! Bob didn't name drop or volunteer this info until it was requested.

dumbassbob himself has been teasing us with that since December 2011, just do the Math:
But this amp has some really cool history and deserves some love...I made the mistake of bragging who played this thing

[Leo_Gnardo]

Lmao... The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl used Standel amps. A huge pile of them.

If they were solid snake Standels, chances are good most of 'em were there for "show" as in not working. SS Standels had a certain, ummm, "reputation." Quite the opposite of the well made and good sounding tube Standels from the day of the dinosaur.

Same for Acoustics on stage with Sly & the Family Stone stage & Peaveys on the 38 Special stage. On these last two, I've heard from crew members who suffered mightily stacking up dead amps so the stage would "look" spectacular.

[Leo_Gnardo]

You could have saved us all a lot of time, and saved yourself much trouble, $$, time and bad nights no sleep.

Ohhh, SNAP. and furthermore Snappity-snap-snap SNAP! and it's twooooo, it's all twoooo...... some more...

I think dumbassbob has learnt his lesson by NOW (I "hope"!) Letsee if we can put bad times behind. Regardless of his poor beleaguered Bandmaster's provenance, should be able to set it to rights. And regardless of what stage gear any act may have used at the Hollywood Bowl, it "may" have been used as a dressing room warmup amp, or back line for opening acts and headliners that are "lesser lights" than the big big stars. No matter - I've never found a Fender 50's-70's tube amp that can't be fixed.

Congrats on passing the 100-post mark bob, and get that new thread started. First thing I'd focus on is making sure the bias supply is - without the shadow of a doubt - working properly. Now, onto that new thread.

[Chuck H]

Glad you did, after 2 days of you breathing in his neck, he was about to:

this defines the situation

There's that creamy center I was talking about!

[dumbassbob]

Lmao... The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl used Standel amps. A huge pile of them.

Yes I was there.. But down next to the Organ sat a bandmaster and a bassman head and all those amps where custom built SS amps and put in Acoustic looking box's

[dumbassbob]

Ok, at last things are getting clear now, after all this wasted time.
You could have saved us all a lot of time, and saved yourself much trouble, $$, time and bad nights no sleep.

There'a a couple things you must hammer into your brain:

1) this is a regular, run of the mill amplifier, bought as a "house amp" by the Hollywood Bowl or whatever, for Musicians who didn't carry their own, for various reasons.

2) it is not special at all, they just went into a shop, asked for "a few amps" got these, paid the bill, picked them up. Period.

3) this particular Bassman (or whatever) just happened to be in the showroom or, still packed, closest to the door at the warehouse.
The point is that it was exactly the same as any other amp, same brand and model, at that shop.

It isn't as it was specially built, or modded or tweaked at all, just a plain vanilla Fender amp , equal to thousand others.

4) when in the Hollywood Bowl, it sat there.

*If* somebody used it, famous or not, it stayed the same.

If you imagine "The wind cries mary she had a hard days night,she wanted satisfaction to light her fire over a bridge of troubled water" (from now on abbreviated to "THSLB") had a Tech open the chassis and tweak it to some "golden sound", forget it, and amps do not change sound on their own, no matter who plays through them, they stay the same.

In this case, a plain vanilla available anywhere Fender amp.

5) if you think "THSLB" went through 2 dozen amps until they found *the one*, forget it.

Typical dialogue:
-Hi guys !! Er ... you brought no amps with you?"
- "No, we travel light ... we'll use the house amps"
- "We have a few Fenders" .... might get a couple Acoustic(Kustom/Standel/etc.) if you wish"
- "Don't worry, we'll use the Fenders"

If you think the plain vanilla Fender got "better" after being played by "THSLB" ... forget it.
Still the same.

6) so I hope you understand we are not dealing with actual SOUND here, but intangible Mojo, just "who" (by sheer chance) played with them.

7) so you made the BIG mistake of actually playing with it.
Who cares how it sounds? That was never the point.

You shold have placed it inside a glass box, with a couple spots illuminating it, preferrably in a subdued lighting room, and charge a few cents for the privilege of having a look.

Don't forget to prominently display the bill, the list of users, a couple yellowing BW pictures, maybe some famous shows tickets, etc.

8) there's nothing GW or any other Tech in Earth can do to restore the original Mojo, if lost.

An impossible quest.

I'll refrain from suggesting you Mods, parts, even Techs, because nobody can go back in Time, and that's what you need.

9) and by the way: it had a few years accumulated "THSLB" mojo .... in 1971 ..... the next 42 years it has lost that and has been filled with DUMBASSBOB mojo, so ..... what else did you expect?

10) the final point: by now I feel no sympathy for your useless quest, and pity any Tech who is fool enough to be carried by this madness.

Do I have anything to suggest you, one way or another?
Nothing at all, you are on your own.

Good luck.

I do not know why you are jamming me I just asked for some advise,and Other people started up about Mojo...I found one of the problems myself and BAD 220K at point Y it had a very short lead and until I gave it a little lift ..it was broken right where it goes into the CC...I found a few other things ...But if I am going to get jammed here You need to remember I was 16 when I got it I have a picture of Hendrix pluged into it To me thats pretty fucken cool...And the rental list of the different bands that used it...It has always had a mod the 2- 250pf caps have a 383 PF domino cap before it...And your nuts if you do not think some amps sound better than others..I play guitar and make music I do make my own guitars...Not amps, but in the last 3 years I know enough now to find what $1,000.00 guru didn't bother to look for....