Old rusty transformers

[g1]

In any case, if they didn't test them both when brand new, the tests can't mean much. Maybe the clean example ran hotter right off the assembly line. The rust could be completely coincidental.

[Justin Thomas]

But I don't see how selling people on the idea of rusty transformers being better than non-rusty transformers, helps them business-wise. In fact, I'd expect more of a, "if it's rusty, then what you really need is a brand new big fat Mercury Magnetics transformer to replace it with..."

[COUGH] FENDER RELIC! [COUGH]

"Replace that $hiny new guitar with our already-blown-out mojo-matic cru$ty-ru$th $$$tratobla$ter, and all for the $ame proportion of inflated price a$ one of Mercury Magnetic$'$ left-in-a-leaky-barn-to-ru$t-for-ultimate-tone tran$former$!

BRING $$$$$$$!"

Anyway, just addressing the "marketing..." And I don't see what was so wrong about "buy ONE guitar, play the everloving hell out of it, and don't pay a dime for mojo!"

Justin

[bob p]

I'm not defending them because I don't know squat about MM other than their transformers seem to be ridiculously priced... I understand you have a bone to pick with them, and that's fine...

That happened to me a long time ago. The loss on the transformers doesn't bother me as much as the loss of trust in someone who I had formerly viewed as a trusted supplier of premium-grade product. In my case, Sergio and Company had my complete trust. That ended when I received a shipment of what I thought were low quality rejects. Their refusal to properly handle the problem when I complained about it only made things worse.

I understand that QA problems happen, no big deal. It's how a company responds to those problems that makes them reveal their true character. In my case I was able to unload their defective transformers to customers who were willing to accept factory seconds at a discount. What bothers me more than getting the bad shipment was that I was given a line of bullshit when I spoke to the company owner. He obviously thought that I was some dimwit who would believe anything that he was told by a self-professed transformer guru. The combination of what in my opinion were unethical business practices that were intentionally sugar coated with fables didn't sit well with me. The personal contact, not the transformers, are what ended our business relationship. Since then I've bought well over 100 transformers somewhere else.

That relationship left me with the opinion that the business owner was lying to me, trying to exploit what he thought was a lack of knowledge on my part. Caveat emptor.

But I don't see how selling people on the idea of rusty transformers being better than non-rusty transformers, helps them business-wise. In fact, I'd expect more of a, "if it's rusty, then what you really need is a brand new big fat Mercury Magnetics transformer to replace it with..."

The following is parody. don't take it seriously:

I think that Mercury Magnetics could have a business interest in spreading the belief in rusty iron transformer mojo. Imagine that they're dumping all of their factory rejects outside to let them rust in the weather. Maybe they're getting ready for the rollout of their new Vintage Relic line of pre-conditioned rusty transformers.

Oh! The tone!

[bob p]

Back to the OP's reason for starting the thread:

Randall, I wouldn't worry too much about that iron. Based on your descriptions I expected them to look a lot worse than they look in the pictures.

Given the rough overall condition of the amp, I wouldn't expend a lot of effort trying to pretty it up. That'lll just turn it into a money pit. I think that amp is far enough gone that I would restore it as a derelict, sort of the amp equivalent of the Rat Rod. IMO those amps that are ugly on the outside, but are modded on the inside to kick ass and take names are some of the most fun amps to show off because their first-look appearance gives everyone low expectations.

On the subject of faceplates: Where are you guys finding authentic reproduction Fender faceplates? They used to be widely available, but they've been hard to find since Fender started cracking down on counterfeit faceplate sellers. Now I think the only place to find them is through the fly by night vendors on ebay.

[The Dude]

I just got a chance to look at the pics and agree with bob p. I was expecting much worse. I'd just clean it up a bit and give it a good checkup. IMO, I wouldn't bother to tear it down.

[Justin Thomas]

And a phenomenal-sounding beater is less likely to be stolen, except by a player - a street seller wouldn't want it, cuz his customers enter shiny & new.
There's a reason almost all my junk is ugly.

Justin

[nickb]

Without making assumptions, I don't see any data that allows any objective conclusions to be drawn. All that I see is mojo marketing hype.

those articles are written the way they are written on purpose -- to lure people into believing in mojo.

Look out for my new transformer line. I call it "RusticTone". The magic is in the special Fe2O3 coating.

[bob p]

RusticTone. Damn. That's good!

[The Dude]

Look out for my new transformer line. I call it "RusticTone". The magic is in the special Fe2O3 coating.

Truly, the brown sound.

[Randall]

The pots are shot, jacks are shot, sockets are shot, power cord is frozen (won't flex), filter caps are beyond shot, cab is shot, wires are brittle, bypass caps, and I don't trust the fiber, been down that road. The rust may not look so bad in the photos, but the corrosion is major. It's had a hard life, and probably stored under a trailer or a leaky shed in the sub tropical Florida heat and humidity. SO, tear it down it is!

[Chuck H]

And a phenomenal-sounding beater is less likely to be stolen, except by a player - a street seller wouldn't want it, cuz his customers enter shiny & new.
There's a reason almost all my junk is ugly.

Justin

Early on when I was just "modding" amps I would make some effort to keep them looking as purchased. One such amp was clearly a beater old Marshall JMP that someone had recovered badly in white Tolex and added a fan to. I think the hole was made with a sharp rock. The "Marshall" logo was repainted with black spray paint and a third switch was added to turn the fan on or off.?. Anyway, I built my own modified circuit inside and kept the front panel with the stock arrangement. My franken strat guitar was also done custom with a Seymour Duncan JB mini in the bridge hidden under a faux single coil cover and series/phase trick wiring. I got comments on my tone all the damn time with that rig from guitar players in the audience. My response was always "I dunno.?. It's just a strat and a Marshall."

[bob p]

Part of the fun of doing stealth mods on a beater amp involves keeping the function of the knobs true to the amp's labelling. I loved it when people would say, "Wow, I've never heard a Bassman that sounds like that, what did you do?

"I just plugged in my guitar. The tone is in my fingers."

[The Dude]

The pots are shot, jacks are shot, sockets are shot, power cord is frozen (won't flex), filter caps are beyond shot, cab is shot, wires are brittle, bypass caps, and I don't trust the fiber, been down that road. The rust may not look so bad in the photos, but the corrosion is major. It's had a hard life, and probably stored under a trailer or a leaky shed in the sub tropical Florida heat and humidity. SO, tear it down it is!

Well, I guess you can't tell everything from a picture. I'm curious about those bonus pots added to the front panel where there should be jacks. Have you discovered what they are, how they're wired or what the mod was? And, for my own curiosity, do you plan to leave them or are you going back to stock? Not that it matters- I'm just curious.

[Chuck H]

I wonder sometimes how many of my old mods have ended up in the hands of other techs for repair or maintenance. I know those old mods sounded good, but I wonder how they would have been received from a technical perspective. I do know the people that ended up with those amps wouldn't have wanted them changed or "fixed" in any way that changed the tone

I did a VibroChamp for a guy that never used the vibrato and wanted more distortion. Needless to say there is a lot of leeway with that scenario. I did my best The panel knobs no longer correspond to their function, though, obviously. This guy owns a studio and says that that it's a VERY popular amp for recording. He say's he needs to tell thee guitar players to stop messing with the amp and play the tracks. He's genuinely surprised no one has tried to steal it! I am appropriately flattered. The amp is called "The Leonard" because that's the owners name. I penciled and kept a copy of the layout and circuit. I've intended to build one for myself for over fifteen years.

[Mick Bailey]

I've had transformers in vintage radios rusty to the extent that the laminations have been forced apart and broken the winding. When I've sawn through them out of interest to see what's happened the core sometimes breaks up like fruit cake. The problem with rust is that unless it's dealt with it will keep on rusting under humid conditions and needs to be sealed or treated. Rust between the laminations means air and moisture have a better chance of getting in there to continue the process.

Just like a rusty panel in a car - it won't get better over time.