My grandfather had a tv repair shop for most of my childhood. Watching these videos reminds me of coming home from elementary school in the afternoons and into his shop. He would always have Jerry springer on and pretend it was an accident. I would sit and watch him look at circuit boards and schematics. Thanks for the bit of nostalgia from your videos
Wow what a mess! If the guy who did that really works for an authorised Fender service centre they should fire him, preferably out of a cannon! Know what mean about costs, I had a chap bring me an old Italian amp once and said "get it working if you can, whatever you have to do", so I cleaned it up, replaced a couple of resistors and caps and charged him £50 (it was a few years ago). When he came to collect it he was outraged because he said he only paid £7 for it at a boot sale! I told him my time is my time and it costs what it costs, dont matter what your amps worth!
It is pretty. I like that tolex color. I've replaced dozens of those plastic Fender jacks myself. I've taken to keeping a half dozen of each kind of them on hand.
I feel for that customer of that blue's junior when they goes back to the original service Tech and find out that they lied to them it's the biggest bunch of BS. That's the kind of crap that makes me not want to do business with someone ever again. Keep up the good work.
Price of repair has nothing to do with cost of amp....which is the reason I no longer work for people. I wait til owners are so frustrated and sell on Facebook market places for $75. Then I will purchase, repair and try to resell. I use to run a boat canvas shop and told customers it was $75/hr shop fee plus materials (which I thought was cheap) and I use to get bitching from hell at the final Bill. I would end up taking a bath of 30%, 40%, 50% off - whatever it took to get rid of them. I never did find a reliable solution for those instances, other than turning down more and more work over time. Until one day it didn’t make sense to stay in business
I bought a used tweed one in the past. When you remove a control knob, you find there is no nut and washer securing the pots to the panel. Just the solder point to the board. I sold it. I went for the Carr Mercury.
Years ago I purchased a very popular mod kit (caps, resistors, audio pots, jacks) and decided to mod my hot rod deluxe III. I realized what you said about improper soldering. The pads lift extremely easy, the pads are very unforgiving. I ended up taking it to a tech to fix my mistakes and his reaction was: " $110 bucks no worries, I pretty much know what it is, call you when its ready..." Not even opened the amp up he knew based on the pattern failures and of course the rookie factor..These are good sounding amps but the components and build could have been better..
WOW! Glad to see you making the point about cost of tech time / components versus the cost of some of these modern amps. I would imagine, by the time you were done with this, it is going to cost near the price of the amp if the guy goes ahead with it.
And thats why I converted my Blues Jr to point to point wiring using a conversion kit. The cost of the kit is well worth it when you consider how much more difficult it is to work on these amps and the number of things that can go wrong with its components and PCB. My amp is now easily serviceable if anything goes wrong which is now a lot less likely to happen. You're not overcharging your customer for diagnostic time at all because no matter how cheap the amp is it still takes time to find out what's wrong. I think it's worth replacing the tube board unless your customer can buy another amp for the same money.
Wow this is the first video that ive watched of your stuff that i now can put a face to the voice ;-) I own a Bjr that has had a lot of work done to it, so I enjoy all these videos you post. Thanks :-)
I had a hot rod deville that didn't work anymore....For the price of the supposed repair, i bought a 59 bassman kit (being a cable solderer myself) put it in the cab, and now I'm in much better sounding heaven ! I totally understood why the cost was so high : these modern fender amps are terrible ! They are made to consume and buy new ones ....My bassman is forever ! and I learned a great deal.......
When someone tries to desolder a connection on a circuit board and they use a "solder sucker", the solder pads will pull off. Solder braid like we have seen in the Psionic videos is much better for desoldering.
Just looking at the ribbon cables on my 2001 Blues Jr. gives me hives. With a Weber Blue Dog speaker and adjustable bias, it was a great amp for the cost and it worked for years. Unfortunately the input jack went bad, then I started chasing gremlins in the amp and it just wasn’t worth the time and effort to fix it. Some day I’ll use the chassis, cab, and transformers to build a better amp.
That's what I'm working on now. I bought the replacement turret board and tube board from Doug Hoffman. There wasn't enough room to fit the reverb circuit on the new board, but I'm fine without the 'verb. It's had upgraded transformers, filter caps, and a Cannabis Rex speaker for a few years. I really liked the tone, but the gremlins that were surfacing weren't worth the time and effort to fix on a fragile PCB Fender from 1999. I have a couple of tweaks I'm going to do, plus a carpenter friend of mine is going to build me a bigger cab the size of a late 50s tweed Tremolux. We're going to use good wood too. 20"×22"×10" compared to the stock cab's 18"×16"×8 3/4". At first, I thought about building a 5E3 or some other iconic simple circuit but I chose to just rebuild the Blues Jr. so I could have an amp with EL84s and a solid-state rectifier instead of another amp with 6V6s and a tube rectifier like my 2 other amps. Hopefully whatever you do with yours comes out rockin'!
Some styles of mini 9-pin socket (for 12AX7'S, EL84'S etc) can be through-bolted to the PCB with a skinny, pan-head or countersinking bolt passing through the center of the socket and through a hole drilled into the PCB. If manufacturers weren't so cheap they'd through-bolt every PCB-mounted socket rather than rely on the solder joints to secure the sockets to the board. In this buggered and beleaguered amp, however, bolting the socket down to the existing double-sided board would require a lot of foil-trace cutting, jumpering and re-routing. Do-able, yes, but time-consuming. If I had no choice but to repair that board, I'd bolt down the P-I and output tube sockets. Still, I think you made the right call ---- no sense in banging your head against a repair when it's such an inexpensive, poorly made amp. Trick question: when is a mini 9-pin socket NOT a 9-pin socket? When it's a 10-pin socket with an actual contact, not just a tie-point terminal, in the middle! A few 10-pin tubes were actually designed and manufactured, such as the 6C10 triple triode (and the 6U10, I think, not 100% certain if that one had 10, or 12 pins). I seem to recall Ampeg might have used the 6C10 back in the 60's; they did use 6K11 and 6BK11 12-pin Compactron tubes.
I used to have one of these....I really disliked the pots, tube retainer, and it eventually developed strange popping noises. Years on I have a Laney cub10. It cost peanuts, but sounds so good, is very loud, and seems pretty decent.
So sad to see this kind of amp-abuse. I’ve been guilty of this too when I was really new to amp tinkering, but it’s so common on inexpensively made PCB Fender amps. I cite my 1990s Princeton Chorus with the flimsiest board I’ve ever seen. I’ve given up on mods or repairs for this reason. It is what it is, and it’s never going to be any better than that. Well diagnosed issues on this Jr, thanks.
Much of the reason why I bought a thermostatically-controlled soldering iron was having damaged a pad on a Blues Junior PC board. As it happened, it was a mounting hole pad, not an electrical connection but it told me that the boards are a little fragile and can't take a lot of heat.
I am waiting to see you put in some real tube sockets and get rid of that mess. I hate those tube boards. If the owner would go for it, it might be a bit more labor up front, but in 40 years, it will have easy to maintain tube sockets. instead of the next dead board and shanky wires.
Some "Fugly" work from the past. That's always scary. Could mean FUBAR in some instances. Or F.U.B.B. by Wishbone Ash. {Great Song BTW.} Let's hope for the best.
Amen. I see this a lot. These videos have helped me tremendously. I can relate to the value of the amp versus the cost of repair. Most of my work is cheap guitars which I hate, hate. Thank you for your video contributions.
Whenever a trace gets destroyed a jumper has to be neatly put between points a and b. All too often see where someone just scrapes the foil a little and either tries to jump it with solder or lay a short jumper. The stresses will usually just rip away a little more of the trace. This could be fixed as it but not by someone who is doing it for a living. How much is a new board and perhaps a couple new sockets anyway? That would determine whether I swap it or fix whats there, and of course if it were someone's what they want to do.
My experience with manufacturer warranty service ^^^ (not Fender, but big, not gonna name names.) I guess somebody's gotta learn somewhere. Mine was loving amps and deciding I'd found a somewhere to put some passion, lol, after that experience (the fix, six months later, was trivial.)
If you end up getting a right angle attachment, the cheap Dewalt model works just fine for general amp work. I got one to drill chassis mounting holes in new cabinets. Saved a lot of time on measuring for perfect alignment.
An H44 series Ryobi driver/drill that converts from straight to right-angle pistol grip is very handy. They run about 45 bucks. True Value sells their own single-speed version, also with convertible grip, under the Master Mechanic brand, for only *25 bucks!*. The Ryobi has a bit more torque, and two speeds, but the True Value driver/drill has built-in LED illumination for the business end, and an actual flashlight in the butt end. Definitely worth the $25!
@@goodun2974 I was looking at those type of electric screwdrivers. They’re to big to get into tight places, like drilling chassis mounting holes in cabinets using the chassis as a template. Right angle attachments barely get the job done.
@@matthewf1979 , I was thinking more in terms of Lyle using a smaller cordless screwdriver than what he has now for taking amps apart for repair. As I age and arthritis starts to kick in, one learns to appreciate *not* using a tool that is bigger and heavier than it needs to be! I've never used a right-angle adaptor; I did have a corded Makita right- angle drill that I bought in the 1980's and used heavily for several decades that was relatively slimline and compact, but I finally wore out the gearbox on it. I haven't seen anything else quite like it in the hardware stores lately, whether cordless or corded. (I have been selling, installing and repairing audio equipment for over 30 years, plus some years as a telecom installer; my drills and drill bits got a lot of use!).
At 22:25, why'd they use a fully plastic, chassis-isolated jack and a metal-collared jack right next to each other ? Are they making an audio ground to the chassis through the jack? Or grounding out a tremolo or reverb circuit with the footswitch, via the jack being bolted to the chassis? If so, that's a really poor design.
IMHO, PC boards don't belong in tube amps, especially those with tube sockets directly mounted to them! I strongly feel that the heating/cooling cycles of the tubes and the repeated expansion and contraction of the PC board will eventually cause the copper traces to separate from the board over time. Simply changing a tube could further loosen connections. The classic Fender amps that used eyelet boards in their construction along with chassis-mounted tube sockets are much more durable, easier to service and any loose solder joints can be easily re-flowed. The upgraded tube board in this case would be at least a step in the right direction in terms of time and labor saved and future reliability.
Any thoughts on a blues jr. that has a distorted decay when a string is picked? Installed new tubes so far. Thanks for your insight into the world of amplification
Hello, I have A Question, what year is this amp? I have a Blues Jr. i bought in 1997 It is a reissue of the older ones, all hand wired in a Tweed cover, It still works, well, but what year was this amp Made, thank you, Cousin Figel
There are no reissues of old ones. It’s the same amp for decades now. Some don’t have C9. Some have tolex, some tweed. Some have chrome panels, some black. Some different speakers over the years. Some kill the output tubes even faster than others but they all kill them intentionally. There are no “good years” of this amp. It was designed to have an amp that looks cool at a certain price point. Huge compromises were done to make that price point. And now 30 years later they haven’t fixed the original issues because people keep buying them.
Love your videos! I watch them everyday. Thanks for all of the great tips and insights!! You mentioned that there is a replacement board for the tubes made by a fellow tech. Do you mind sharing the information for this? I’m working on a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 and I think my fix might be something similar. Thanks!
I think he means Brad who runs the Brad's Guitar Garage RU-vid page. I don't think he sells those higher quality boards to the general public though, only to other techs. Also, the board is specific to the Blues Jr.
I have a blues junior and love the tone that I get. If I ever upgrade, would you have a recommendation for an amp with similar tone but more structurally reliable?
Outside "vintage and collectable amps", whether or not an amp is expensive is irrelevant when considering expensive work. The real question is will that money spent give you "your sound"? Or, Would that same money be better spent amp shopping?
A new board sounds like a great idea. It looks like the previous person used a really hot soldering iron. Maybe a soldering gun. And I hope that's not plumber's solder.
This is true for all mass production now - walk out to your car and look under the dash ;) or raise the hood I don’t like it either - but I’m learning to cope (slowly)
I was a silver level guitar tech in the 90s for fender at a local store and their reimbursement structure was so bad that I called to terminate my agreement. I was consistently loosing money on warranty work. When fender called to speak about this I told them my customers would rather pay what its worth to get it fixed properly than get it fixed under warranty with a rush job. FMIC was not happy they acted like they were doing me a favor by having me in the family. pfft
Good information. Just for the heck of it (and not wanting to dip into your secret techniques) when you said wrong tip and too hot of an iron) what would you recommend for tip size and temperature settings. Thanks again for all your work and videos!
I use a small chisel tip. I can use a corner for small stuff and the full flat for larger stuff. I run at 700F for most things. 750F for lead-free PCBs where I need to work really fast. Sometimes 800F if I needed to heat up something metal that has real mass. Hakko 936.
@@PsionicAudio Alex Chilton is the MAN! also, i've been enjoying the hell out of the vids you post, so thanks. it's always refreshing to see competent work being done on tube gear, i dig seeing how other people wield the iron and think about circuits. hope it stays fun for ya!
Gotta love these “Authorized Service Centers”. Otherwise known as (not all, but most of the time) the cheapest bidder. We have a Peavey “Authorized Service Center” in my town. I know the guy. So does practically everyone else here in town. We all know of his “work”. I wouldn’t have him change the battery in my overdrive pedal. He would have to put his bottle of vodka down long enough to change the battery. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience him. Let him have his vodka. I’d rather pay money to someone who is proven and competent. So much for the worth of a warranty.
That can be the case, but I also know some very good techs who are authorized service people for various companies. I was offered that "position" by two major companies that shall not be named, but the prospect of my getting paid half my usual rate, being paid on 90 day cycles, and having to write an essay on everything I do was not persuasive. I remain unauthorized. ;)
@@PsionicAudio This is why most of the authorized service center techs are young, inexperienced guys trying to get into the field after blowing $50K at ITT tech ;)
@@PsionicAudio The only essay I write is in my Lab notebook, as I am still learning and writing helps me think about the issue, intended design, shortcomings and approach to repair. Sometimes, it’s as good as it can get with what it has, and just make it work reliably again and that’s it. Citing a ‘72 MusicMaster.
@@PsionicAudio Absolutely. My comment wasn’t a slag on all authorized service center techs. Like surgeons, some are absolutely brilliant and some are complete butchers. From the looks of this tube socket, I think that surgeon was the latter. 😂
Whoever did this overheated the soldering iron on the gas ring. As an aside, lead free solder is terrible for reliability, prone to cracking and tearing components apart over heat cycles. I never use it for repairs.
So assuming that the factory authorized tech did set out to just replace a tube, and then screwed up and tried to fix it and hide the mistake, what in God’s name were they were trying to do? I guess I could see someone who was a total amateur cause that much damage trying to fix some other problem on the board, but what started it? It’s not like you slip with your soldering iron and burn sections of the board to a crisp in the midst of a tube replacement! I wonder what in the world started it?
Psionic Audio These amps are great, I've seen Jeff Beck use them when He played club gigs. About Your point on cost. of repair. An even worse amp to work on is the Bluesbreaker 007. It would take about 2 hours to take the chassis out to just clean the pots.
Doesn't really matter for reasons I don't have time to go into right now. DC negative is not the same concept as ground, though they are usually tied together.
I understand everyone has a budget, but say no to amps with board mounted tube sockets. I'm not completely anti PCB. They have their applications, but tube sockets ain't one of them. Every time you take a tube out the board flexes and the solder joints are stressed. They're built to fail...quickly.
Often the case. Not always. Vox, Orange, Bogner, Suhr, there is a long list of companies that do PCB mounted sockets well. They have mechanical strength and plan for heat, current, etc But yeah, Fender and Marshall drop the ball here. Lots of fly by night import brands like B-52 etc are even worse.
The Hoffman turret board is $35.12 hoffmanamps.com/MyStore/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=enter&thispage=TurretBoard.htm&ORDER_ID=!ORDERID! Hoffman also has all of the other parts to complete the job. He ships fast and gets it done right.
@@matthewf1979 hoffmanamps.com/MyStore/catalog/Amp_BluesJuniorTubeBoard.htm Appears he sells all the parts to make a quality replacement board and excellent instructions: el34world.com/Hoffman/Blues_Junior_Tube_Board.htm Thanks for pointing us in his direction. There's a source for complete replacement boards on Reverb but they ship from the UK and they want $45/per. I'd always prefer to support small/local (to me) businesses.
@@ernestobarechesto1541 plus with Doug Hoffman you can be 100% confident in anything he sells. And there is so much information on the EL34.com website, to say nothing of the forum there. Best group of people I’ve ever come across on the internet.
I tried the Billm mods on my Blues Junior and lifted a couple traces. These boards are of very low quality and some of the worst I've ever seen in my limited experience. Although I got the amp working, I plan on pulling the boards and rebuild it using a turret board. Minus the reverb.
Watched till the end, and the message that appeared made my jaw drop. Hopefully the customer can wring some honesty out of the previous 'authorized tech'. They should buy that board your friend makes and then pay you to install it as well as the charges thus far.
i bought a fender amp about 10 years ago, it has never work properly, noise, fuzz, it has been in the shop 4 times, and nobody knows what is wrong with it,,,,,, trash!!!!!
Start with pedals. You won't kill yourself while learning how things work and how to solder. This would be a good starting point: buildyourownclone.com/products/classic-overdrive
@@PsionicAudio ive been collecting caps diods resisters for years i need a parts list for like an overdrive pedal cause ive got an ungodly amount of parts
@@leasttrending www.pedalpcb.com/ if you want just the board and a parts list. If you want to do an amp kit, there are a few companies doing 5F1 Champ kits, though I agree it's smart to start with lower voltage pedals. Watch this channel more, and watch Uncle Doug until you understand what he's talking about when he's reviewing schematics. Uncle Doug did a couple videos years back on building a Champ from scratch. I watched them a few times to absorb and have a reference when I built my first kit. A few of the big pedal companies around now got their start on DIY pedal forums, so reading there would be a good start too. Guys like Wampler have written books on this, so those would be good resources too 👍. If you've never soldered, read a schematic or layout, or stripped wire, or understand how to measure voltage/resistance, starting with pedals is the safest way to go.
No, as a matter of fact, this board was burned by the "repair." I know what usual amp-induced heat damage looks like in these amps. This ain't that. And I know and trust the client.
@@PsionicAudio I was just under the impression from what was said in the video that the owner thought this amp was new. If he thought that, and possibly bought it recently as a "new" amp, he got screwed. Not that he wasn't also later screwed by the sloppy tech's hatched job on those tube sockets... but still.
@@PsionicAudio The Blues Jr. has a tendency to knock out screen resistors (R35 & R36, both 100 ohm 1/2 watt). When this happens, I always replace D11 & D12 which are R3000 protection diodes, rated at 0.25A @ 3,000V. BTW, just replacing the screen resistors will bring the amp back again (might be a year or less before it comes back), need to change the R3000 diodes as well. I always do this if a bad screen resistor is found on one of these. Rest regards and love your videos, great info there! Tom HutchAmpMan.com
I can't really offer an opinion on something I've never played, let alone had on the bench. But I would think their absence on the bench is more about their scarcity in these parts than their reliability. I get lots of get good healthy amps in for checkups or minor issues - but this is a survey of amps used in and around Memphis. No Swarts thus far.
@@PsionicAudio Oh... Got it. I wanted to mention that I enjoy watching you work, you really do a thorough job. I hope the amp techs in my area, (Las Cruces, NM) are as competent as you.
No, though Doug and I are friendly and I do a good bit of business with him. His tube board is good if you are replacing the main board as well but not so great if you are keeping the main board.
When man discovers the 2 speed cordless drill. Bruh....next time make it easy on your self and use that high speed drill to remove the 4 machine screws that hold the chasis in the cab. Then you can use your high speed drill to remove the socket board. Your welcome.
