I have the same amp. It started making shrieking yelps last week. I took your advice and inspected the solder joints - found at least six faulty ones. I ended up reflowing around 12 joints, put the amp back together and...no noise. Thanks for the tip!
Yeah I'm having about one problem with the amp and the reverb doesn't work. It doesn't make any funny sounds, and when performing a visual inspection inside the cab, everything looked in order. I dunno what's up. Based off what i've heard, it could be cold solder joints or a broken trace
Wow this is really all new to me but this is the best tutorial I found and I will be able to repair my reverb pot without paying too much for repairs, thank you so much!
I've learned to embrace the solid state technologies. I have picked up broken amps for pennies on the dollar and repaired them for free most times. I like the SS technologies, it is reliable and you can do a lot with it. Before everybody chimes in to say that SS is junk that breaks down, take a look around any amp repair shop at all the broken tube amps. If it's electric, it will break sooner or later. Learn to fix it.
For those of us who have not delved into cracking open an amp, thank you... very enlightening. And thank you for showing that skill with the guitar is far more important than the gear.
Your other half has a delicious sense of humour at 11:43. Plus, the audio you have subsequently, while you're soldering, is very relaxing. Great vid on the key points to look for on one on these (or any) amps of this type. :)
Just a quick tip...The Soldapullt has a Teflon tip. It wont melt if you leave the iron on the solder when sucking it off. It's the only way you'll get all of the solder out of a feed-through ferrule. Great video, as always. That's a good sounding little amp.
Man, I've been wondering why the input jack on my peavey bandit has been spotty and I'm betting it's because the solder joints are shot on the board. Thank you so much for this video and the knowledge you pass on.
The first amp I ever owned. Came in a package deal with a MIM strat. Not bad for home use and couldn't beat the price. One thing about fender amps.....they all seem to have that fender clean everyone likes, no matter the price point or type (ss vs. tube)
That actually seems much better for the bedroom. I like my Yamaha THR 10x for the bedroom and my Fender for low level practice with drums. Want to get two GDEC's in Bassman mode for my Digitech 2120 for the ultimate bedroom set-up!
Catching up on your videos since I discovered your channel. You have a LOT of them. Thanks to Gregg for donating that amp. I 1/2 thought you were going to have a contest or drawing to give it away. Y’no what would be cool is if every amp you took apart that had pots mounted directly on the PCB is remount them on the chassis and run wires to the board like you did on this one. It could be your signature made-it-better stamp. Dude I wish I knew what you know about amps.
My brother in law picked up one of these Champion 30s at a thrift store (he wants to start playing at some point). Seems to work OK other than the channel switch. If I'm lucky, it just has broken solder joints there, but it shouldn't be too tough to find the switch if necessary. Thanks for the video, Brad, it gave me some idea of what to expect when I finally get around to opening it up!
And my repairs were finally made on this amp! The solder joints on the switch looked pretty good, but I reflowed them anyway. I touched up any that I found that looked suspect. I think in my case, the bad one might have been on the footswitch jack, so if you have a switch issue, it pays to looks at that jack. Amp works great now, even tested the channel switching with a Peavey footswitch I own. Bill will have a nice amp to play around on. By the way, I found out the the OD channel works pretty well with a Strat type guitar, but I wasn't won over with humbuckers. Fortunately, he has a Strat copy, which I hope to get set up for him by Christmas. Thanks again, Brad for the great video!
Thanks for opening up a solid state Fender for us. I have a G Dec15 that always has issues. Now I have a clue on what I'm looking at when I open it up. Thanks again for the content.
Wow, I'm really impressed with the dirty channel! This sounds a heck of a lot better than the Fender Frontman 25R I used to have. The dirty channel on that amp was very unusable.
Hanks for showing that. I need to learn how to do gear maintenance. If my 40 breaks I’d rather fix it than trash it... oh and 98 was my terrible year. Coming up on 20... rock on buddy.
Hey Brad love your channel been watching for a while now. The amp breakdowns , the technical side of electronics and tinkering reminds me of the days of Mr. Wizard..lol Very informative for us guitar players that are on the other side of things and have little knowledge of amp signal paths and electronic designs in general. Oh also glad no Millennials were harmed we'd hate for that to happen Lol.. cough cough i mean offended..
Finally someone that works on solid state amps.5 amp repair shops in the Los Angeles aria told me they only work on tube amps,hard to believe but true story.2 guys said I'd be better off buying new amp for the price of the repair. Peavey classic chorus 130 sterio series. Only has srachy tone knob and loose input jack.
It really would cost you more to repair it than it would to buy a new one, because it's a cheap, mass produced, fodder-amp. A fodder-amp is what we used to call amps like the Peavey Decade, with its 'Saturation' channel (yes, the same amp,) and the Gorilla amps with their 'Tube Stack' switch. They're fodder for newbies.
SOLDAPULT IS THE BEST YOU CAN GET . YOU WAIT TO LONG BETWEEN HEATING AND SUCKING . REPAIRED TVS FOR 30 YEARS NOW RETIRED . LOVE YOUR WORK AND VIDEOS KEITH
Hi, I'm a new subscriber to your channel and I plan on watching it often. This sounds like what I need to do to my amp. I have the same one, had it for years, since around 1990. One question, well maybe two. What kind of solder are you using and what wattage is your soldering iron? I enjoyed the video. Thanks Ray
My late 90s Fender Princeton 65W solid state with a 12" speaker sounds pretty damn good and has the power to gig. Much lighter and bullet proof than the same size tube amp. PS: Never had trouble pushing it in all the way:-)
I recently repaired a very similar Frontman 15G. The TDA power chip had failed, shorted and burned up the speaker. They don’t make the chip anymore but can still find them. The new chip starting clipping and I noticed it would stop when I placed my finger on it. Long story short, it was overheating and adding some metal to the heat sink solved the problem. I couldn’t help but notice that your mount/heatsink was a lot thinker in this amp. Unfortunately the failed speaker doesn’t make this amp worth repairing further so it is now a bench amp. Maybe I can find an old stereo speaker to throw in it one day and donate it.
dlunsford1980 but you're already in it for the cost of the part and your time. Yes that heat sink on this one has a large aluminum shim. A fan would solve it too.
The Guitologist I considered the fan but thought it was overkill for this. I had a smallish aluminum rail that I cut a hole in and added to the heat sink. Worked pretty good. I haven’t given up on the amp.The shop gave me the amp for my time but that only covered the chip and the hour of labor. It would be worth it to me to fix it and donate it. Once I find a speaker, I am sure there are plenty of places that would take it in the Memphis area. I was impressed that little amp chip produced that much volume. To think how far electronics has come in 50 years.
Awesome! Quick question: I see the Conn Strobotuner...have you had to replace any componates? I have mine and it seems to wander when trying to tune a guitar. Capacitors?
Little amps like these are great for donor chassis and cabinets and they can even be fun to tweak and mod since a lot of them can be pretty simple unless you get one with tons of digital effects and features.
Good day boss, I have a fender frontman 212R, and got a bunch of pots busted, primarily the volume, the ,High and mid of the clean channel, the volume pot , the high and mid of the drive channel and the more drive button switch, I checked out the internet for some replacement parts butit is way too much for the budget, Can I replace it with some local equivalents pots in order to get it running again? I'm gonna be using your method as I've seen it's quite economical and budget wise... Thanks for the future advice..
Brad, I just got myself a Deluxe 90 - a contemporary of the Champion 30 - and I want to change the clean channel volume pot from the stock 50K linear taper to a 50K audio taper, which makes a LOT more sense! Why Fender uses linear pots instead of audio is beyond me... The volume pot in the overdrive channel is a 100K linear; can a 50K audio be substituted without too much problem? (100K audio doesn't seem to be available in the Fender 'snap-in' bracket pots...)
Yep. And a proper microscope is on the wish list too. I might hit up sugar daddy Banggood for some comps. They seemed ok with sending the thermal cam. Why the hell not.
I have two of these and two 25r Sidekicks, the 25 are quiet, the 30s hum when nothing is plugged in, where the 25 plugged into the same plug strip is quie , is the ground contact bad??
Was the Volume pot broken to silence the guitar amp, do you know what might be nice is to have a KORG Nutube 6P1 stage for the first stage give it that Valve sound.
How do you fix a Fender guitar AMP that picks up radio stations I am using an connector plug adapter which allow me to plug a 3.5mm female or it could be guitar cable 1/4" to 1/4" and a 1/8" male to 1/4" female plug...straight to computer from AMP to my computer
Hello, It turns out that I have a 100 head lead mosfet and it doesn't matter which od / dist pedal I put on the clean channel they all sound very harsh and characterless if I cut the treble then they sound dull it's like all the pedals have the same sound, mxr Ibanez or boss, it doesn't matter which one, the cab is 2x12 with vintage 30, do you think it has a component in poor condition?
I bought a used fender blues junior in a tweed cabinet. A handsome little amp. One of the knobs was not lined up well with the numbers on the control plate. I loosened the screw to line up the knob, and saw that the pots were like the stock ones shown here. Soldered to the board, with no washers and nuts to mount them to the board. I know the blues jr is not a high end amp, but that is quite a poor feature on an amp that sells for about $600. I sold it.
Off subject but since you used it for this repair, Brad, can you recommend an inexpensive (ok cheap!) variac? Back in the day, ancient times in fact, there was a company named Eico and they made electronic kits. From a guitar amp to a light organ, and they had a varic which my boss had built for the bench. I wish I had one now that I want to repair an Ampeg B-15N that blows fuses. Thanks.
Thanks, Brad. The only thing I wanted different was a chicken head knob. But I had an amp 20-plus years ago that had those danged plastic pots mounted directly to a PCB, and sure enough, they will not stand up to gigs at all.
Hallo,thanks for sharing this video.I have the same amp but reverb tank doesn't work.Can you tell me where I can find one to change it (in Europe if possible!)?Thanks and regards.
I have this amp and when connected to something like an aux cord it only picks up the left channel, theres no sound from the right.. for example if I go to a sound test on RU-vid only the left speaker test will play and the right is mute. Any advice or help with this?
I know this might not get to you, but I'll give it a shot. I'm attempting to repair an older solid-state Fender and was wondering what temperature your soldering iron is? I usually have it at 350 for guitar wiring and was thinking that might be too hot for boards.
I have the same amp, though the reverb is all but non-existent. You can get a tiny bit when it is turned all the way up. Not sure what is going on with it.
hey brother brad - thanks for the tips - i resoldered a few joints on my crate - 19 and the hum's gone from the amp - hey, any further dives into the guitar center dumpsters? any interesting finds? diving in Ohio - found a set of fender tuners, 6 cables, 6 speaker cables. take care -
I have a Crate b10 xl guitar amp, it’s a solid state, very similar but much simpler, i was playing it sounding great and suddenly zero audio, not even a hum, but still had power and all connections are good, ive been trying to trace the problem on the board but I’m not quite experienced enough to figure it out even though it looks simple to solve
I have the exact same amp with identical problem and your video fixed it. Thank you brother. But my second channel(overdrive) is getting no power. Blown? Seperate transformer? Any advice?
did you notice any burned spots on the board? I would look for more cracked solder points, I also had a couple bad diodes, was using it 1-2 times week, running into both inputs, driving it like bar gig use for 3-6 hours each week for about 4 years before that happened, also volume knob joints cracked, once re soldered, works fine
Congratulations on the excellent work. Would you help me? At the time of video 3:04, 3:35 appear BLACK/RED and BLACK/GREEM. BLACK/RED = output of reverb tank? Thanks. Hug.
I've got a Stage 100 head from around that era (well technically it was born a combo) that my old band buddy gave to me (we both used it over the years). It hadn't been working for a while and whaddya know, I found a whole slew of broken or cold solder joints just like that.
I have a Fender Frontman 15G Amp Head that I purchased from E-Bay that was for parts or not working - parts look like the leads are rusted some completely eaten into. The amp has 2 of the TL072 Op Amps and one of the BA4560 Op Amps - I was thinking about changing those out since everything needs to be replaced. I will be going back with all Rubycon Capacitors. What would you suggest to go back with on the Op Amps - I have used the 4562 on a Jay Turser Amp that I rebuilt and they worked out great.
Well,.. may I catch the ball... a bit late? First : Ask yourself What is the goal of the repair/upgrade? My opinion here : As far as guitar amp goes TL072 and 4560 are excellent circuits. Most guitar amps have a limited frequency range, are relatively noisy, compress and distort... In fact, what most people like in a guitar amp would be considered slightly wrong in other audio gear ;-) So If you want an hi-fi guitar amp, you'd better build one from scratch instead of modifying one. And about capacitors... in 2024 most small value (4.7uF or less) electrolytics are now easily replaceable with film cap of reasonable size. But always check specs if it fits the intended use in the circuit. For new elecrolytics, I'd recommend those with the longest life expectancy : 105oC, 2000-8000 hrs and Low ESR and you'll buy yourself peace of mind for a while.
Great amp vids! Would you know where I can get a replacement pot for a Fender Super 112? R16 on the schematic (vol distortion pot) It's a 1M 30A pot, Fender part number: 024663. I contacted Fender and the they no longer have it. Seems other parts stores I've checked don't either. Thank you!
Hi...... That was pleasant to watch but way out of my expertise. I have owned a champion 40 for over 4 years. Never any problem until recently the volume knob started flickering and a sound drop and sounds like as if I've activated alow pass filter. No other pedal is connected, guitar directly to the amp. Can you please help me understand why is this happening?
The Champion 30 replaced the Champion 110 in 1999. The Champion 30 has 2 inputs and no headphone jack like the 110, The 110 has one input.I have had a Champion 110 for 20+ some years and the dirty channel is where I park at mostly but the clean is no slouch either. A more than capable bedroom / den / practice amplifier ( That's all I do ne way ) I like the silver face drip edge mojo as well. For those that say the Frontman 25R is the same amp I say nay! whatever the difference is there is a difference - speaker? case material ( my 110's are wood ). I purchased a used 110 lately for "scrap" prices because it has the clean channel out - however that works when the gain channel button is not engaged as the volume knob there controls the clean channel volume on this one as well. Go figure.The Champion 110 manual states that The Drive Channel incorporates Fender's innovative " Smooth Clipping" circuit which is designed to simulate the way tubes clip and produce the overdrive distortion sound......The PCB board is dated 1992 but the amp looks like it was in the closet for all these years. I bought a new identical fender volume pot ( same as your original pot in the 30)for it and came here to see how to remove the PCB board so I can get at it. I bought the amp in order to make an extension speaker cabinet out of it, likely intending to upgrade the speaker, although the Fender/Jensen speaker is well...... vintage. I wired in an extension speaker jack and am using that with an 8 inch Tweed covered Fender ss Bronco amp...but I figured if I can fix the clean channel issue why the heck not? Thanks for the video much helpful.
One thing I would of used is solder wick then that sucker. It heat sinks to the pad and wicks the solder out. Less likely burning off the pad. Another thing I do. I always seem to have a amp that is for parts that have some of those weird pots like that. I will most of the time test and measure to see if its the right value. If so I use them. Last thing I would of done if you don't want to go that route is offer to just replace all the pots for good ones if this person wanted it done like that. But everybody has there own methods. Over all good work. Though have to say you put a liner taper in there XD.
