People should be enabled to fix their tools and stuff themselves or by a local expert imho. There is far too much waste in our economy. This guy is a gem and example of what we miss in our society, we need more sharing experts. No bullshit, straight to the core of things and fix it. I value this very much.
While I agree people should be able to fix these by themselves, and in this case it can be done, they shouldn't be fixing something that can kill or injure them if they don't know what they're doing.
@@McSlobo well, that is too me the same as people learning to drive a car, walk on the sideways and not in the middle of the road, matches are freely available(some countries still sell guns at supermarkets), use fork and knife safely. It all starts with a little education. For some it may be harder than for others. A lot of things can be taught. Usually it is harder to stop bad habits than to learn something new. I don't smoke, never did. Kills you as it turned out. I call it common sense. It made me an old man.
Videos like these a very much needed here on RU-vid too many industry plants on here telling people how great these products are and not enough guys like you speaking the truth
Amen! This is the main reason I went solid state, too many corners being cut on tube amps, especially Supro and Fender. Gonna hold out for a boutique amp builder who can build me a 5E3 circuit.
Too many industry plants? Lmfao. Gtfo of here with that nonsense 🤣🤣🤣🤣 industry plants. Come on with that foolishness. It's gotta suck to be that paranoid that you think everybody is an industry plant any time they say anything positive about a company. Smfh. That's 100% ignorance and dumbassery. That's a pretty crappy existence. It's people like you that I deal with any time I talk positively about my guitars. I inevitably get accused of working for the company for one single reason alone. BECAUSE I HAVE GOOD THINGS TO SAY about my guitars. Yet every time, someone has the bright idea that "oh you must work for XXXXXX Company to say that, kind of stuff". Nope. I'm just extremely satisfied with the products I purchased. If that makes me an industry plant, you need to go back to grade school. Because that's just plain nonsense. If someone having good things to say = industry plant to you, you've got issues that need attention. Because that's not a logical progression of thought for any normal person.
I've said this before and I will say it again; Fender should be ashamed of themselves for building the junk amps they are building today. I cannot believe they cannot figure some other way to get better (as in, handwired) amps out to the market without breaking a player's bank, and still make a profit. I bought a 1964 Super Reverb, brand new, in early 1964. IIRC, the list was $400, which was A LOT OF MONEY in 1964, especially for a dirt poor kid whose parents had just divorced the fall before. My brother got us a deal on two Fenders for $325 each and we were able to get them financed. I STILL HAVE IT. So it has been a good life-long investment (I was 16 then; I am now 73 years old). That amp is well worth spending $300-400 repair dollars on, any day of the week. BTW: ALWAYS use GOOD quality filter caps. My choice is the ATOMS. They last for years and more than likely, will not let you down on stage. I NEVER had a handwired Fender amp quit on me on stage and I spent 35 years as a weekend warrior.
Fender is run by Ashkenazi Khazar Jews now. These people are not the same as the Hasidic Jews or the Sephardic Jews. The Ashkenazi Khazars are also more in line with the Sadducees, who believe in no afterlife. So, they believe in screwing you out of your money. This group is responsible for all the wars and misery in the world since about 1700 A.D.
Yeah, that's $4052 now. So yeah, hand wired amps cost 2500 now, not 4000. So, sounds like you should figure out the math before just insulting fenders pricing model. 2500 feels like more now because wages haven't kept up with inflation in relation to the middle class.
I was able to successfully replace the crappy filter Capps on my 65 DRRI with F&T caps. (My first time replacing that many components)Wow! What a difference they make. The amp sounds so much better. I was surprised at how much difference it made. Thank you for these videos. You’re fantastic!!!
I go into mini fits of rage just looking at how newer fenders are built...particularly that green PCB with the pots mounted which had to removed for what should be a quick easy pot cleaning. And the thing is, these really aren't that cheap at retail yet they're built with similar standards as disposable import gear.
I wish they would do the same thing Peavey does with their amps where they have a line which hand wires those to harnesses which plug into the main PCB. It couldn't be THAT much more expensive, especially when you can contract out that kind of work.
@@douro20 except even new peavey are complete shit inside, all made off shore and as cheap as possible now and lots of micro components. You're better off learning how to build your own amp these days.
@@fuzzb0x436 100% correct! I knew not much about building amps, but played throughout my life for my living. After a hospital stay and recuperation at home, I got bored and came up with the idea of getting on the computer and finding out about efx. There’s so many sites out there and that just lead me to the amplifier sites and since then I’ve built my own super reverb’s tweed deluxe, AC30, and worked on my own SuperLeads-No more paying for repairs or biases... as The popularity has grown so has the price of parts and such especially for cloning, but if you just want the performance of say a super reverb you could track down a fender bantam bass ‘69 + - I found one in a pawn shop for $300. It’s a one time model but it was built in surplus Super reverb chassis and cabinets from 64. It’s the same eyelet construction as all the rest of the black face era and it just has a large expanse of no parts on the board where the reverb and trem would be. You can just fill these with the right parts, and add 410s to the baffle if you want or whatever maybe a 10 and a 12 like I’m doing. The main point being if you want to get away fairly cheap grab a chassis and cabinet from something and build what you want into there. I built some thing called a tweed blues Meister which is something like a Dumble preamp into a fender tweed power section into a gutted fender super 60 1x12 chassis and cabinet. Oh and one more thing my 69 fender was completely unmolested 100% original with original brown electrolytic caps, and fully functional with no hum, it just needed a real good pot cleaning!
I appreciate what you’re doing here ,Lyle. If I saw this video when I started really getting interested in amps a few years back, it would’ve saved me a lot of time resoldering things in the beginning! And it’s always good to have remedial lessons from time to time. Thanx!
It shows the level tech you are. A lot of younger trchs dont understand how important it is to keep there iron tips clean. I put solder on my tips before turning the iron off to keep them in good shape.I am an rf tech as of late 1970s and have just started getting interested in guitar amp repair. Simple circuits but fun to learn tricks from you on the amps that only years of experience can be learned. Thanks for the nice videos.
Great video, thank-you! I appreciated seeing your technique and explanation of the mechanical attachment of the components before soldering. The only thing I felt was missing was hearing what is sounded like when it came in but it sure sounds good now. :-)
Thanks for saving me allot of money in repairs with this issue. Straight after delivery of this amp i had many issues, thankfully covered under warranty. One big one i had was the fuse blowing every time i turned the amp off. This one i figured out through help from a few groups online that shared simillar problems. It was a bad Rectifier tube and once replaced and adding a slo blow fuse, this issue was fixed. I am pretty sure the issue here in this video will happen to my amp eventually so yeah, cant thank you enough in advance for saving me some money. Cheers.
Wow... Just changed the filter caps on my five year old 68 Deluxe Reverb reissue to the three 22 microfarad and one 47 microfarad F & T capacitors with the jumper pin as you did in this video and what a pleasant surprise! The amp sounds a whole lot better and with a lot less noise... Other than the job of scraping the factory applied glue off of the old caps and PCB board, as well as unsoldering the pins from the old caps it is a relatively straightforward remove & replace project as long as you have a steady hand and basic soldering skills... Thanks so much Psionic!! Made an already nice sounding amp actually sound better!
You are the fucking SAINT of off-the-shelf clean guitar tone. Sir, I thank you, seriously, from the bottom-end of my heart. Best regards from the UK, shall now subscribe with a happy alacrity!
Love your channel. I have a lot of tube amps, including a DRRI. I bought mine in 1991, one of the first reissues into the Seattle area. It has been one of my favorite amps for 31 years, and surprisingly, it is still on its original caps. Yes, I know it's time to replace, on my "to-do" list, even though the amp is still functioning perfectly and the caps are not leaking. F and T's are ordered up. Just wanted to illustrate how the influx of crappy components the last couple of decades and Fenders decision to go with them has hurt their reputation. I've got two dead amps right now, very nice Rivera and also an Egnater Renegade. They were my go-to amps for gigging for years, great sounding and versatile amps. Rivera has super high quality components. When the time came for re-capping, both were nearly impossible to work on. The Rivera has a ton of little caps that are difficult to access, remove and replace. The Egnater is cheap Chinese construction, also difficult to access and replace the cheap filter caps. Ease of maintenance should be an important part of designing a tube amp, but maybe manufacturers these days figure that people will just throw them in the landfill when the caps go bad. Or, they erroneously believe that there are all kinds of great amp techs out there that work for 20 dollars an hour...Sad, and short-sighted. I'm starting a pile for dead amps, maybe someday I'll build something from some of the parts. In the meantime, I'm sticking with with my old amps that are actually serviceable. Thanks for your excellent videos, really appreciate you sharing all your knowledge!
Mine went down just days before warranty...had a new years gig had to drive 3 hours to get a replacement..three hours to get back to the gig...been good ever since..about 15 years now..great sounding amp
Sweet Video! I fixed amps for about 10 years, and I am plenty happy to not have to deal with these anymore. The worse ones were when they would wrap 2-3 pc's around the inside of the "Tweed style" amps and all the connections would be a nightmare to reassemble without breaking more solder joints. Yuck. My standard spiel was to tell everyone to get rid of the amp and buy an old silverface fender from the late 60's into the early 70's because they had great potential and they were so easy to fix that they would pay way less in the long run. Those amps were still pretty cheap back then in the 90's. Subscribed!
Awesome video great job and attention to details. Im in the process of restoring my princeton stereo chorus with all new pots,jacks and new mojotone reverb tank. And im replacing power supply capacitors as well the amp is 33 years old but it has a great clean tone. Which is how i stumbled on your video. Thanks for sharing 👍👍
Just discovered your channel and will be back! Thank you for your frank and honest comments. I believe a manufacturer that screws his customers on purpose using his reputation to support that procedure is despicable. Fender needs to listen up here as their dirty deed that they own 100% has been revealed to the world! The LAST thing an audio amp manufacturer should do is cheat on Capacitors! Use the best, customers are happy. 5.00 more for the amp at purchase time would go a long way if the amp lasts 15 years instead of 5 minutes (pun intended) as this one did! Great job truly enjoyed the video!!
As a Fender customer, I have to say this is beyond disappointing. They just lost a customer for life for f***ing over their customers with their cheap tactics. I am beyond disgusting and disappointed here. A $1500 amp should not break 5 minutes after the warranty expires. This is ridiculous. I will never buy another Fender product again because of shoddy worksmanship and deliberately faulty designs like this.
Cheap caps have been the bane of Fenders for a while. I briefly worked as an authorized tech back in the early 2000s, and even then I was recapping these reissue amps (and replacing lots of TLO72). With regard to your decision to delete the series filter caps, the success of that probably depends somewhat on the over-voltage capability of those capacitors. With a solid state rectified setup, that B+ voltage will be quite high until the power tubes warm up and start drawing full current, pulling the B+ voltage down to reasonable operating levels. That first filter stage takes a pounding when the amp is warming up. (EDIT - I have since realized that's a tube rectified amp, hence a reissue, duh, but this comment does apply somewhat to tube rectified amps with directly heated cathodes as they warm up faster than the output tubes)
Great video and information, I would use a 33 uf on the main reservoir cap and 16uf on the other nodes as the original specs calls for, I end up doing these on most modern fender reissues to get the original response cuz most of them have bigger capacitor which is fine to reduce the 60 cycle hum but they make the amp attack response too tight and sterile, one thing I love from the vintage ones is the looser feeling and this apart from the speaker is what I found separate the sound from the reissues, Fender is using 47 to 50uf on the reservoir and 22uf on the nodes on new ones and that make them very tight and sterile sounding for my taste, just MHO
you're very skilled at this my friend ,I learned a lot here I've got a '65 Fender Deluxe blackface ( no reverb, sadly ) to re cap soon. Not quite the same but some of your suggestions here make sense no matter what you do, like the wattage/temp of soldering iron and the way you mount the caps . Thanks ! :-)
Everything that is massed produced today is made to break or wear out in a few years. This is not surprising. I am glad that it’s something that is fixable, so you don’t have to trash the amp. I hope that once this is fixed, something else doesn’t go bad and there is a cascade of failures.
About 10-15 years ago, Illinois Capacitor made very questionable caps and Fender ordered a huge batch of basically defective capacitors that made their way into a lot of their amps. Replace them with high quality capacitors and the amp is good again.
I would like to add that a design flaw in this amp is the fitting of a fusible resistor R69 in the bias supply. I have seen a few of these go on amps in my workshop. This leads to the output valves having no neg bias and then drawing full current. There is no HT fuse so the valves burn the rectifier burns and then the transformer overheats and finally its internal non replaceable thermal fuse burns out. The transformer is a warranty period only replacement part from fender. The only replacement that would physically fit is from TAD. This transformer has a higher bias voltage winding so some mods to the supply will be required . Be warned ! change R69 for a standard 1 watt type.
You are not lying I returned 4 recent Fender amps. All had issues, and Fender tech pointed out so many flaws, and cheap components. I said screw it and bought a Tone King Imperial MK2, because Fender just wouldn’t cut it with any of the new reissues. Even the new 68 Custom Pro Reverb 40w that I wanted to love, had trouble on 2 sent to me. Just thankful to Sweetwater for letting me exchange past 30 days, as the Fender Goldstar Tech pointed out such issues. Only thing now on my Tone King is a possible bright cap mod…but it has an attenuator, so it’s a work around for some pedals that may sound harsh at low volume.
Love this video. I have a PTP 1966 Super Reverb combed through by a tech to be reliable . 400 bucks and it’s amazing. Picked it up for 1000.00 , 400.00 in repairs and it’s less money overall than a new DRRI with all this BS inside it. Fender needs to do better . Offer a good one for 50 bucks more with good filter caps.
Glad I found your videos. I love my 68' reissue Princeton but the bass is WAY too much! Like it is on 2 and still bassy! I figured swapping speaker and need to fix a few resistors and odds. I had an 83' Fender (Rivera) Concert that was amazing and you sure hear the diff in newer fender amps. I wish you were closer as I am in Canada. Thanks for your videos.
I replaced the original caps on my 1977 Peavey amp last year. They still tested good, but I replaced them anyway due to their age. I'm happy to know that after 45 years quality control and material science has advanced to the point where caps only last 3 years instead of 30.
Great video, ! I really appreciate Your experience, and attention to detail. Fender stopped making decent amps in 1983 or so. There have been a very few Fenders made as "re-issues" that are not too bad, in the early or mid 90's. There are so many issues with crappy parts, pots, boards, push on lugs , bad circuit layout etc, i usually do not work on those made after 1983 any more. There is absolutely no need to glue down caps. Silicone glue produces concentrated acetic acid when it cures, i don't know if the "non-reactive" type really is non corrosive or reactive. Hot melt glue is less problematic, that way, and easy to remove, as isopropanol makes it release, but i can see no reason to use anything, as it was in the old days. For C 31 & 32,... It makes zero sense to have series caps of unequal value as the voltage does not distribute evenly across the two when they are different values.
Fantastic video, thank you. Picking a used one up today, hoping that hum isn’t present so can I at least have some time with the amp before caps go south.
I have the original blonde reissue from the initial 1993 limited edition run, since new. It made it 27 years before I recapped it all. No leakage, just preventative maintenance. And it did have the same IC caps, where F&T now live happily.
@@PsionicAudio I have no doubt the cheap caps Fender uses leak. I just wanted to point out that not ALL of them leak immediately. I'm sure they got cheaper as production increased. Maybe the first run were slightly higher quality. I couldn't say for sure. Zero issues in 27 years speaks volumes to me though.
After watching closely some of your videos I'm a new subscriber. I was actually interested in buying a 56' Deluxe Reverb RI here in Europe but after seeing a few of your videos that's just not gonna happen. It's price in Europe is 1700EUR and now when I know how crappy these things are made I just gave up the idea, if I find a used one for half the price prefferably lower (even that would be too expensive too), I may get one and I'll give it nice ride to a tech the second i get it. Bad solder joints, bad tubes, bad filter caps, loose connections, flimsy wiring...it's just too much crap right out of the box to even consider buing a new one at retail price. I might even consider ordering a clone, anything is way better than paying 1700EUR for a piece of crap. What's more, they (Fender) have been doing it like this for ages, with no improvement to QC. They should be ashamed.
I had a hot rod deluxe. My amp tech told me he wouldn't even look at it. The work he did on my 60 and 70 fenders was incredible. Had them restored to original spec removing decades of mods. I gave the hotrod to a friend of my sons. Whose father died onstage during a soundcheck. I believe he was working with Adam Levine at the time.
I had George Allesandro handwired mine. I think he pretty much throws all the crappy stuff out. In the end you have a nice dependable Amp with a Eminence G A speaker
At 8:40, Get yourself an OLFA utility knife, the type with the snap off blades so you always have a fresh sharp tip available. They are surgically sharp, much sharper than any brand of standard utility knife blade that I have tried. I never much cared for that type of snap off razor knife in the past but several models of OLFA knives have a large thumb wheel to lock the blade and not just a little plastic locking lever. Get the 18mm size ( blade width). The blades are high carbon steel and they are scary sharp, especially the black anodized blades, which are double honed. They're also relatively thin, and flexible enough to skim along the surface of the board as you cut all of that silicone off.
I second that! By far my favorite snap-off blade cutter knife is an 18mm OLFA, model "ARBN-L". It's got said large thumb wheel which let's one adjust the blade between loose, reasonable tight but moveable or fixed rocksolid. Also it can be operated single-handed which comes in handy at times when you got to readjust. It has a solid metal lining for the blade and overall build quality is very good! Ergonomics also nice and a very clean design. As OLFA is Japanese, so is the blade company, TAJIMA. Those black blades are the sharpest on the market, noticeably sharper than your run-of-the-mill blades. They're called RAZAR black blades, made by TAJIMA.
I’ve had nothing but trouble with IC caps. I bought a bunch of them and used them on my builds and repairs before I realized they were crap. I’ve had repair my work returned for rework more than once. Live and learn. Spend the money for good parts and save your reputation.
I like a guy that uses the term 'spooge' (sic); not enough utilization of descriptors like that these days (except in guitar/amp repair vids). It used to mean something more nefarious back in the day, however lol!
Very helpful and well done. Your reasoning for choices offer insight into the newer (and lesser) reissue DR. BTW, what are your preferred brand of cap ?
The customer is always wrong is now the credo of most manufacturing companies. Their truth is we live in a disposable world . And quality sales and service is going the way of the buffalo. As is brick and mortar stores owned by ... and worked by people who pride themselves in hard work and a fair deal. Quality watching here.... thank ya
Even in the hand wired series, Fender uses garbage caps. I used Sprague caps for many years, but they have become way too expensive. F&T really are the best overall choice for electrolytics. Great video!
@@klm2395rh I have one and it doesn't sound as good as a real 64 or a proper clone the problem is the output transformer is cheap.i have a clone that blows it away.buy a clone from mojo tone then find a real blackface output transformer.way better and cheaper
The internet is full of complaints with these new Fender amps. Yeah times have changed. I have one old Fender Amp from 1976, and the only thing I had to repair after all the years are the filter caps. ! Even the pots are still not scratchy after 45 years !
I’ve got a 69 and it’s still working fine 100% original I am just going to do the caps as a matter of preventive medicine. I got lazy and just ordered the parts in a kit for about $35-40 delivered. Older days I would’ve tracked them down from a radio supply and saved money.
I have a DRRI from around 2002-03 that hasn’t had this problem; had the power tubes replaced about two years ago, otherwise it’s been great! Bookmarking this video for future reference if needed.
They did a reasonably good job with these reissues, but as time goes on you will see lower quality components being used. Capacitors are usually what gets the pinch first in modern electronics. Then jacks, switches and potentiometers. I do like that they used Belton tube sockets.
I just did mine about a month ago on my hotrod deluxe....exactly the same..all the caps were leaking...one had the end completely rotted off...my amp would play and then quit....once i replaced them it was back to normal and sounding great...I used some hotglue to hold them down..
nearly bought one , glad i didn't, they sound good but they are an old design that doesn't have many of the features newer amps have. I got a H&K tubemeister instead, cheaper and more features.
just bought the Fender Stage 100 for like 150€s, from like 2004, my point is its Usa transformer costs about the same, so I probly scoored, aye? seriously, Its an amp for me...
I had the exact same issue before. If this video was around 2 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have torn down my DRRI to rebuild it with a Hoffman AB763 circuit.
I have a feeling a few more people will be heading over to Doug’s EL34 world to start learning how to build their own much more reliable product. And don’t forget the other “D”, Uncle Doug! For great explanations of all the basics into the arcane problems that can arise in old circuits.
Thank you for the video, amazing. I am confused by the removal of one cap. Would it not save ''Fdr'' a lot of money by simply not installing it. Not quite understanding the redundancy.
