One of our viewers (@ForeverDownByLaw) asked for a video of Steve servicing one of his own amps, so when the opportunity arose we jumped right on it! In this video Steve reconnects with a Fifty/CL circa 2009!
Thanks for the video! It's great seeing the older models still in service and kicking ass. Folks that haven't seen the inside of a Fryette should be impressed by the build quality. My CLX is still going strong after 23 years, original caps as well.
7:20 I think most that think IC caps are bad, made that conclusion because they are seeing them fail after 20,+ years of service. Like you said, IC got bought out by CDE, and make caps in China, also Sprague was bought by Vishay, who has plants in Israel, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It's mostly about datasheet specs, and the quality control needed to meet those specs lately, as plants in China CAN make quality parts, they just need to conform to proper manufacturing. Some other YT videos have exposed "Off Brand" electrolytics as most likely rebranded rejects, that won't even work long at rated voltages without explosive results. There's a price point when making anything, some would keep it cheap by making unit's with cheap parts. Ebay sellers that sell "rebuild kits" mostly provide off brand generically branded caps, which provide a short term solution to a problem, but puts money into their pockets.
Good info on the caps. I knew exactly where you were going when talking about IC caps. I just recapped my original 5150. Used a mix of F&T and Vishay axials and CDE and Vishay radials. I’ll admit I steered away from IC even though I did notice on Digikey that they had a lot of “IC by CDE” branded products. It’s like you said, I’d just heard too much about IC being bad but I figured if CDE bought them then they can’t be that bad right? No regrets but probably didn’t need to spring for the F&Ts and could’ve stuck to ICs.
Fryette is an amp guys amp guy !! Next level !!! I’d totally like to just loiter at that bench for a few days lmao !!! I have had both of my VHT CL 100 and 50 head forever.. Now I’m gonna look and see if my 50 has those caps .. I love these videos !! Keep them coming please.
I’d love to come by and do a check on my 2006 CL100/EQ. It had some moderate-major cascading malfunctions a few years ago but has since been sounding fine this year. It’s still suspect!
You should send one of those to Jared at Tone Wars so he can hear the difference of the one he tried while comparing them to modern amps. I didnt think the old version was a fair comparison.
How come the mains filtering is so high? Why didn’t you guys use 100uf on the mains and 50uf on the screens? Wouldn’t the current values of 200uf on the mains and 100uf on the screens be a tad too tight? Thank you ! Great amps!
@@FryetteAmps true that. I have the VHT Pitbull 50 combo. Will it be more ‘ Marshall’ filtering if I change the mains to 2x100uf and the screens to 2x50uf? Cheers
A drop like that definitely would NOT break a PS-100 unless there was already a pre-existing condition that led to whatever problem you experienced after it was dropped. Like if a power tube was partially dislodged from its socket from rough handling during shipment. Happy to demonstrate that in a future video.
"Why would you transfer the cost of lack of your test equipment onto the consumer having them to buy capacitors they don't need". Yes, hear that you solder jockeys who say caps need to be changed every ten years.
