Having worked on amps on and off for 35 years, including building a few from scratch, I am a total channel nerd. Working on amps in the past I had thoughts about stuff being cheap but told myself that I just didn't understand - then you come and bust down that wall. For the last year I have taken your opinions to heart when buying gear, keeping long-term maintenance as a high value in my decisions. I consider myself a hobbyist at best, but I'd like any reasonable investment to at least be better than what I can sling together (and I use G10 garolite boards, eyelet, high quality components, star grounding - which are the easy stuff, layout, expertise are what you SHOULD be paying for). Keep fighting the good fight, sir!
Sold mine 15 yrs ago just to loud. I run my marshall sl5 combo at 5 watts with a mullard, to my original jcm 800 412 at 16 ohms. Archer od in front I get the anvil clank and the woody violin tones absolute BLISS. By far the best tech channel on the tube.💪👍
Fantastic once again a big fan of your work. May you please do a video of any amps that you think is great stock standard without having to do many if any mods please? Thankyou in advance.
Do you have an opinion on the "Joey Mod" that's been done to these amps? I've never been in love with the red channel and I've heard it really makes it sound much better. Just curious if you're familiar with it or not. Thanks for the content.
Question about the grey board in the lower half of the screen. Lots of empty stuff marked out. Is that just because it's used across all the amps and this one doesn't need those components?
i just bought a 2007, 100w, out of town over the internet, but what I'm finding with this one, both channels have absolutely no bottom end (I need to use the dreaded DEEP switch, bass knob at almost noon to recover bass, normally that would sound terrible, as you know) and there's definitely gain loss compared to others I've played The seller claimed tubes are all good, (I found original Marshall brand pre-amp tubes, and very cheap old looking power tubes), I don't trust him because he claimed the head was in excellent condition knowing the power pilot light and channel light flicker several times (in unison) when turning on the amp, one time it flickered and stayed off for several seconds, I obviously need to take it in ASAP but I need him to agree so its covered under his so-called 90 day warr he's denying me on, he said when the amp becomes disabled to let him know, I even paid his extra couple hundred dollar price thinking I was purchasing Peace of Mind but instead I got this ($900 usd) I was hoping maybe something jumped out at you in my description, if so I'd appreciate it 👍
Have you tried to ask ChatGPT for example which mods AI thinks to be best sounding, or tried to get AI to help to troubleshoot or reveal the main problems of a certain amplifier? I myself haven't tried yet but I'll try soon if I have time to sign in. 😁 I would ask the AI whether I should add an EF86 input stage into my amp and if so, for what main reason. Update: I asked AI and it answered: Installing an EF86 input stage into a guitar amplifier may affect the sound of the amplifier, but whether or not it makes it "better" is a matter of personal preference. The EF86 is a pentode tube, which means it has five active electrodes, and it is typically used as a high-gain preamp tube. It may provide a different tonal character than the tube currently being used in the input stage, such as more gain or a different harmonic structure, which some people may prefer. However, it could also lead to increased noise and microphonics, so it is important to consult with a professional or the amplifier's manual before making any changes. 😁🤨
@joeambly6807 really? Then what is? Jcm 2000 have bad pcb boards and other dumb issues, mesa recto styles are a nightmare to work on and have jfet j175 issues and I've seen them just broken sitting at the store, bugeras???... b52 at100 always broken, my Elmwood Modena had a relay literally catch on fire during practice. All anecdotes I know but the peavey 5150 barely has anything on the board in comparison to 99% of all the other big high gain stuff it's looks empty yes I've changed resistors and stuff due to age but the amps always still work to some degree, they are simple amps with not alot going on my biggest concern is some design flaws with the standby switch popping noise on literally all them, bad molex connections (easy fix.. takes a few minutes to hard wire them) old caps and scratchy pots from age. If they are untouched as in no bias mod they're one of the most reliable amps ever due to the super cold bias imo. I also follow a lot of amp repair guys on RU-vid and the 5150 is hardly ever on there unless it's for one of the issues I already mentioned.
@@resistorstudios ribbon cable problems, bad quick connects, intermittent speaker output grounds, burned heater traces on power tube board, loose screws that are important ground points on pcb etc. All common issues with these amps (I've fixed many!)
Do you know. All these decades of making amps, you'd think they would be able to design them properly. This is why I won't buy marshall. Had tsl combo spent more time at the factory than me having it. Total six times under warranty.
