Something I'd consider is disconnecting the leads so some heat shrink can be slipped over the wires to eliminate them possibly shorting together. A bunch of labor, but still cheaper than a new transformer.
@@PsionicAudio , Cambric tubing (heat-resistant, varnished, dielectric cotton tubing) was the traditional insulator for transformer wires and motor windings, and would be more heat and abrasion resistant than shrink tubing; modern silicone tubing is even more heat-resistant and compressible than Cambric and has greater dielectric strength, especially under humid conditions (Cambric is hydroscopic). Fitting additional insulating layers into that tight end-bell notch could be tricky. The ultra-tight, short, twisted transformer-wiring bundle might have been part of the problem..... Did you have to cut the bolts off to remove the end bells? I presume that you tried using alcohol to soften the "shellac" (your word), but I doubt that would soften transformer varnish. I've used nitromethane to soften Glyptol and other lacquer-like locking compounds, but I don't know if it would soften that type of varnish. Nitro requires exceptional caution to work with, and it will damage most plastics or painted finishes. Smells better than acetone, however....
@@IL2TXGunslinger I saw the bell cover marked 'made in USA' . . .but that does not mean it was. Many Chinese electronic crap is marked FCC/UL approval but not even close as the CCP mark all these and ship them to the US. All those Chinese SMPS are notorious RFI generators.......killing some frequencies on amateur radio bands !
Transformer's on the older Soldano's where made by O'Netics out of Seattle and then Murcury Magnetics after that I believe, and the amps where made in Seattle as well, in California now at BAD, until their warehouse burned down at least, never made in China
Hi Lyle, great and informative video as usual. One thing you said concerned me slightly. In the comment you made about attenuators, you suggested that you aren’t a big fan of Weber attenuators. As a Weber 100 owner I was wondering what particular concerns you have ? I normally use mine in conjunction with a 50w JMP plexi for bar gigs. Plexi high treble on around 7 jumped with normal channel on around 4. Attenuator vol around half way. Should I be careful about damaging the amp ?
@@PsionicAudio thanks a lot for the reply Lyle. Would you recommend that I open it up and check the solder joints then ? I’m an amateur amp builder. Have built 2 plexis and a champ from kits.
I had no Idea Soldono used Magnetic Components/Classictone transformers. It looks almost identical to their multi-tap Twin Reverb transformer, if you could even find one now.
The old ones used DeYoung transformers and they were supposed to be the main dividing line between the SLO and his other models. With the relaunch, the switches to Magnetic Components, because DeYoungs we no longer available. Now they’ll have to switch again
@@chrisquinn9104 it is truly unfortunate they went under last year. Thankfully there’s at least three US companies still making transformers for guitar amps still. Classictone was my favorite.
Did we find out if the owner was using an attenuator? Also, could it be possible the owner was using a bad speaker cable or has a bad jack on the cab causing the transformer to over heat?
It kind of looks like an installation oversight. Just pinched alittle then with heat and vibrations=short=magic smoke release. Hopefully no transformer damage.
