Vintage Fender Vibrolux tube guitar amp repair Static noise fix D-lab How to 

As a player, I would not want any of those filter caps -- nothing but ATOMS! Dude. You're doing all that in bare feet? You must REALLY know what you're doing!

You're not just an electronics guy. You are a curator of classic amplifiers. Not many guys wouldn't leave those Ajax caps in there and sell them on eBay for $50 each. I hate those guys. It's dirty to rip people off because they're ignorant of the inner workings of their electronics.

You totally saved my bacon! I have a gig tonight and my Fender Bassman was cracking up real bad. I thought it was a torn speaker. A little deoxit and I am back in business. Thanks!

Bloomin' excellent channel, alcohol, whimsy and solder - respect from the U.K.

This man is incredible.

Nice amp. Good job on the repair!

Don't usually comment but D-lab I love your vids. Please keep them coming. Entertaining and I'm learning a lot so thank you!

I truly miss my old blackface Vibrolux. One the worst decisions I ever made to trade that amp in the late ‘70s. Nice video!

The old VAIIIII-a-BRAYto! You are fantastic, fella. Great video.

Love your work D., thanks for posting.

Thank you so much for your videos, i have leaned a lot a great learning curve for me and everybody that is watching your very fine channel...blessings from the UK...Nice red wine :-)

SCOPE-eramus! LOVE IT! And then you totally outdid yourself with "Speakeramuses"! I want to live in D-Lab Land!

nice work! loving these videos

Detail repair carried out as it should be done, thumbs up Mister Terry. More 🍷

Very good repair video, good procedures. Isn't it so nice to see an unmolested vintage amp when it comes in for repair. It just breaks my heart and ears when I see them come in and another so called tech has removed all the "ajax" coupling caps and replaced them with orange drops (harsh and brittle sounding). You gotta have the "Blues in those old blackface Fenders" or they just don't sound right! And Thank Goodness you use an oscilloscope and an audio generator, it is a must have for amp repair! Pulling the OT CT is also my preferred method of bias adjustment, indiscreet and accurate. Then, if needed, the power tubes can be individually checked for match. Wine for the mind! You did a good job for that customer, I hope it was appreciated. 👣

Good work. Good tube test techniques! Thanks for sharing!

I love all your videos and i have learned a lot from them. Thank you sir and thank you for your service. I like the juice idea,lol

D-Lab always gets a thumbs up from me.

Thank you so much!!! your video was quite helpful. Greetings from México

Love the video. Hope you make more videos just like this, very informative and too the point. I'd let you work on my amps in a heartbeat. GREAT amp tech here.

Certainly enjoyed it. Thx!

Super informative! Now ive got a project for the weekend haha

Nice job , Terry have a great day

great video! I learned alot! Thank You!

Very nice! Please more guitar amp repair videos. I totally dig 'em.

I like how you left the blue Ajax in there. Great video.

Hey Ted! I love your videos, even if i don't actually mess with this stuff, it's interesting to kind of troubleshoot some issues and more or less get the repairs done faster when you tell your repair technician what you think the problem is. You should shoot a small video of the owners playing the amps if they want to so you can show a before and after and whatnot. Cheers! // Viggo

Dude. You are awesome.

I once read that DeOxit is not good to use on tube sockets as it coats them; but rather TV contact cleaner on the sockets. But this guy's a pro so he knows his stuff ...

Nice work Terry, nice amp i gota say too.

really appreciate the new camera the closeups are unequaled on youtube. thanks!

New favorite channel!

Terry this is a great video! I love your Fender amp videos, especially. Speaking of that I have a Vibroverb I want to bring in to you to get a couple power tube ceramic sockets installed. Will be calling you soon!

Nice tips to clean those tube pins Terry, cheers 🥂

great channel, very helpful for us noobs te get an idea of what might be wrong with our amps, you should make a tutorial on home basic maintenance.. cheers

I sense the spirit of Leo fender A tech guy who doesn't play but loves to see guitarist happy. Great video.

Great Terry! Nice job!!!

Terry you're freaking awesome. You are one relaxed dude. Cheers!

all these vids from this guy are excellent, thanks D Lab!!! 👍🏻🍷 cheers!

Great Stuff!!

Good man, Good video!

love the video, you have the talent....

Cool I’m fans from Thailand

Aaawww! The liquid courage, used it many times!

Great video! Nice job recording and commenting. I have a 66 Deluxe Amp (Not Reverb). It crackles pretty loud when warming up. I've been told it;s the output tubes, the pre-amp tubes, the rectifier. I'm sure you;ve come across this many times and wonder what you think it might be?

D'lab, Can you some day explain the reverb section how it works on an old fender vibrolux reverb, I got one and I can't find the problema in it, thank you.

Great info on current draw via center tap of output transformer!So... I measured 60 ma, (at 460 volts plate )...split in two equals 30ma per tube. What is the range from cold to hot bias in ma?Thanks for your help and informative videos!Jeff

Ur D real back to D future guy hands down! my jr amp making noise on d 1st tube 12ax7 no Master vol noisy n it cuts out? thanks for any advice

btw i’ve got a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb reissue (type: pr 239), got it new in 2010. works great but the vibrato died a year or two after i got it. i’ve replaced caps, resistors and other pcb components in other types of electronics, but i wonder if this possibly a DIY fix for me.

How to bias an old trayner, point to point. I looked at the schematic and I can find a bias pot. Help!

outstanding

Very cool amp...

I have a ‘62 blonde vibrolux head. Can you mod it get the high end sparkle of a B circuit ‘62-63 Bassman? Also the Bassman has more compression.

Great vid... I had my '68 Vibrolux looked at by a local tech a couple of years ago and had some caps done as well as the bias. Sounded great! A friend brought over his BiasMaster unit today and I was a little surprised to see that the amp had between 44-46mA as the idle current! That seemed quite high according to documentation...how dangerous is it to leave it running that hot? It sounds great and I'm hesitant to drop it to 30-35ma! What do you think?? Thanks!!!!

Nice work! I’m looking for someone to work on my 68 twin in New York, any recommendations?

I'm trying to take off faceplate from my 1968 silver face twin having trouble around the pilot light area any tips?

I'm just getting 'round to viewing your videos. I have a question about this rebuild. When you removed the old Mallory caps, why did you replace them with the ceramic disc caps? All the other Fender amp rebuilds I've watched say to use the "can" style caps, because the discs tend to pick up RF

Ted, had the 6L6's not worked out to 33 mA each,.. for example if they were too high (>44 mA), what would have been your remedy? Bias them down with resistors?

For the bias, you explain that you disconnected the center tap connect one ammeter probe but you didn't say what the other probe was attached to. Is that the output from the power tubes?

Good video. I would like to see you add the guitarist though putting it through its paces......Russell D.

A safe, but slightly more complicated and accurate way to test the bias is measure the DC resistance of each primary winding to CT on the OT. The take the voltage drop over each one and use Ohm's law to find the current. You'll find that will yield the same results as the transformer shunt method without running deadly current through your meter as well as the bias of each half of the OT primary (instead of the entire primary and dividing by two). The only downside is if you have 4 output tubes, you'll have to take the average current for each pair.

I have noticed something weird on a tweed Bassman of mine. Plugged in the guitar volume pot makes noise when turned. The pot is good. I have measured 300mv on the guitar cable jack when plugged in the amp , first time I see this. Any idea ? greetings from France.

Rad. I have the same amp. I need to change the caps and I want to add a ppimv.

Is it ok to put tube shields on el84 tubes?

When you tap on the tubes how do you have the volumes and knobs set?

I thought if the knobs had the setscrew was on 1 not 10, and the 8 was not the snowman 8, the amp was post CBS? did the owner replace the knobs?

Howdy, Terry. That's a nifty little tester you use for your tubes - what kind is it, and where might a feller be able to get one? Thanks!

hi... saw you vid..nice.. have a friends 83 fender concert on desk. rebuilt with adjustable bias to run the 5881 he had in the unit. C- too hi=15mv/ma at test point(1ohm between gnd and 1-pin8 on output tube). 475 B+ with the 5881s. after mod i have correct 36ma/mv at idle . now that the amp is *functional; i have very little vol on eith chan. tones work ..but each chan is distorted.. no clean. ?? swapped tubes out 1-2 at a time with know good. no change. swicthing ped/knobpulls do their job..i am stumped. bad OT?

ah yesss! "liquid encouragement"

Terry, I love your videos and have found them incredibly helpful! I always believed that you had to remove a capacitor from the circuit to test it properly. Is this just a myth?

Great videos! Just curious as to when you tested the capacitors before removing are you not also testing the capacitance of the rest of the circuit in parallel? I would have assumed any component needs removing before it can be tested. Having said that I'm not much of a wine drinker so that could be where I'm going wrong...

Dear D-lab, it is not the right topic for this video but I wanted to ask you if you encountered a tube becoming microphonic not due to the tube itself but to its chassis socket where it is plugged ? In other words can a socket induce microphonics into a tube ? Sounds strange I agree but all my several brand tubes (6SL7s) cannot be microphonic !! Thank you.

Great overview of 66 Fender Vibrolux Reverb chassis you nailed it so even I could understand the issues. I have this same amp but zero electronics experience and would like you to service it, replacing any noisy transformers, preamp tubes, capacitors and etc. It’s a great amp I inherited from my best friend who died some time ago and would like to keep it in as good a shape when my friend played it. Are you game?

Is it Terry? Jonny Here... I really love your channel... what with all your COOL usage of test equipment... really old school pro. In what part of the country are you located? I'm in Los Angeles. Thanx for a great vid and... cheers

Heck! Looks like the original DIRT!! From when God first made dirt!

I followed this method, unmounted tha caps with different values, but when outside the circuit they gave me good values. After replacing them with new caps, inside the circuit these new caps gave me the same exact values measured on the old ones. So I was wondering how those values inside the circuit can tell if a condenser has to be replaced.

Wish you were in Houston

Liquid encouragement,😂😂😂

Do you prefer WD-40 over contact cleaner for the scratchy pots? I have been afraid of the WD thinking it has some oil residue in it! You do great work, where are you located.

I have a peavey stereo chorus 400 1987-D model amp..works awesome..however..i live i roanoke virginia . i wish i could get this amp to you to check out and see if anything needs to be updated or fixed..let me know where your at i might be able to ship it to you..thanks..what is your email address.

I'm a big fan and a long time watcher of this channel, I own a '69 vibrolux Reverb so I recently came back to this video for a little insight from the master. You sure do top quality work almost always, but the installation of those 25uf caps was pretty sad to see. It really isn't very hard to empty the eyelets of solder and trim/fit the new caps to fit properly ...instead of attaching them to the old leads and dangling them in the air. This amp is a masterpiece and should be treated as such. Keep up the good work Terry, but tidy it up jeez ;)

Somebody got in there and tweaked the CAAANtacts

Does this bias test work with dry white wine also ?

Where are you located? I'm in Texas.

You’re the guy to ask ... do hand wired amps really sound better than PCB amps?

Would beer work?

How do I get in touch with you ?

Any idea on what's wrong with an amp if it's not getting the amount of volume you need? Like it just lost volume mid song.

Sure wish you could tell me why my original '63 Fender Reverb tank starts a hum after a few days of "ON" / playing through it, then "OFF" ... Changed out the caps, couple diff 6k6's, changed the cable leads to and from the tank ... I have spent a small fortune paying two repair "techs" to fix this thing and neither could. What sayest thou kind Sir? (I just tracked down your Email address and sent this message to it; so hopefully, you will receive it!). Thanks!

would love an AT1000 .....

The trouble with old amplifiers ... or even new ones, is finding good-sounding, affordable tubes, which can make all the difference in how an amp sounds.

Hello, could i ask if you could check out my vibrolux hum video.. cant find anything like it on RU-vid. . Had no suggestions either. Have you come across this. Many thanks

Tube amps sound great but if you look at them the wrong way 💣

Last month I saw an old 60s tube Sunn bass amp at Guitar Center for 800$ w / 15" speaker. If I had the money, it would have been mine. It was in pretty good shape, but who knows what was inside? Don

What is the model number of your crusty old heathkit audio generator?

Why would you clean the pins right over the socket? Just saying.

will my tube amp works if one of the pre amp tube is not working/glowing..

If you still have that amp, I will be glad to send you my address! (But please clean it up, first!)

I just cannot understand why a tech would replace some but not all of those ancient electrolytics. BTW, I use chopsticks from Panda Express for the ancient Chinese chopstick test. lol

7:58 LOL: "Liquid encouragement" I use Red Label the scottish one, from the highlands of the brave. I'm realy sorry but try the usa one's a Jack D, but i get more distracted... More better the Black Lable.... woooot my hears hear more highs.... * hic *