Conn StroboTuner ST-11 - Wheel In The Sky

Here’s one you don’t see every day. Unless you’re Neil Young’s guitar tech, and then you see five. This old Conn Strobotuner ST-11 came in with a blown fuse, leaky cap, and busted power switch. When I agreed to take it on I never would have imagined that the hardest part of the project was going to be the switch. Just buy a new one and replace it, right? WRONG! So, so wrong. The switch has multiple stops for the different tuner functions, an extra long shaft to get through the aluminum faceplate, and also serves as the AC mains On/Off. And unless you have the carcass of another Conn tuner to scavenge from you’re out of luck. I eventually tracked down a donor tuner, but even then I had to strip parts from an old Delco radio to make it all work. The upside is that once it was fired up and calibrated it was both SUPER accurate and all kinds of fun to watch spin. If I could fit one on my pedal board, I would.

Fender Blues Jr. - Naming names for the sake of the children!

In my previous two episodes you saw me hide the identity of a local music store and make a snide comment about Chinese sweatshops. I bet you thought I was done. That the rant was over. Well it’s not over! I’m just getting warmed up!! ‘Cause it’s our time, our time down here!!!

Recently our local big box music store (cough, cough, GC) shut down and moved. Before they did they had a sale of all their floor demos and open box inventory. Not long after I started to see a steady stream of one amp in particular. The Fender Blues Junior. People snapped these up as either a light weight back up, or in many cases as their very first guitar amp.

The first one failed a few days after it was purchased and GC stood by their “no returns on sale items” policy. They referred the customer to the local Fender Certified Tech who replaced one power tube with a (used looking) Mesa Boogie EL84. The amp functioned for a few more days and then failed again. That’s when it came to me.

Both power tubes had failed (again?) and it was suffering from the typical burned screen resistors that this amp is known for. All that was easy enough to remedy, but there was something else odd. The power tube board had a cut trace and jumper wire installed. The work was well done and functioning properly, but the amp was purchased “new.” Strange.

That’s when the second amp came in. Same issues. Same weird jumper wire. Then it happened again… and again. These were obviously some sort of in store warranty repair or factory second. I contacted Fender to see if there was some sort of warranty coverage that would help these customers. They responded with a form email that listed the addresses of local Certified Techs, including the one that botched the re-tube and the store that had just closed.

So where does that leave us? Is this really what we want a new guitar player buying their first amp to experience? Can we not make a quality product and provide quality service for it when the time comes? I’m not pretending to have any answers here, but with all that is wrong with the world today can we at least make an effort to not ruin Rock-N-Roll? Now get off my lawn!

HiWatt Lead 100R - Just like starting over.

This mid-80s HiWatt Lead 100R came to me as a basket case project and was a repair many months in the making. Sadly, HiWatt went through some dark days starting around this time. The founder and designer had died. They were basically bankrupt, and the company went through multiple owners that could legally slap the HiWatt name on whatever amp they decided to build. Gone were the beautiful, hardwired layouts and top-notch components of the 60s and 70s. Instead we got weak, poorly soldered PCBs and a cheap sounding overdrive channel with diode clipping that was supposed to suit the current hair metal trend. Not great.

This particular amp spend a few years in a closet and was then passed on to a friend that “knew electrical stuff.” Everything had been rewired. Parts were removed. Parts were added. The rectifier was hooked directly to the AC mains, skipping the power transformer entirely. The preamp had several jumper wires that skipped over malfunctioning sections. To further complicate matters the only schematic available from this time period is a partial scan of some hand drawn notes with no component values.

The fact that this amp makes sound at all is a miracle. In many ways it would have been easier to build an amp from scratch. The overdrive channel sounds sort of like a Boss DS-1. If that’s the sound you’re after you’re all set. Shockingly the clean channel still retains the power and chime that HiWatt was known for. Crank the preamp and it breaks up in a pleasing, natural way that makes my ears happy. The build quality isn’t up to classic HiWatt standards, but it’s certainly not any worse than the stuff coming out of Chinese sweatshops today. So quit your whining already! Or at least turn up loud enough so that we can’t hear you. It says HiWatt on the front after all. How bad can it be?

'66 Fender Vibrolux Reverb - Summertime Blues

After a long summer filled with a heavy dose of the stupids it’s finally time to write about some repairs. This pristine Vibrolux Reverb was purchased at a local music store that will remain un-named. The sales tag sang sweet songs about how “original” and “complete” it was… Right down to its ungrounded two prong cable and failing power filter capacitors. As the buyer soon discovered this is about as helpful and exciting as contracting the “original” strain of syphilis. Both will kill you if left untreated, but hey, it’s original! Just like Cortez gave the Aztecs! The saddest part is that the store’s tech had gone over the amp and included a list of vague “repairs” that had been done. Things like “troubleshot vibrato circuit.” No description of a vibrato malfunction. No description of a vibrato repair. Just a billable labor line. Maybe he thought about it really hard? Said some magic words? We’ll never know, but someone paid for it.

Since the customer wasn’t thrilled about being electrocuted I replaced the AC cable and all of the electrolytic capacitors. Some new power tubes had been installed, but not biased, so I did that too. The good news was that the preamp section was full of lovely vintage USA made tubes that were all still working just fine. The thing I most appreciate about these vintage Fenders is just how quiet they are at idle. No hum, hiss, or buzz. Just solid smooth tone with verb and vibrato to die for. Or in this case, not die for.

Sunn Model T - The Rumors Are True

Everything you’ve ever heard about the old Sunn Model T amps is true. Believe the hype 100 percent. It’s absolutley elegant in its simplicity, rock solid in construction, and brutal in sonic output. This one had been in storage for a few years, but was soon ready to roar again. It needed a new set of tubes, and there was a previous repair to the normal channel preamp that wasn’t really working out. The only other issue was a cracked and acred power tube socket. The biggest surprise was how great it sounded at lower volumes. The master volume control just seems to “work” in ways that other amps don’t. My wife normally plays a vintage AC30. I let her plug in her Les Paul for a test run and after picking her jaw up off the floor her entire response consisted of one word. I won’t type it here, but it starts with an “f” and rhymes with the name of a Boston born NHLer who is one of only 5 American players to score 500 goals. Google it.

Sunn 300T - Move over bacon, we've got something meatier!

Once upon a time I was a happy man, living a simple, happy life. My 100 watt V-4 reissue was good enough. Loud enough. I was proud to own a mature, adult amp that I could carry with one hand. And then along came the Sunn 300T. The biggest, heaviest 75 pounds you have ever lifted. The fullest, most immersive bass tone to ever crush your soul. Too big to fit comfortably on top of my 6x10, all shudder in fear before it’s mighty heft. An amp that single handedly caused the great zip tie famine of the early ‘80s. Who among us doesn’t remember the frightened looks on our parents faces as we sat around the dinner table wondering how we were going to organize our cables?

This beast had spent a few years in storage and needed a good cleaning and a new set of tubes. The screen resistors were toast and the only HT fuse still working (there’s 3) was a 10 amp car fuse. This amp is huge in size and huge in sound. Once heard there’s really no going back to normal life. Or at least life without a sturdy hand truck.

Vox AC30 6TB - A Swing and a Miss!

Not every repair ends in the velvety sheet cake of success that I’ve become accustomed to. Mopsey’s Korg/Marshall era Vox AC306/tb came to me with a serious case of the snap, crackle, pops. My wife plays exactly this same amp, so I cranked up the overconfidence knob and acted like I knew what I was doing. The phase inverter tube was limping along, and the power tubes were extra crispy. Of course they were; this is an AC30. They go through power tubes like they were 50cal ammunition… hot and fast. I retubed the amp, checked out the bias resistors, played it for a few days, and sent it on its happy way. Two days later it was back. Turns out that the output transformer was bad. Not bad enough to completely cut out, but bad nonetheless. I installed the new transformer and the amp instantly sounded healthier. Of course in doing all of this I completely forgot to take a picture for this blog. I either need to hire a full time blog writer, or hire an electrician and just concentrate on the writing myself. Has anyone ever been electrocuted by a blog? Anyway, enjoy this little slideshow of famous AC30s and check out Mopsey here, or even better at a local rock venue near you.

Sovtek Mig50 - Built like a (cheap, cobbled together from available parts) Tank!

These old Sovtek Mig50s have the somewhat cliched reputation of being "built like a tank." And for the most part, that's true. They are hand built, well laid out, and sound great. But there is a gap in their armor; a weakness that can be exploited by the enemy, and cause your dreams of rock stardom to be brought down in punishing defeat. The control pots are hot garbage. The plastic, color coded potentiometers are cheap, unreliable, and difficult to replace. They are installed poorly and don't match any modern pot as far as size. Maybe they're metric? Maybe they are some alien unit of measure the cosmonauts learned about when they colonized Mars (google it.) Either way, most solutions involve running a bunch of jumper wires for each pot and drilling out the chassis so that they fit. I decided not to go that route, and after some delicate work with a needle nose these 16mm long lead pots fit just right. Now we can enjoy the simple things in life, like turning way, way up.

GK 1001RB and Trace Elliot 1048 - Bass Gone Bad

Sometimes everything that can go wrong does go wrong, all at once. This bass rig had multiple issues. The AC input on the GK had arced badly and burned through it's solder joints. The crossover in the Trace Elliot cabinet smelled like burnt Aqua Net and was hanging on for dear life. Neither was difficult to fix, but together they made for a pretty disappointing gig. I replaced the AC inlet and all of the resistors in the crossover. Once back together, the brutal punch from the Trace cab was a pleasant reminder of my bass adventures in the mid '90s. Too bad it weighs about 6000 pounds!

Univox 1011 - The Future Is Shiny And Blue

A fine example of just one of the many "interesting" choices made in the 1970s, we present the Univox 1011 in all it's glittery blue glory. Behind that futuristic facade hides an old school design that packs considerable punch. With plates running in excess of 650 volts the four 6L6s in the power section will turn your insides to mush and make you cry tears of joy. They will also arc and burn your tube sockets into little briquettes. All four sockets had to be replaced along with the toasted power tubes. The vintage RCA preamp tubes survived and sound perfect. The odd-ball values of some of the power filter capacitors made them hard to find, but once replaced the amp fires up happy and healthy. This beast of an amp is now back in the hands of Mr. J.M. Jones and his band Pistil Whipped Project. Check out their BandCamp page, or go see them live and maybe get a taste of all the shiny blue goodness that 1971 had to offer.