Try seating in the expensive seats at the Cincinnati Music Hall and hear the bad bearing in the air handler at a very low frequency of modulation during a performance . The tickets where a gift still. The training of listening can be a curse.
I spent close to three years working as an audio engineer/producer/musician in my brother's recording studio (MCI with Crown amps and JBL monitors). I got so I could tell what instrument needed what frequency to make it sound better, and how much of it. I could electronically edit the left wing off a gnat's butt. Everything after that has been an audio nightmare.
My guess is a lot of people like me after watching your works are buying Fender amps. Because you're showing how to prevent obvious damage. I just pulled the trigger on a Jr and it's going straight to the tech to change caps, raise resistors, etc. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it's priceless.
I have found that the amount of current Fender calculated for this vintage HR Deluxe that was necessary to make a stiff brute force zener + and - 15v supply was way more than it needed to be given the load on those 2 supplies. The load (as i recall as it's been about 15yrs since i did this) is basically a couple opamps and a coupe of small relays. Fender's initial service bulletin had you changing the value of these resistors to 330 ohms which just ran hotter! I honestly think they were calculating as if these were divider resistors in a power supply and not feeding a constant voltage device such as a zener. Their thought i suppose was that the lower value resistor equaled to lower voltage drop hence lower wattage. Who knows.. So i found increasing the value of the 2ea 470ohm 5watt dropping resistors to 750 ohms cooled things down considerably by reducing the current in the zeners as well of course the resistors. Since the load is so small, the zeners never get close to dropping out of conduction. I activated all the loads and drove the amp at full power with no issuers. To emulate a low line voltage i reduced it to nearly 90Vac while driving the amp in that condition and the supplies never got close to dropping out. The only 750Watt PC stand off resistors i could find at the time were 7 watt, so that's what i used. They ran very cool. Would really not have even needed to stand off. In over 10yrs of doing this i never once had any issues and none of those amps i got back for standard service ever displayed any further issues with those supplies. As i recall the source voltage for the + - 15v supplies in the original HR Deluxe's was considerably lower than the Deville's hence they didn't have this issue. Just a thought😉
Sorry, i got the end backwards. The Devilles source voltage for the +/- 15V zener supplies was less than the Deluxe's so the Devilles didn't have the overheating dropping resistors issue. My bahd.
Man listening to you sought out boxes is a neat learning curve. That Blues Deluxe though has not been loved or even cleaned so things are bound to fail. I have a Mexican Reissue one and always run it with a fan behind it and love it, but always keep an eye on things and tightening lose baffles and keeping it CLEAN. A paint brush like a one inch and two inch sign cutter saved for the purpose works perfectly for dusting the pots panel and always store it in a cover. Ain't it funny though that Gals find things that sound relaxing that sounds to us like Claws across a Blackboard or plugging in your axe with volume on ten and the plugged in Arch top leaning across the front with the pickups facing the speaker "Its relaxing" God luv em Vive la difference. My wife loved sitting on other drivers bumper bars, that was another very relaxing habit for me NOT. Some guy getting irate at being tailgated and me the only guy in the car and no sidearm; I mean he's not going to slug the Chiquita right LOL "Are you ready to go ? Nuh, I might sit this one out honey but you have fun driving all the drivers GOING YOUR WAY nuts" :)
Ha ha most entertaining! Hey that was a gem. I've not heard any other tech talk about rhythmic patterns in hum, hiss and note decay. Could you do an aural diagnostic symptom special sometime as an all in one place reference tool for us all. All your favourites, motorboating, water rushing, AM interference..
Excellent video, have wondered about my DRRI with a similar pulse in the sustains. F&T caps but didn't think they needed changing as they're only 8 years old - time for some replacements! Much appreciated.
Si if your volume is turned up halfway. And you strum and it suddenly just cut off all sound and few seconds later. The sound pops buck on . What could be wrong? It's a line 6 solid state amp 150w
Even in this day and age of digitally-generated sounds, doctor's offices typically still use a mechanical, analog (?) sound-masking device consisting of a small fan in a slotted plastic housing; you can twist the two-piece housing to change the pitch and amplitude of the white noise. I forget what they're called or who makes them but Fran Blanche investigated one of them a while ago on her "FranLab" UA-cam channel.
Really enjoy your videos, it's so interesting seeing how these things are put together. I own a reissue of one of these amps and have been wondering for a while if it is worth taking it to a tech to ask them to replace all the IC capacitors, diodes and resisters with better ones? I have seen so much about it being a question of when, rather than if, all of these will fail a year or two after warranty.
I have a 2007 Blues Deluxe Reissue. I put a 12au7 in V3 phase inverter; calmed the amp,changed the tonal character and sounds great!!! I Tried 12At7 in v3 and it sounded thin so took it out. I want to leave the 12au7 in v3 but I have read it has higher current draw because of lower plate resistance and can fry resistors if not properly rated. I have read older non reissue amps had 1/4 watt resistors. So I am concerned if the resistors in my 2007 Blues Deluxe Reissue can handle it. Any one have any long term experience leaving 12au7 in Blues Deluxe Reissue?
The story i heard from a few engineers when i worked at Echostar was that the Taiwanese manufacturers were trying to obtain (steal) the formula for the electrolyte from the Japanese. The Japanese knew this and secretly released the formula to the 'spies' but sans an essential element. The omission of that critical element caused the premature failure of the electrolytic caps. Probably just a made up story or fable but interesting conversation around the water cooler☺.
Have you considered getting a looper pedal? That way you could have chords as the input signal without having to strum a guitar with one of your hands.
Great video as always. My Princeton is having the common issue with the speaker cable you speak of, where the sound cuts out and I have to fiddle with the jack to get sound to come through. Is this an easy enough fix to do at home? What replacement jack would you recommend, and where could I get one? Thanks for your time if you read this!
It will be the cable/plug, not the jack. Can you solder? tubedepot.com/products/switchcraft-228-1-4-plug tubedepot.com/products/pre-cut-speaker-cable-18-ga-3-meters-long
I have one of these. Sounds fantastic. But those miniature pots can cause you all kinds of trouble. I pity you guys who have to work on these musical "computers."
90% of the people are oblivious and are soothed by what is essentially fingernails on a chalkboard to the rest...That's why we all don't chase the same girl.
Diagnosing box-fan problems on a recorded loop on your wife's cellphone in bed. That's a lot to unpack. Refrigerator noise must drive you crazy. No offence intended but you must be difficult to live with. That said, I live next to a river and, during the summer with the window open, I hear voices in the sound patterns of the running water. I have not reached the stage where I try to answer them. Yet.
A coworker was listening to hissy white noise from a piece of equipment he was working on and looking at a snowy pattern on the oscilloscope. As I walked by, I said to him, "They're hee--ere....."!
And most techs would say "these caps are fine, don't fix what ain't broke"
Those guys shit me up the wall.
Haha, I love it, Chewbacca in Cloud City! I knew EXACTLY what you were talking about!
Try seating in the expensive seats at the Cincinnati Music Hall and hear the bad bearing in the air handler at a very low frequency of modulation during a performance . The tickets where a gift still. The training of listening can be a curse.
I spent close to three years working as an audio engineer/producer/musician in my brother's recording studio (MCI with Crown amps and JBL monitors). I got so I could tell what instrument needed what frequency to make it sound better, and how much of it. I could electronically edit the left wing off a gnat's butt. Everything after that has been an audio nightmare.
My guess is a lot of people like me after watching your works are buying Fender amps. Because you're showing how to prevent obvious damage. I just pulled the trigger on a Jr and it's going straight to the tech to change caps, raise resistors, etc. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it's priceless.
I have found that the amount of current Fender calculated for this vintage HR Deluxe that was necessary to make a stiff brute force zener + and - 15v supply was way more than it needed to be given the load on those 2 supplies.
The load (as i recall as it's been about 15yrs since i did this) is basically a couple opamps and a coupe of small relays.
Fender's initial service bulletin had you changing the value of these resistors to 330 ohms which just ran hotter! I honestly think they were calculating as if these were divider resistors in a power supply and not feeding a constant voltage device such as a zener.
Their thought i suppose was that the lower value resistor equaled to lower voltage drop hence lower wattage. Who knows..
So i found increasing the value of the 2ea 470ohm 5watt dropping resistors to 750 ohms cooled things down considerably by reducing the current in the zeners as well of course the resistors.
Since the load is so small, the zeners never get close to dropping out of conduction. I activated all the loads and drove the amp at full power with no issuers. To emulate a low line voltage i reduced it to nearly 90Vac while driving the amp in that condition and the supplies never got close to dropping out.
The only 750Watt PC stand off resistors i could find at the time were 7 watt, so that's what i used. They ran very cool. Would really not have even needed to stand off.
In over 10yrs of doing this i never once had any issues and none of those amps i got back for standard service ever displayed any further issues with those supplies.
As i recall the source voltage for the + - 15v supplies in the original HR Deluxe's was considerably lower than the Deville's hence they didn't have this issue.
Just a thought😉
Sorry, i got the end backwards. The Devilles source voltage for the +/- 15V zener supplies was less than the Deluxe's so the Devilles didn't have the overheating dropping resistors issue. My bahd.
Man listening to you sought out boxes is a neat learning curve. That Blues Deluxe though has not been loved or even cleaned so things are bound to fail.
I have a Mexican Reissue one and always run it with a fan behind it and love it, but always keep an eye on things and tightening lose baffles and keeping it CLEAN. A paint brush like a one inch and two inch sign cutter saved for the purpose works perfectly for dusting the pots panel and always store it in a cover.
Ain't it funny though that Gals find things that sound relaxing that sounds to us like Claws across a Blackboard or plugging in your axe with volume on ten and the plugged in Arch top leaning across the front with the pickups facing the speaker "Its relaxing" God luv em Vive la difference. My wife loved sitting on other drivers bumper bars, that was another very relaxing habit for me NOT.
Some guy getting irate at being tailgated and me the only guy in the car and no sidearm; I mean he's not going to slug the Chiquita right LOL
"Are you ready to go ? Nuh, I might sit this one out honey but you have fun driving all the drivers GOING YOUR WAY nuts" :)
Ha ha most entertaining! Hey that was a gem. I've not heard any other tech talk about rhythmic patterns in hum, hiss and note decay. Could you do an aural diagnostic symptom special sometime as an all in one place reference tool for us all. All your favourites, motorboating, water rushing, AM interference..
Excellent video, have wondered about my DRRI with a similar pulse in the sustains. F&T caps but didn't think they needed changing as they're only 8 years old - time for some replacements! Much appreciated.
Hilarious fan white noise story. So real!
Si if your volume is turned up halfway. And you strum and it suddenly just cut off all sound and few seconds later. The sound pops buck on . What could be wrong? It's a line 6 solid state amp 150w
My friend has a peavy classic combo? Like that the knobs are up top and they all need pot changin sounds like rust comin through not crackle
Even in this day and age of digitally-generated sounds, doctor's offices typically still use a mechanical, analog (?) sound-masking device consisting of a small fan in a slotted plastic housing; you can twist the two-piece housing to change the pitch and amplitude of the white noise. I forget what they're called or who makes them but Fran Blanche investigated one of them a while ago on her "FranLab" UA-cam channel.
Really enjoy your videos, it's so interesting seeing how these things are put together.
I own a reissue of one of these amps and have been wondering for a while if it is worth taking it to a tech to ask them to replace all the IC capacitors, diodes and resisters with better ones? I have seen so much about it being a question of when, rather than if, all of these will fail a year or two after warranty.
I have a 2007 Blues Deluxe Reissue. I put a 12au7 in V3 phase inverter; calmed the amp,changed the tonal character and sounds great!!! I Tried 12At7 in v3 and it sounded thin so took it out.
I want to leave the 12au7 in v3 but I have read it has higher current draw because of lower plate resistance and can fry resistors if not properly rated. I have read older non reissue amps had 1/4 watt resistors. So I am concerned if the resistors in my 2007 Blues Deluxe Reissue can handle it. Any one have any long term experience leaving 12au7 in Blues Deluxe Reissue?
The story i heard from a few engineers when i worked at Echostar was that the Taiwanese manufacturers were trying to obtain (steal) the formula for the electrolyte from the Japanese.
The Japanese knew this and secretly released the formula to the 'spies' but sans an essential element.
The omission of that critical element caused the premature failure of the electrolytic caps.
Probably just a made up story or fable but interesting conversation around the water cooler☺.
Have you considered getting a looper pedal? That way you could have chords as the input signal without having to strum a guitar with one of your hands.
I have one and I use it in a lot of videos. This was faster today.
Great video as always. My Princeton is having the common issue with the speaker cable you speak of, where the sound cuts out and I have to fiddle with the jack to get sound to come through. Is this an easy enough fix to do at home? What replacement jack would you recommend, and where could I get one? Thanks for your time if you read this!
That plastic molded speaker cable that is
It will be the cable/plug, not the jack. Can you solder?
tubedepot.com/products/switchcraft-228-1-4-plug
tubedepot.com/products/pre-cut-speaker-cable-18-ga-3-meters-long
First thing I said when I saw the amp here was "whoaaaa that board is burned!"
Every single one I've fixed has this same exact issue.
What is more realiable:
2007 Blues Deluxe Reissue Stock
Or
90's USA Blues Deluxe with Frommel Mod
Neither. And most amps that come in with the Fromel stuff have been butchered.
@@PsionicAudio Thanks!
Took me a sec. Repair that human cyborg relation!!!
That was funny!
Ill bet thats them damn upside down tubes an pins
Record a mesa hissing to itself in the corner.
You could app that for insomniacs no sweat…
The triple rectified sleep app.
I have one of these. Sounds fantastic. But those miniature pots can cause you all kinds of trouble. I pity you guys who have to work on these musical "computers."
90% of the people are oblivious and are soothed by what is essentially fingernails on a chalkboard to the rest...That's why we all don't chase the same girl.
Diagnosing box-fan problems on a recorded loop on your wife's cellphone in bed. That's a lot to unpack. Refrigerator noise must drive you crazy. No offence intended but you must be difficult to live with. That said, I live next to a river and, during the summer with the window open, I hear voices in the sound patterns of the running water. I have not reached the stage where I try to answer them. Yet.
A coworker was listening to hissy white noise from a piece of equipment he was working on and looking at a snowy pattern on the oscilloscope. As I walked by, I said to him, "They're hee--ere....."!
I had 2 of these bought new crap out in under 10 hours of play time. Absolute trash.