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Amplifier Restoration
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Power supply filter caps restored in 1966 Fender Super Reverb Amp
We are very conservative when it comes to replacing components. We only replace components that have obviously deteriorated over time or are near end-of-life and jeopardizing the overall health of the amplifier. Obviously, vacuum tubes are the most visible components that deteriorate with time and use, and require periodic changing. They were the original "user replacable part", commonly serviced by the user in the past. Today's selection of tubes is more varied and complex than in the past. Instead of three or four reliable manufacturers as we had in the decades through the 70s, we now have a dozen or so of varying quality scattered around the world. We can help you select the high-quality and reliable choice for your tubes.
1960s Fender Princeton Amp upgrade: New electrolytic capacitors, 3-wire grounded A-C cord/plug, general cleanup:
Another example of components that deteriorate over time are carbon composition resistors. They can introduce noise, change the amplifier's gain, and send bias currents into dangerous territory. Examples of components that might be near end-of-life are filter capacitors. These can operate fine for many years and then fail catastrophically. We generally recommend that electrolytics manufactured in the '50s and '60s should be replaced with high quality parts, as most are approaching the end of their safe operating lives.
Input jacks seldom wear out, but they do show signs of wear after years
of plugging and unplugging guitar cords. Their chromed surfaces wear
off where the plug makes contact, exposing the brass they are made of.
When the brass oxidizes, a poor connection results, and the connection
is prone to noise that gets amplified into loud crackles and pops. Much
of this noise can be remedied by applying a small amount of a good
contact cleaning solution. High quality
replacement jacks are available and can be used to replace the
originals if cleaning doesn't eliminate the problem.
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Hamilton-Kolby Custom Electronics
Acton, Massachusetts, USA
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