New Amp Day

[SamIV]

[attachment=0]6A9D22


Was looking for a pedal friendly amp and picked up a very lightly used Fender Deluxe 65 Reverb. It’s a reissue model. Well I have to say it takes pedals very well. Better in the normal channel than the vibrato channel. Reverb sounds better than any of my pedals. Cleans are very nice. Makes me want to play a single coil guitar, but don’t have one assembled at the moment.

I bought this to have an amp down the road that I can service. I don’t claim to be the best amp technician, but I used to service tube amps back in the late 70’s to the early 80’s. But those were point to point wiring, Peavey, Marshall, Fender, and a few SS, but very few. Plan on upgrading a few components to increase longevity. Watch a lot of videos by Psionic Audio on YouTube. He’s a tech who give his advice on how to upgrade amps and some service ideas. And looking at reactive load boxes because this thing is load when cranked. Hope to have it for years do come. But who knows.

I also own a 70’s Princeton and a Peavey Classic 30 head with two cabs. They have been at my brothers for years, so maybe he is the rightful owner now. I prefer this over both of those as well. Also own a Peavey Valveking Micro II that takes pedals well in the clean channel, but the drive channel is just ok. And I have zero desire to work on that cramped amp down the road . Going to sell it hopefully to help fund another AC15 that I sold to a Musician friend of mine who bugged me for it.

[tonebender]

I used to have one of those. They are really nice amps. I was a Tele man back then and when I switched to a Les Paul man I gravitated away from that amp and eventually sold it. Congrats you got a good one!

[Tonray's Ghost]

6A9D22B5-ACA9-4E50-BE33-563901692A66.jpeg[attachment=0]6A9D22


Was looking for a pedal friendly amp and picked up a very lightly used Fender Deluxe 65 Reverb. It’s a reissue model. Well I have to say it takes pedals very well. Better in the normal channel than the vibrato channel. Reverb sounds better than any of my pedals. Cleans are very nice. Makes me want to play a single coil guitar, but don’t have one assembled at the moment.

I bought this to have an amp down the road that I can service. I don’t claim to be the best amp technician, but I used to service tube amps back in the late 70’s to the early 80’s. But those were point to point wiring, Peavey, Marshall, Fender, and a few SS, but very few. Plan on upgrading a few components to increase longevity. Watch a lot of videos by Psionic Audio on YouTube. He’s a tech who give his advice on how to upgrade amps and some service ideas. And looking at reactive load boxes because this thing is load when cranked. Hope to have it for years do come. But who knows.

I also own a 70’s Princeton and a Peavey Classic 30 head with two cabs. They have been at my brothers for years, so maybe he is the rightful owner now. I prefer this over both of those as well. Also own a Peavey Valveking Micro II that takes pedals well in the clean channel, but the drive channel is just ok. And I have zero desire to work on that cramped amp down the road . Going to sell it hopefully to help fund another AC15 that I sold to a Musician friend of mine who bugged me for it.

I love Psionic Audio on YouTube and I know nothing about electronics past turning on a light switch and how to make a Faraday cage to keep captured aliens from signaling their alien friends. He's great entertainment

[SamIV]

I don’t know squat compared to Lyle of Psionic audio, but I don’t think the Farady cage has any affect on aliens. Well
maybe the lizard people.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I don’t know squat compared to Lyle of Psionic audio, but I don’t think the Farady cage has any affect on aliens. Well
maybe the lizard people.

It's their killer robots they use to enslave us....Danger SamIV Danger !

[mickey]

I love Psionic Audio on YouTube and I know nothing about electronics past turning on a light switch and how to make a Faraday cage to keep captured aliens from signaling their alien friends. He's great entertainment

Once upon a time, long ago and far far away, I had to work on radios I had to service while inside a Faraday cage with the door closed and locked from the inside. Those were the radios on aircraft that automatically fire up in the event of a plane crash, fail to close the door on the Faraday cage and you could easily put a bunch of people into a state of panic!

[jtcnj]

Congrats, sweeeeeet!!!

[andrewsrea]

Congrats, @SamIV !

You cannot go wrong with a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue.

As as far as maintenance on a PCB, feel free to PM me if you need any pointers. I've probably serviced 30 reissues and 100's of the old-style fiberboard versions.

Psionic Audio is actually one of the few YouTube 'amp experts' who I find is not a hack and quite capable. I've actually conversed with him over replies and a few emails, providing him with some schematics. IMHO, some of his 'mods / upgrades' are superfluous (hyperbolic?), but harmless.

One mod I'll share is to change the final inverter cathode resistor that controls the negative feedback, from 50 ohms to 100 ohms. Or put a 50 ohm trim pot in series and adjust to taste. This will tighten the bass response to that of a Vibroverb, Pro Reverb and the Twin (their resistor values are 100 ohms). It just sounds more mid-60's Blackface.

Most amps come from the factory overbiased (tubes running cold at about 45-48% max plate wattage). This ensures long tube reliability and decreases the odds of a tube failure at the store. It also creates a nasty crossover distortion. I find the true bias sweet spot to be at 55% to 63% max plate wattage for a BB King / John Mayer tone and pretty long tube life. It will take up to 70%, if you like a more mid-forward tone and don't mind taking a few years off of the output tubes. I prefer new Tung Sol tubes for a balance of output tube compression, frequency response and ruggedness.

[mickey]

Congrats, @SamIV !

You cannot go wrong with a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue.


Most amps come from the factory overbiased (tubes running cold at about 45-48% max plate wattage). This ensures long tube reliability and decreases the odds of a tube failure at the store. It also creates a nasty crossover distortion. I find the true bias sweet spot to be at 55% to 63% max plate wattage for a BB King / John Mayer tone and pretty long tube life. It will take up to 70%, if you like a more mid-forward tone and don't mind taking a few years off of the output tubes. I prefer new Tung Sol tubes for a balance of output tube compression, frequency response and ruggedness.

I've had a DRRI for about 10 + years now & the only real complaint I've ever had with it was it came from the store biased ICE COLD! As to other complaints (unreal?) is that I much prefer the SCXD to the DRRI!

[SamIV]

Congrats, @SamIV !

You cannot go wrong with a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue.

As as far as maintenance on a PCB, feel free to PM me if you need any pointers. I've probably serviced 30 reissues and 100's of the old-style fiberboard versions.

Psionic Audio is actually one of the few YouTube 'amp experts' who I find is not a hack and quite capable. I've actually conversed with him over replies and a few emails, providing him with some schematics. IMHO, some of his 'mods / upgrades' are superfluous (hyperbolic?), but harmless.

One mod I'll share is to change the final inverter cathode resistor that controls the negative feedback, from 50 ohms to 100 ohms. Or put a 50 ohm trim pot in series and adjust to taste. This will tighten the bass response to that of a Vibroverb, Pro Reverb and the Twin (their resistor values are 100 ohms). It just sounds more mid-60's Blackface.

Most amps come from the factory overbiased (tubes running cold at about 45-48% max plate wattage). This ensures long tube reliability and decreases the odds of a tube failure at the store. It also creates a nasty crossover distortion. I find the true bias sweet spot to be at 55% to 63% max plate wattage for a BB King / John Mayer tone and pretty long tube life. It will take up to 70%, if you like a more mid-forward tone and don't mind taking a few years off of the output tubes. I prefer new Tung Sol tubes for a balance of output tube compression, frequency response and ruggedness.
[/quote



Might hit you up one day for your suggestions on upping the longevity of this amp. I believe I need to change one of the power tube sockets. The amp got noisy at one point. I moved one of the output tubes and it stopped. Happened again so I swapped tubes which did not help. But seems to have subsided for the moment.

[SamIV]

Well maybe I should have bought yours Mickey. I owned a SCXD for about a week. Picked it up cheap and sold it as soon as I could. That’s why they make different amps I guess

[mickey]

Well maybe I should have bought yours Mickey. I owned a SCXD for about a week. Picked it up cheap and sold it as soon as I could. That’s why they make different amps I guess

You could have easily bought mine.
I never told you my SCXD is in a custom cab with a 15" speaker. I bought it here on the forum as a bare chassis because after UPS dropped it off the back of the truck then drove over it that was the only usable part left! I had enough oak left over from another project to build a cab for it (now I need a forklift to move that cab around!) I also went with an Neodymium magnet speaker.

[SamIV]

Well I had drive an hour and a half for this one. Driving t your way would be a tad longer. They guy was hard up for some Christmas money he told me. I was the first to respond to his add so I got it at a very decent price. Maybe someone here will take you up on yours. How about they lefty dude who has waaaaaay to many guitars. And by the way so do you play your bass thought your SCXD

[mickey]

Well I had drive an hour and a half for this one. Driving t your way would be a tad longer. They guy was hard up for some Christmas money he told me. I was the first to respond to his add so I got it at a very decent price. Maybe someone here will take you up on yours. How about they lefty dude who has waaaaaay to many guitars. And by the way so do you play your bass thought your SCXD

Sounds like you are thinking about @TobiJohn but he lives down near Fort Lauderdale which is a lot further from here than you are.
And I've never owned a bass?

[Tonray's Ghost]

I love Psionic Audio on YouTube and I know nothing about electronics past turning on a light switch and how to make a Faraday cage to keep captured aliens from signaling their alien friends. He's great entertainment

Once upon a time, long ago and far far away, I had to work on radios I had to service while inside a Faraday cage with the door closed and locked from the inside. Those were the radios on aircraft that automatically fire up in the event of a plane crash, fail to close the door on the Faraday cage and you could easily put a bunch of people into a state of panic!

Hmmm...I wonder if I built a Faraday Cage around my single coil guitars, would I get rid of 60 cycle hum (kind of like a bioweapons lab glove box)....or would I have to sit inside the Faraday cage and play...at least I'd be safe from alien abduction

[tobijohn]

Well I had drive an hour and a half for this one. Driving t your way would be a tad longer. They guy was hard up for some Christmas money he told me. I was the first to respond to his add so I got it at a very decent price. Maybe someone here will take you up on yours. How about they lefty dude who has waaaaaay to many guitars. And by the way so do you play your bass thought your SCXD

Sounds like you are thinking about @TobiJohn but he lives down near Fort Lauderdale which is a lot further from here than you are.
And I've never owned a bass?

Wayyyyyyy tooooooo many guitars, for sure. And I've never owned a bass either, at least not up to now. However, that being said, there's a HB Rick 4004 copy I keep looking at:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_ben ... _lh_cs.htm

[SamIV]

Sounds like just what you need is another guitar tobijohn.


On another note , man I need to check my spelling and typing. Always typing on a phone doesn’t help. What is sometimes typed is not what I am thinking. I will try to do a better job if the grammar police are here as well.

Just finished playing the amp after a hard day at work. Wife’s out with her teacher friends celebrating their annual two week holiday break. I had some time to crank the vibrato channel. Its been too long to have not had a good amp.

[tlarson58]

New Amp Days rule. Enjoy!

[honyock]

Well I had drive an hour and a half for this one. Driving t your way would be a tad longer. They guy was hard up for some Christmas money he told me. I was the first to respond to his add so I got it at a very decent price. Maybe someone here will take you up on yours. How about they lefty dude who has waaaaaay to many guitars. And by the way so do you play your bass thought your SCXD

Sounds like you are thinking about @TobiJohn but he lives down near Fort Lauderdale which is a lot further from here than you are.
And I've never owned a bass?

Wayyyyyyy tooooooo many guitars, for sure. And I've never owned a bass either, at least not up to now. However, that being said, there's a HB Rick 4004 copy I keep looking at:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_ben ... _lh_cs.htm

do it!

I really like mine.

[andrewsrea]

... I much prefer the SCXD to the DRRI!

I have a client who owns a 1965 Fender Twin reissue, an early Fender Supersonic 22 and A Fender SCXD. He doesn't like volume above conversational levels (plays around 78dB) and the SCXD was his absolute favorite until I tweaked his SS22 which included a speaker change to a much flatter Eminence type. Those SCXD are impressive, and I am surprised they were not more popular.

[andrewsrea]

However, that being said, there's a HB Rick 4004 copy I keep looking at:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_ben ... _lh_cs.htm

Ain't nothing like the real thing...

[andrewsrea]

I believe I need to change one of the power tube sockets.

It is rare that a whole socket went bad. I've only had to replace phenolic sockets when an output tube failed so bad, it arc'd pin to pin and cracked the insulation. For the ceramic sockets, when someone was monkeying with the sockets (typically an internet myth mod) and cracked the ceramic. Otherwise, they are typically rugged.

Try this:
- Unplug amp, turn on the standby switch to 'play' mode (with the amp OFF).
- Get a piece of wire > 6", preferably with alligator clips on each end. Attach a small finish nail to one end inside the alligator clip and clip the other end to the chassis for ground.
- Pull the output tubes. Find the index key slot of one of sockets and looking up at the amp, count 3 socket holes clockwise. That is pin #3 (the tube plate - high voltage)
- Again with the amp unplugged, off but the standby to 'on' and without touching any exposed portion of the wire, touch the finish nail end to pin #3 and count to 5 slowly. This will discharge the filter caps and make the amp safe to handle.
- Remove the remaining tubes (remembering the order of each) and remove the chassis (unplug the reverb remembering where red goes, unscrew the electrical cord strain relief if you have an older model, unscrew the three screws holding the back chassis lip to the cabinet top and then undo the strap bolts fount on the cabinet top, which will lower the chassis from the cabinet).
- Place the chassis on a table, guts down and sockets up.
- Using the smallest jewler's blade screwdriver (I use a straight metal dental pick, about the diameter of a round toothpick), tighten the metal band in the pin socket by working the screwdriver along its outside diameter (the band has a gap and you essentially closing the radius).
- Do this for all tube sockets (this should last you 25 years, unless you are a serious tube roller).
- Reassemble by following the disassembly instructions in reverse and remember to put the tubes in the correct order and turn the standby switch to 'standby' mode.
- Test the amp, first by normal use, then with a closed fist give it a gentle rap along the top of the amp and listen for pops and basically anything but silence (or reverb if you have that on).
- If the problem persists, it isn't the socket and contact me for trouble shooting help.

Note that unless you just used the amp, the DRRI typically is discharged in less than an hour due to a voltage divider it has in its high voltage filter circuit. My instruction on always discharging before disassembling is a safety assurance habit.

[redman]

Great amp congrats

[SamIV]

Thanks so much Rob. I was wondering if there was a way to tighten the pin sockets. If you move the tube at all, you can hear pops. Also before I swapped the tubes, it would oscillate very loud on turn off and pop loud when in and out of standby mode. I don’t usually use standby mode, but just testing it out when I first turned it on. Thanks again. When I first tried the amp at his house , all was fine.

And I had the amp out already looking for bad solder joints for the socket in question, something touching where it should not, or just anything out of the ordinary. While I had it out and the larger tubes removed, the rectifier was knocked off the table by a family member and cracked. So I had to order another before I could try it again. Think I am going to buy some spare tubes for no downtime again. Also ordered a couple of replacement sockets with the rectifier tube, so I have a couple if necessary down the road.

[mickey]

... I much prefer the SCXD to the DRRI!

I have a client who owns a 1965 Fender Twin reissue, an early Fender Supersonic 22 and A Fender SCXD. He doesn't like volume above conversational levels (plays around 78dB) and the SCXD was his absolute favorite until I tweaked his SS22 which included a speaker change to a much flatter Eminence type. Those SCXD are impressive, and I am surprised they were not more popular.

I could not express the deciBell level with exact accuracy, but would agree (that once your ears get beyond a certain age ) ANY SOUND above some dB level is nothing but noise!