Cloudy evening, end of August 2019, and a great chance to get a Orange OR1976 with just a 400km drive :-)

However, wanted a Orange for a long time and took the chance to get this piece. It was like most of the stuff i get, lying around for 20 years, unused and ready to get a full refurb.

There wa snot much to do actually.... A full Cap job, new rubber feet, a new corner, a lot of cleaning and a set of new tubes....   I biased it to 33ma which seems to be a good middle between too hot and average :-)    Oh yeah i read a lot about it, and yes it´s damn loud...

For all the gutshot fans... here some before and after pics.... enjoy..

It is spring, and in spring people clean up their attics and sometimes find really nice things. Here someone found a really nice Selmer Zodiac 50 MKII, unused for the last 30 years, but according to the previous owner it was his first amp and it always worked.

Since i once experienced a set of exploding filter caps, after they dried out for 20 years i tend to chance critical parts before i first fire up the amp. At first glance it is in a remarkably good condition for its age. Things i spotted after i took it apart were:

- External output jack was added for the internal speakers

-The GZ34 rectifier tube was replaced by diodes

-The grille cloth was loose and they layer below the "diamant" one was teared

-The FUSES were WRONG > ONE WAS A PIECE OF METAL !!

-The 2 Celestion G12H from 1966 look ok but after taking them out of the chassis one was a bit torn. Both still working though so i will leave them in and maybe recone them later.

But apart from these rather small issues it was ok......

What i´m goin to do now:

- Remove the diodes and fit in a GZ34 again

- Remove the grille cloth and put in a new black layer below the diamond one for stability ( I love pulling staples !! NOT !! )

- Correct fuses

- New Powercord since the old one was a bit beaten up

- All Electrolytic caps new ( not many in there but one 3x16uf special one -- very tricky to get )

- One new pot

- Add a jack for the tremolo switch ( the switch was hardwired, very unusable since you hardly need the tremolo )

- Add a pot for adjustable bias

All that has been done and the amp is working great now. It had some crackling noise at the start but cleaning the tube sockets again did solve that. It has a very light 60hz hum after is it fully heated up, but i guess ist some sort of the transformer getting hot and moving a bit more hum. Otherwise it sounds great and the tremolo is very nice too. Soundwise it´s not super bright like a Fender, it rather goes into the british Marshall direction. It takes dirt pedals very well.

Before Pics:

OK, before i start i just wanna make clear, that i´m not one of these guys, ( even i collect mostly vintage stuff and i love the vibe of gear which has played since a long time already ) who are fully against every modern technical invention.

So with that mood i found a Gibson Classic Les Paul just around the corner for a >> i would say very cheap price <<. First i really did like the Fireburst on the picture, and i like the slim taper 60´s neck on most of the Les Pauls i own. Also that the body has more chambers than usual is for me rather a pro than a con.

After i inspected the guitar at home my first impression was surprisingly good, given the price they sold the guitar at the end of 2015.

The following view has to be seen from the persepective, that this is not a historic reissue, nor a 65 vintage model, and also it isn´t a 90s Standard where you have a specific expectation what you should get. The only problem of the 2015 series is from the marketing side, basically the wrong product, wrong marketed at the wrong time. Apart from that its a great guitar.

Here are some thoughts on the features:

NECK: The wider neck felt different at the beginnig, due to its wider shape a bit flatter. But i got used to it very fast. Fretwork was good, Pleck adjustements worked well, i can create a very low action

GIBSON G-FORCE SYSTEM:  Ok, that was really uncommon and i had big doubts at the beginning. Also it didn´t look too stylish from the view above. BUT i do play a lot on sessions and otherwise in the Studio. So what you do when you arrive at a session TUNING, and when the guitar adjust to the climate, TUNING, and when it gets hot, TUNING and when you arrive at home,  TUNING.  The same counts for studio work, once you record a track you´re basically in a long term tuning mode, and therefore i think it is is a nice feature which you can get yourself used to.

NUT: OK even if i had many old german gutars with zero nut on the bench here i´m not a massive fan of the brass zero nut on this one, its worn out a bit already, and so i called Gibson for the Titanium replacement which was no problem at all. I also ordered a TUSQ replacement nut which probably will stay there forever. The hight change possibility is apart from that a great feature.

GIBSON 15db Bosst funktion: That, for a session Guitarist is just brilliant. I normaly do just have a single stomp box with me to shape my sound a bit, the rest is made with the volume pot. That funktion allows me to have an aditional sound just with a click. What i really don´t like is that mini switch to activate it. Too tiny, wrong place, not good looking. So i ordered a Push pull switch to replace the mini switch with a bigger knob which also looks a bit more like a les paul where no one has forgotten to put the 4th knob on.

Have a look at the pic, i removed the mini switch with a dremel flex disc. ( I just cut the 6 metal legs off ) I tried to desolder the switch but since its one of these double sided modern pcbs you really have to heaten up all 6 legs in one go and  without the right equipment it´s almoust imposible. By flexing it off you can pull each pin seperately. With the 6 free holes i decided to solder 6 wires onto the PCB for maving a bit of flexibility where to place the Boost. 

I did get that little puppy a few days ago and did not  have a clue what it really was after i read all that praising positive feedback on the net.

After i first plugged it in, it was as mostly described ...... thin sound ..... no tremolo  !

After a quick research it was clear  - Optocoupler gone ! I replaced that with the proposed type VTL5C3 and Ka-tching it did sound much better.... I also found out, that with my home strat, i had some Tremolo bleeding into the overall tone, even with both knobs at 0. By tweaking the internal trim pots ( VR7 & VR 8 ) you can adjust the Optocoupler behavior to be more harmonized. The bleed was  worst with the gain know all the way to 10 and the neck pickup on the low E string. I did put that "horrible" audio signal to a looper and adjusted the trim pots bit by bit, until i had a result with the least bleed through.  The pots were very sensitive so it wasn´t a 2 minute job, overall i think i spent 15 mins with that adjustment.  

BTW i found out that with the gain at 10, neck singlecoil on a strat and low E string it is also a great way to adjust the pickup height for resolving "Stratitis" on your guitar.....   The Vox high gain Fuzz sound annoying with that phenomen, you have the urgent need to solve that.

Since i owned also a Pathfider 10 which i never liked the Boost/Overdrive sound, i did read deeper into the LED MOD story and decided to remove the LEDs. Since the Amp is super MOD friendly i decided to put a switch on the front panel to make this LED MOD switchable. I really like both sounds... if you need a clean base Sound switch the leds off, if you need a bit more crunch, back on.

The model i own was one of the first series without the external speaker jack ( and no reverb ). While i was on it and the internal routing was layouted for a external Speaker it wasnt that tricky. A jigsaw to cut out the back panel a bit more, a seperate switchable jack and a bit of soldering did solve it.

It really is a great sounding amp  and i fully agree with the general positive feedback of the Blue Bulldog Speaker. BUT with the ability to keep up ( volumes wise ) with a full band, i can imagine to use this as a small session amp. To have more weight and Bass response i´m currently thinking of changing the speaker to a 10"....  I normaly use WGS Speaker for replacements, but in this case, the ones i would prefer are all too deep ( height wise ). OK i could cut out  a piece of the chassis but maybe it´s a bit overdone.....   For fat Bass response i choosed the Jensen MOD 10-70 which is available in 8 Ohm and 70 Watts. Much too much wattage but it should sound very massive and clear.   The height is just right to fit into the existing box without any new routing. Just cut out the baffle a bit and it should be done.

After i spontaniously did get a Jensen mod ( JCH ) 10/35 i decided to put that speaker in for a try. It worked out very well. I always read that the 35watt mods have too many ice picky highs, but actually it sounds very good. Much rounder sound, more bass and more volume. Bear in mind that the gap between the chassis and the speaker isn´t very wide, so a much deeper speaker probably wont fit.

My newest project is a MusicMan HD 130 from 1976. Bought on a neighbourhood flea market for a good price, knowing that the tubes not working....

After i pulled the tubes, the phase inverter 12AX7 was really broken. The EL34s were 3 Telefunken and one Sylvania.....  Usually in the older days people just swapped tubes to whatever they found. I guess the whole set is about ( at least ) 20 years old, so no hope even for the old Telefunkens for any use somewhere else....

Before i try to fire him up i noticed the Fuse holder was broken, the power cord was uncovered and somebody implemented a channel switch. The Filter Caps also didn´t look good ( blown up )

So i postponed my first try to the next day until i got the electronics delivery .....   after that i surely will remove the channel switching system and build it back to stock :-) .

As new set of tubes choosed the  JJ  E34L as they seem to be a bit more on the high voltage side than the standard ones.

More to follow...........

I got this guitar from a friend of mine, after it was lying in the basement for a VERY long time.

Since i don´t own a "Pre Lawsuit" model yet i thought i have a look, hoping to find one of the

sought after Ibanez models.

Back to reality it was a not a ibanez, craftmanship was ok, nothing impressive but the neck felt

very thin and comfortable.

At home i took it apart to find out anymore specific data...

Pickups: Maxon stamped 12X70   ( 1972 ) A good thing ( Real Humbuckers as well !! )

Bodywood: Plywood, normaly not a good thing but you never know, it´s the sound what matters

Tuners: Have been changed to silver Schaller Germany ones

Neck: Trusrod works, frets  played down to 0 :-)

Electronics: Pots were very dusti but i cleaned them and they still work....

OK, before i start to se what needs to be done i did put everything back together and restringed it

to find out if its worth investing any time and mony at all.

That been done i was surprised, a very open sounding guitar. Also the pickups sounded great, lots of sustain, so all fine. I heard all of these horror stories about MAXON single coils in Humbucker housings,

Plywood, but whatever it is in front of me, it sounds good.

So decision finalised, first thing is a refret...... Not super easy with the Les Paul binding, but as a benefit we have a bolt on neck.

Other than the refret i need:

- New TOM bridge ( the one installed is too wobbly )

- New Pots and Toggle switch

- New Nut

- New Tuners

The only time consuming part is the refret, but apart from that it seems like a good chance to ad a nice vintage player to the collection.

My current job on the workbench is a 1957 Dynacord KV-10

Got that little gem from a musician flea market nearby and didn´t

really know what i have to expect from it until i did some research at home.

A quite nice amp in original condition, nothing ever changed, original

telefunken tubes were also still in.

A first test run showed, it works, but the sound was not of any use.

Hum, cracling pots, high frequency noise, basically what you expect from

an amp with 50 year old caps which did not run at all the last 20 years.

A lot of work to do, funnily enough, most of the parts were easier to get,

than the US stuff for the princeton reverb..... However a lot of work, the wiring looks pretty much 50´s :-)

In the end i replaced or added the following parts:

- New Tube Sockets ( the old one were really all over the place )

- New Filter caps ( i used standard 63v ones, slightly off value but good within a 5% deviation )

- New Tone caps ( the old ones didn´t have the best reputation, especially after 50yrs i think they´re gone )

- Some wires have been replaced

- I soldered some shielded wire onto the back of the current inputs to use them via a standard 6,35 mm jack

   from a separate panel. The aim was to keep it as stock as possible or at least fully reverseable if it ever gets sold ( pics to follow )

- Backpanel ( The new one with 3 seperate inputs - MIcrophone - TO1 and TO 2 plus a speaker jack for full flexibility )

- Filter Caps ( still produced in original specs )

- New 8" Speaker ( Celestion 8" Twenty - nothing compare to the old one )

After all i also changed the EZ81 and ECC83s to JJs and the ECL82 to NOS Russian ones. I did not really find out what tube of the old Telefunkens went bad, maybe they all just have been worn out as the sound totaly different after the swap.

A lot of work so far, but still far away from the sound of a guitar amplifier...Everything looked good, but there was some kind of high frequency noise, not really oscilating.... but super annoying.....   I measured all the resistors and one of the 390 Ohm ones went bad.

I replaced it with a  470 Ohm 5w one and it worked fine for that purpose. The other one of those 2 was measured @ 420 Ohm ( R14 and R17 ) so there is always some kind of value flexibility in old parts.

Old Dynacord amps are in general a love / hate thing, but after it ´s now fully refurbished, it sounds really good. Nothing for the big stage, but it gets far lounder than a usual practice amp and provides a fantasic warm nice vintage tube sound.   

Enjoy the before and after pics....

My first Marshall documented repair will be a JCM2000 DSL100 which I got for a nice price of

the German version of CL.

First I expected it to be a nice head for spare parts but after a bit of reading I decided to have a

closer look.

The problem was

• FX loop did not work !

• The output was just a loud crackling noise

But actually it delivered a sound so i thought the expensive parts ( Output transformer, Power transformer, Tubes etc.)  should work. Crackling can be everything, but apart from a long search its mostly simple and cheap.

The long story short is, that it doesn´t always have to be a complicated fix, sometimes its just a swapped cable, a cap, and 2 pots to have a great working amp  :-)  

Here it comes.... My first Fender amp refurb ! 

And to keep it interesting i starte my expedition into Fenderland with a very nice and clean, all original, not a single solder joint touched, 1974 Silverface Princeton Reverb.

When the amp arrived, he was humming, very loud and dark. No input signal was taken, nothing.

It still had the original RCA tubes in..... some of them seemed to be in good shape, others ( the 6v6, the ECC81 and the 5u4 ) looked like they were 40 years old and played to death...

First of all i did a tube swap to see if the problem is maybe tube related. I used JJs, apart from PI where i used a super selected TAD Ecc83.

No change after the tube swap, so i actually went on to check the FilterCaps. I replaced the old silver can cap with its original part from CE Manufacturing 20/20/20/20uf   ( fairly expensive, a new JJ CAP would probably done the same job, but the aim was to keep it as original as possible ). I also changed the 4 cathode bypass caps with Bipolar TAD 25uf/25v ones. ( never used Bipolar ones but they were advertised on the TAD Homepage and why not give it a try )

While i was on it i reflued some dodgy looking solder joints and added a 1OHM /1W resistor to pin 3 for easy Bias measurement.

BIAS: I wasn´t sure if should change anything on the BIAS circuit, but after some research a adjustable BIAS is probably the only way forward and i ended up to rebuild the whole circuit including a pot as variable resistor. ( so i still have the original part available in case i wanna build it back to original specs )

After i fired it up it sounded ok but the VIBRATO was extremely noticeable even with both pots turned to 0 and the sound was somehow thin...The Reverb didn´t work at all and turning the Reverb knob past 2 created some parasitic oscilation. Another thing what worried me was a very high plate voltage of 470v, not dramaticaly high but higher as usual...

The other day i spend some time with chopsticking the board and TaDa i found a loose ground connection on the reverb circuit, which also had an effect on the Vibrato and the overall sound. You wonder what the high plate voltage was ? Low batteries in the meter.

Additionally i added some tube retainers as this is an easy add on to prevent the tubes ( especially on the rather old sockets ) from falling out while traveling. For tubes i did put in the old RCAs in the preamp stage again, the ones which were looking good, and JJs in the power section.

One thing i want to highlight ( after searching for a readable schematic ) is the page from Bernd Brieskorn. http://www.brieskorn.de/Guitar___Amps/Verstarkerprojekte/AA1164/aa1164.html

He has drawn a very nice Princeton Reverb Blackface shematic....

I though about a speaker swap as well but time will tell how the old OXFORD behaves.

UPDATE: The old Oxford ist great... even loud, nothing to complain, but just did get a WGS G10C/S for a good price and just ried it.

Phenomenal, that turns the amp into a different animal....   and its an easy swap......

I will also post some soundclips in the next days......  

Enjoy the before and after pics.........

Have a look at my latest fun repair of a Morris Classical Guitar.

It came with a big crack across the head, a big piece of wood was mssing as well.

I did held the tuners, but was practically not usable. First i glued the crack and did let it dry.

After that i milled out the missing wood to a clean square form, to rebuild that part out of a fresh piece of wood. I glued that bit in with epoxi to get it propperly filled.

Sanded it down to be flush with the rest of the head and voila...  Normaly i do Les Paul head repairs, but this one was kinda fun as you couldn´t really damage anything. The result was surprising to myself, colored it accordingly to the rest of the guitar and clearpainted it.