| Newbie with service questions [message #26308] |
Thu, 21 September 2017 12:13  |
Clay1017
Messages: 4
Registered: September 2017
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Junior Member |
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Hello and thanks for letting me become a new member to the forum. I have recently joined the Kustom club with a Charcoal Sparkle K100-1 with 2X15 Jensen cab, and and Black K200B-1 with 2X15 CTS cab. I am familiar with servicing vintage Fender amps. Transistors are a new challenge for me. My question is, as a rule do you guys go through your amps and replace/upgrade certain components immediately, or is it more or less a "change things if it is noisy" type thing? My tech skills involve "shotgunning" most things, rather than testing for leaky caps, etc. With Fenders you know the electrolytics most often need replaced, etc. Are there general rules for Kustoms?
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| Re: Newbie with service questions [message #26309 is a reply to message #26308] |
Thu, 21 September 2017 14:16  |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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Welcome to the place!
There will be as many opinions on this subject as there are members here, so here's my point of view.
I don't like replacing stuff for the sake of replacing stuff. Every amp has a history and that history will contribute to the condition of the amp. Noise and hiss and bad caps, etc. can all be caused in part by the way the amp was treated. Was it kept in a nice environment or was it stored in a wet garage? Was it ever in a flood and if it was, was it sewage or sea water or rain water?
I've seen a lot of amps and with only a few exceptions, there really is no way to say that such and such a part always fails. The world and the interwebs is made up of a lot of different people, and everybody has his or her own way of thinking and doing things. So take anything that you read here with an open mind and form your own opinions based upon what you learn to be true, not what somebody else believes is true.
Again, welcome.
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| Re: Newbie with service questions [message #26310 is a reply to message #26308] |
Thu, 21 September 2017 22:05 |
DeadKoby
Messages: 35
Registered: August 2017
Location: Cleveland, OH
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Member |
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In the case of fixing my Kustom, I replaced only parts that were bad or out of spec. That was 1 transistor, and one cap on one of the pre-amp boards. Everything else is OK, and no further tech work is needed.
The filter caps on mine were really high grade, and Tantalum caps instead of electrolytic in most places. It leads to a long life.
Since there's not a lot of input resistance, the first transistor on a pre-amp board is a bit susceptible to failure... but otherwise, no worries.
Filter caps on tube amps take a bigger beating because of the higher voltages. This isn't applicable on the solid state amps.
All your electrons are belong to us.
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| Re: Newbie with service questions [message #26332 is a reply to message #26308] |
Wed, 27 September 2017 12:11 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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Nice videos, but I'll point out that the two input jacks are not high and low gain. The high input is a low cut filtered input making it a bright input and the low is a normal input.
The tantalum caps and the green 1% film resistors that were used in these amps were state of the art at the time these amps were designed. They were expensive to use, were far more reliable and helped keep some of the typical noise levels down compared to other amps being built at the time.
Keep up the good work.
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| Re: Newbie with service questions [message #26333 is a reply to message #26332] |
Wed, 27 September 2017 12:58 |
DeadKoby
Messages: 35
Registered: August 2017
Location: Cleveland, OH
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Member |
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Although I own 4 basses, and have 4 bass amps to pick from... I'm using the Kustom rig with a Rickenbacker for the whole record.... sounds great, and I don't need to mess with success.
All your electrons are belong to us.
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