| Help with Frankenstein head [message #6324] |
Sat, 19 November 2005 15:45  |
Haltone
Messages: 16
Registered: March 2000
Location: Syracuse NY
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Junior Member |
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Although I've been collecting Kustoms forever, I just got my first Frankenstein head off the bay. It has no model or serial number plate, but it is the reverb and tremolo guitar head. I get no reverb or tremolo although everything else works fine. The tremolo does nothing at all, when I turn up the reverb knob, the volume drops gradually to zero. Any ideas? Thanks Hal
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| Re: Help with Frankenstein head [message #6329 is a reply to message #6324] |
Mon, 21 November 2005 12:00  |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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Hi Hal:
Welcome to the board!
Depending upon how old your Frank head is, the model and serial number would either be a small paper tag or sticker, located inside the back perforated metal panel, on the right side as you face the back of the amp. The paper stickers often come loose and get lost, the later stickers were sometimes removed for various reasons. If only they could talk.
As to your FX problems:
The vibrato (true pitch shift, not volume change) is based upon a light bulb and photo-resistor module. If either the light bulb or the photocell fail you will get little or no effect. I own 2 Frank RV heads. One had a bad light bulb, and both had weak photocells. If you get absolutely no vibrato, I would start by checking the bulb and then the photocell. If the effect is very weak but there, I would try changing the photocell.
The reverb control on Frank heads works more like a balance control; full counter-clockwise straight signal only, full clockwise reverb signal only. So your reverb is dead. As I have stated here before, I find that 95% of all spring reverb problems are mechanical in nature, related to the tank and wires. If you shake the head with the reverb control turned up, you should hear the typical "sprong" or crashing of the reverb springs. If you don't, check the wires going to and from the reverb tank and also check the small wires that connect the transducer coils to the rca jacks, inside the tank itself. If you have an ohmmeter, you can check the tank transducers by reading the resistance across the input and output jacks of the tank. On a Kustom head, they should both read about 200 ohms.
Again, as I have previously stated on this board, you should never work on your amp while it is plugged in. You should only work on things that you are qualified to work on, and if the work is beyond your abilities, you should refer servicing to qualified service persons.
Bill
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| Re: Help with Frankenstein head [message #6345 is a reply to message #6329] |
Wed, 23 November 2005 17:00 |
Haltone
Messages: 16
Registered: March 2000
Location: Syracuse NY
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Junior Member |
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Thanks for the tips, Bill. I have a couple of other Kustoms (actually way more than a couple) so I will try swapping a known good reverb tank into the Frankenstein head. I'm hoping the one used in a K200 or K100 will be close enough. I will let my amp guy take a shot at the vibrato, now that I know what to look for. Thanks again, Hal
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