| Kustom Lead I 1976 (silverface) [message #16181] |
Fri, 07 October 2011 07:50  |
blindmouse
Messages: 25
Registered: February 2011
Location: The Netherlands
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Junior Member |
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This is the chassis of my latest Kustom amp I sneaked into the house. 55 Euro, that nice for a genuine 1976 Kustom Lead I. Included are a Drive option, tremolo and reverb. Now there is intermittent distortion and volume drop but I suppose that's a loose connection somewhere.
The chassis has been opened before: some bolts that hold the lid are missing. Now I wonder if the (falling apart)foam around the reverb leads and underneath the pre amp board are original? Besides, I'm used to the big blue radial electrolytic caps. Are these the originals?
Well. I've been working on this amp and found out the electrolytic cap 1900uF / 40V are the original ones.
The foam doesn't belong there. They tried to kill the vibration that caused a lot of crackling and volume loss caused by a loose frontpannel. The rivets had become spacy. I had to clean the chassis, it really was a mess the foam had deteriorated and had interacted with the black foam stips that were factory installed. Besides that somenone added wax on places where he thought the vibration was coming from.
After I reinstalled the front pannel the amp works flawless.
[Updated on: Tue, 25 October 2011 13:53] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Kustom Lead I 1976 (silverface) [message #16193 is a reply to message #16181] |
Sat, 08 October 2011 16:28  |
cassent5150
Messages: 341
Registered: August 2009
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Senior Member |
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Well I see you dabble with the post Baldwin " Late 71 and newer" equipment. I have several of those amps "Challenger, Hustler, Charger, Commander, K150-2, K250-1 and 2, Lead I, Lead II, Lead III and both Bass and Lead IV" just to name a few. With the exception of the K-IV models I didn't find any very impressive I think they all fall short in the warmth catagory comparing to the "Non IC chip" era. The K-IV on the other hand I can only say "OH MY GOD" they have a huge robust sound when cranked, but 300 plus watts can do that if you got a big enough place to play, like a statium or something. There is a definite gain in warmth caracteristics in those earlier piont to point wired independent (Germanium) transistor circuitry like your 200A Model. Yet, I have found if you get those chips good and warm they will warm up. I did a gig outside with two K150-2 models side by side (one K150-2 had the single Altec 421A 15" cab under it and the other had the 2X12 CTS cab under it) and after 3 or 4 songs into each set you could really hear the change and I couldn't have been more pleased at the sound I was getting. I have that Lead I model with the single 12. Lots of features and spunk for its size. I replaced the transformer on the Lead II with a little more meat to chew on and that thing gained so much bottom you have to keep the bass control below 5. It has a great full sound and with a couple stomp boxes in front it will definitly do a show. I have experienced a lot of the post Baldwin stuff and find they lack the immediatly warm sound at the expence of fast assembly and service ability. So bad in fact there was a sevice memerandum issued to point to point solder all the wiring from board to board when in for sevice. Well just though I'd pass on some of my experiences for what its worth. Steve C
Steve C
[Updated on: Sat, 08 October 2011 16:32] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Kustom Lead I 1976 (silverface) [message #16213 is a reply to message #16193] |
Tue, 11 October 2011 15:10 |
blindmouse
Messages: 25
Registered: February 2011
Location: The Netherlands
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Junior Member |
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Thanks for the information on this amp.
Now there are three PC boards on this amp.
PC5129 / PC5033-01 / PC5131-01 REV O
I have the PC5129 schematic and layout
I have the PC5033 not the PC5033-01 (minor differences)
I don't have the PC5131-01 REV O
Is there a way to get the PC5033-01 and PC5131-01 REV 0 schematics (layouts)?
Thanks, Jan
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| Re: Kustom Lead I 1976 (silverface) [message #16246 is a reply to message #16216] |
Thu, 13 October 2011 13:14 |
blindmouse
Messages: 25
Registered: February 2011
Location: The Netherlands
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Junior Member |
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Another reason why to love them old Kustom amps!
Today I got in a brand new set of 2200uF/63V F&T capacitors for my Lead I. Changed out the Mallory's right away. Turning the amp on a instant hum and the fuse started glowing! I immediately shut down the amp. The fuse hadn't blow. The caps were installed the right way. Did some trouble shooting and found out two of diodes of the rectifier bridge were open. Changed these N1 4005 with some N1 4007's. Then put in the original Mallory's and fired it up again. It completely came back to life.
After that I checked the caps. One of the F&T cap read fully open!!! Better check them before I start.
Thank you Kustom for ringing a bell before you let it all go down.
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| Re: Kustom Lead I 1976 (silverface) [message #16247 is a reply to message #16181] |
Thu, 13 October 2011 13:25 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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You would think that a brand new cap would be perfect, but it does happen more and more these days.
I would suggest that you use 4 new diodes in the bridge so that they will all be able to work equally and share the load evenly. I would also suggest that you switch to a diode with a higher current rating. Maybe a 3 amp diode instead of the 1 amp 1N4007.
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