Howdy from a New Guy Here

[swamptone]

Greetings,

I'm new here, so this is an introduction and hopefully a useful contribution.

My experience has been with tube gear for a long time (mostly tube guitar amps). But I have relied on a solid state backup amp for decades: a Tech21 Trademark 60. Sadly, the amp fell victim to a bad flooding situation. I did the best I could to run damage control on the situation (dried it out with fans, etc). After a good spell of drying time (and thorough cleaning) and with much trepidation, I hooked it all up. Amazingly the amp worked! The reverb tank and speaker were compromised, but everything still worked. Bear in mind, this amp took the full flow of a ruptured major water line full on (and a direct hit) for 10 to 12 hours before the rupture was discovered. It was completely inundated. Amazing it still worked. That was three years ago. The Tech21 technical support was fantastic. They sold me replacement speaker and reverb tank and were excellent to work with.

A couple of weeks ago I took it to a jam session. I needed something light and easy to tote, impervious to the cold of winter, so no tube amp. During the session the amp started stuttering and cutting out. I thought maybe the jacks in the effect loop were corroded and shorting due to vibration. Took it all apart and cleaned all the jacks and pots. Routinely started tightening all screws, bolts, connections and noticed the heat sink for the amp chip was loose. Upon closer inspection, the machine screw that bolts the heat sink to the chassis was missing. Found a #6-32, 3/8ths long that worked, and attached it. I was about to remount the chassis into the cabinet when I noticed a machine screw and star washer magnetically attached to the speaker. Yep, it was the mounting hardware for the heat sink!

Put it all back together and it works GREAT!

I also ordered some Arctic Silver thermal paste. Next time I'm in that chassis I'll put some between the heat sink and the chassis.