Please allow me to introduce myself

[rachett]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and new to electronics. In the past year or two I've become somewhat obsessed with vintage SS amps. I have three now, and one of them works.

I am slowly trying to learn about electronics, and hope that someday I may be able to fix the two that are not working well. Perhaps this is a ridiculous goal for a middle-aged girl bass player with no training in electronics, but I am not going to try anything until I read a lot. Probably not for years.

I hope I am right in realizing, through research, that the tube-centric musicians and technicians I know, the ones who tell me it is useless to fix broken vintage SS amps, are mostly incorrect. From the little I've learned, I don't see why they would be unfixable. Is this right?

As to whether it's worth the bother, I have to say that I am greatly pleased to have the three amps I have, and they are rare, and cool, and since I always like being different I am happy to not be tube-bound.

I think it's true, also, or so I was told, that SS amps are good for bass players. I don't know why, really. I have a big 2x15 Standel combo that I wish I could fix right now. But I have not the money, and not yet the know-how. I've read that it is a good sounding amp. And I didn't get the kind with the resin-encased modules, if you've heard of that. Those are apparently more of a chore to fix. It cost me $20. Someone started to fix it, and said it is "railing" - I think. But he didn't finish, so the thing sits with its guts hanging out, waiting for me to do something.

Anyway, I see there's lots of reading to do on this site, but I wanted to say hello. Hello!

[J M Fahey]

Welcome and congratulations on your choice of amps.
Plu those Standels are real cool, wish I had one of them.
Plus, I think in a near future you will be able to repair and play them.

[Enzo]

Since you are a girl bass player, I guess you are not then "a man of wealth and taste."  Oh well.   (Sorry, I am halfway through Keith Richards' interesting book)

There are two kinds of amp repair people that will tell you rot like SS amps are not fixable or not worth fixing or whatever.  One is the gear snob who sees no value in anything he doesn't like.  The other is a technician lacking the competence to service anything but a very narrow sample of electronic gear.   And guys spouting such opinions who do not repair amps have no business telling you things they know nothing about.

There are perfectly legitimate discussions/arguments over differences between tube and solid state gear, but that is really a different matter.

Bottom like:  if you like it, get it fixed.

Basic electronics is important, but there is more than the theory, there is also the mechanics of it.  The locals who work on the soldering line at the amp factories usually don;t know a whit about the circuits, but they can solder rings around most of us.  Having some sense of hand tools and how to use them is important, and that includes soldering.   SOme folks look at an amp and can;t figure out that the four big screws in the top are what holds it together.  And even those that get that far don;t always realize you have to take the wires off the speaker before you can get the chassis free.

300-400 watts of tube amp is HUGE, they rarely get larger than that.  Your SVT.  SOlid state bass amps can get a lot more powerful than that and are not rare.  A 1500 watt bass rig is not unreasonable up along some junior version of Eddie Van Halen.  There is someone out there to do most anything, but in my experience, most bass players are not looking to overdrive the power amp, they want clean strong sound.  A solid state amp is ideal for that, and if you want some tube-iness, get a tube preamp and a SS power amp.  Just my view.   Same SS power amp you might use for the PA system works for bass.  I don;t see many tube subwoofers.

If you have some amps you want, go find a couple blown practice amps or other SS throw away finds, and learn on them.  Learn to resolder controls and jacks, learn to replace jacks.  Old amps often need new capacitors.  Learn to identify them and then replace them. 

You have two missions here.  One is just to get your amps fixed, one way or another.  The other is learning about how amps work and how to troubleshoot them.  Those things can be done together, but don;t lose sight of the two sidedness of the project.  For example, with assistance here, you might determine you need new filter caps.  (capacitors)  Even if you don;t yet understand what they do and how they do it, you still can learn top change them, and thus get the amp closer to working well.


"Railing"  All circuits work from some power supply.  To make your speaker cone move in and out to make sound, the circuits in your amp alternately turn on positive and negative voltages to the speakers.  Transistors control this, not unlike turning a dimmer switch up and down on the dinign room wall.  The individual voltage supplies inside the amp are often referred to as "rails."  If someone says an amp is railing, I assume they are saying that the speaker wires are being turned fully on to that "rail" voltage.  We often also call that amp condition "blown."  It generally means there is a bad transistor or two.

[rachett]

I wish I was a person of wealth and taste. Heck, I'd just take the wealth, and do without the taste, even. You know, if I had to. I can compromise.

JM Fahey - thanks for your encouragement. I will believe in your belief that I will be playing through that beautiful Standel someday soon.

Enzo - you gave me a lot of info in that post. I really appreciate it. You explained some key things I hadn't figured out. Big help!

I've been practicing soldering - I'm pretty clumsy at it. An important skill!

[Loudthud]

One challenge presented by old SS amps is finding the obsolete parts. You can usually find them on ebay, but the price can be outasight. The circuit may accept contemporary parts with a few circuit changes. There was recently a thread on Music-Electronics-Forum where a guy was repairing an old Rhodes piano and had to have the obsolete parts to get the old sound. DTG110B, same part used in some Standell amps. Link: http://music-electronics-forum.com/t27388/ You might have to join up to see attachments.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name....

FYI: I think Keith Richards played bass on that recording.

[joecool85]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and new to electronics. In the past year or two I've become somewhat obsessed with vintage SS amps. I have three now, and one of them works.

Welcome!  With time you'll figure out how to repair, modify and understand solidstate amps.