Cool...thanks guys!!    I read somewhere if you use a bar type clamp...you can reverse it to push outwards a little and it makes taking the chassis out easier by spreading the enclosure a little bit.  I wont tear the case up.  I'm pretty gentle with stuff.  And having worked with vinyl flooring and doing upholstery work with carpet...I bet I could recover the whole thing if it needed it...lol.  But it is nearly brand new looking on the outside.  The guy I got it from took great care of it, and it has never left my guitar room.

I will leave you guys with some guitar porn for all of the helpful help...lol

My stuff and guitar room...also is the bedroom of Elsa...one of my 3 German Shepherds.

Epiphone Les Paul Plus Top Pro.  Love this guitar. Has the coil tapping.  Someday I will have a real Gibson like her.
I call her Maybellene.




Epiphone SG400 1966 Reissue.   First guitar I bought.  I'm a huge Sabbath fan. I usually keep this one drop tuned
for my Sabbathy noodling. Name is "El Rojo Diablo"




Fender Stratocaster 50th Anniversary.  My baby. 



Salt and Pepper.  An affinity and a bullet.  Both actually sound halfway decent. I set them up nice.  Will do some pickups someday soon.  These are ones I can leave on a stand and not worry about casing all the time.  Beaters...but not too bad for beaters.



Elsa...official guitar guard.  She sleeps on the bed in the guitar room. 



See ya guys tomorrow for the chassis pull.  Really appreciate all the help.  Hope you liked the pics. 

Cool.  I'll pull chassis...with it unplugged.  Carefully not touching board or anything.  Get it setup as described above...then get some pictures up.  I'll test the caps for voltage with the multimeter...ground probe alligator clipped to chassis...red probe on + of caps.


The caps are c84 and c85 on the schematic, correct?

Thanks guys.  I'm going to pull the chassis tomorrow.   I had PT today and had to go pick up some medical records today...so I didn't have time today.

I'm going to go get the pot cleaner and a resistor to build the discharge tool tomorrow at radio shack.   What resistor do I need to get to protect caps from discharging to quick?   The amp is 65w x2.   

I'll label any connections I take apart...like speaker wires etc...

Silly question,  do latex gloves keep you from getting zapped?

So it's time to pull the chassis?

What do I need to avoid touching?  everything on the board?  just touch outer chassis?   use just one hand to pull out?

I don't like getting zapped.

Ok.  I ran the effects out from the Ultimate to a good amp effects input.  Was the same...garbage.
Ran the effects out from good amp to effects in on Ultimate....bingo...played perfect.


So from what I have gathered...it's in the preamp of the Ultimate...possibly reaffirming it's the filter caps.

Am I correct?    And thanks for explaining that to me.

As far as the trying the hooking another amp up to it, to be honest...I don't know how to do that...lol. 

I'm going to order a pencil style solder gun kit with a solder sucker tomorrow.  All I have is a big gun style one.
And get some pot cleaner and a resistor to build a little discharge tool.  Been collecting amp and electronics books.
Might as well learn the theory as I go.  Make it an educational affair.   I'm gonna fix this amp.  It's in perfect shape
....other than being broke...lol

Ok...today...will not play sound at all....but if I waited a few days, it will play for a bit and then do the same thing.  Whacking it did not help.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7zTkUfOu4

Sorry about the video...all I have is my iPhone for video.

I will go make another video...turning all knobs to zero and then each one on to see if it affects it.
I will also give it  couple whacks....lol.

Brb.

Gotcha...will do in am after Physical therapy.  (jacked up back and neck)

videos.... turn volume up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppKTAfFdAo&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EzkYLA9E5E&feature=youtu.be

To answer some of your questions while loading the video...

Yes 2 12 inch speakers.
Volume makes it louder/quieter.
Ultimate chorus is the model. 
Yes I have a Multimeter.

I'm in the process of posting a video for the guru's.

Great forum. So glad it is here.  Thank you in advance.
I was playing the other night and my Fender amp started acting up.  Loud humming noise and low output of music as it warmed up.
I can't afford a shop right now.  I have been home injured for 19 months, so any help would be most appreciated.
Where do I start?  Willing to follow directions explicitly.
The amp is  a Fender  Chorus.

Again, thanks in advance.

David