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A Quick Guide To Guitar Amplifier Repair

By Richard Martin


Guitar amplifier is essential component of this music instrument. It improves the quality of the music produced by the band. Failure to have it in its best condition you will lower the quality of the music. To ensure that effect of the equipment is felt in the band and add quality to the music, it must be scheduled for regularly maintenance services. On the same, guitar amplifier repair services should also be done by qualified and experienced technicians. Below are some of the maintenance routine tasks that are performed to the equipment to make sure it is working as expected.

Check the filter caps occasionally and determine whether they are working as expected. In the event that they are not in the best condition, replace them with new ones. When not replaced in time, they may cause the music equipment to break down during work. This can bring confusion and disharmony with the other instruments comprising of the band. The big caps are ones that get faulty frequently. Be checking on them frequently and replace them when necessary to avoid failure.

Tube sockets should be tightened after using the equipment for close to five years. This task must be carried on by a qualified and experienced technician because there is very high voltage present. However, you can do it meticulously with a tip of screwdriver. During the tightening, you can observe to see whether there is any corrosion on the pins and halt it with squirt contact cleaner.

Scratchy pots should be cleaned thoroughly. Clean the access holes in all the potentiometers from inside the chassis and rotate them to clean up their tracks. Failure to this, you are forced to replace the pot entirely. You can use air blower to remove any dust, cobwebs or dodgy wires in the chassis.

Moreover, you should tighten all the bolts and screws holding the power transformer, back panel on the cabinet, the feet or glides, as well as the mounts of the chassis. If these bolts and screws become loose, the back panel will be vibrating sympathetically as the music goes on hence compromising the quality of the tone. You can get a toolkit to aide you in tightening of the bolts and screws.

Resistors will wear out and some other times fail in older amplifiers. Therefore, there is a need to replace them occasionally. When they are not replaced the amplifier will start producing sizzling and hissing sounds. One particular resistor that requires to be replaced more often is the 100k ohms comp resistor in the preamp stages of vintage fender amps.

They are other larger resistors at power stage which must be checked occasionally. At this stage, there is more power being used and a lot of heat generated. In this case, the resistors are vulnerable. You must ask for help from an expert to examine and replace them if necessary.

Capacitors on the tone circuit and coupling should also be checked occasionally. This is because they can become faulty in the event of power surge. This exercise must be carried out by qualified technician to prevent further damage.




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