Amps OMG Fender Deluxe Reverb true 65

CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Another amp in the shop. A true 65 ish Fender Deluxe Reverb! Almost all original. It has a JBL speaker, as you can see. He said he replaced the amp cabinet, but the electronics are all original eyelet board and everything. It even has the original Sprague filter caps. He said it's noisy. I've already found that the 4th preamp tube is microphonic and noisy as heck. I am going to do more work and do a full re-furb if he wants. So I will figure what that would entail, and give him a price. I will follow up with some inside pics, but for now these will have to do.

Untitled by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

Untitled by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

Untitled by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr
 
ronico

ronico

rainyislandblues
You da man Capn! Love your updates! Just wish you lived in my corner of the world!:Beer::Beer::Beer:
 
snarf

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Dude!! I need to quit my job and try to learn to do some amp repair. You've had some really cool stuff come through lately!
 
straightblues

straightblues

Blues Junior
I see that you clipped the old caps out about 1/2 inch above the board and made you connections there. Is there a reason you did it that way as opposed to pulling the old caps and soldering the new ones to the board?
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
it's easier. The wires thru the eyelet boards don't always like to stay in place, while you pull one of them out. I cut let leads on pcb mounted parts too, just to make the job easier, and to reduce the chance of damaging the pcb. Same thing here, you don't want to damage the eyelet board.

The only downside, other than it looks like a shoddy repair, is if the owner wants to be able to revert back to the oem parts. Some collectors insist on all original parts, period. I discussed it with the owner, and he just wants it to work and be reliable. Even though the old caps look OK they are 55 years old? If you get 20 years from an electrolytic cap, you are doing good. So cutting the leads makes it impossible to put the old caps back in. He actually replaced the amp cabinet with a mojotone or somebody's cab. So it's way not original parts now.
 
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CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
So I got the new caps in. Tested out the amp, and now I see it needs a new volume pot on the Tremolo channel. I guess I missed that, or thought it was part of the bad tube.

I must say it kind of left me un-impressed. I'm thinking it's the all JJ tube compliment. My customer asked if I thought he should buy all new tubes? I kind of thought about it, and finally gave him an answer. I told him if it was my amp I would replace most if not all the tubes. I've heard these amps before and they are at the top of a very few best sounding amps I've ever heard. So I would expect this amp to sound much better than it does.

I sent my customer this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mc51f92t-s

I tend to use Tung Sol power tubes in my Fender amps. I've seen these Gold Lion tubes before, and I was very impressed by how great they sound in the demo. The Tung Sol sounds good too in the video. But what also impressed me was how bad the JJ tubes sounded in the video. That is just how the amp I am working on sounds! Just yucko!

A pair of Gold Lion tubes are $70. The Tung Sol are $58 for a pair. And the JJ's are $38 for a pair. Is it worth spending an extra $32 for the Gold Lion tubes over the JJ tubes? Let your ears and your wallet decide. If it was my amp I might go for the Gold Lion, or at least the Tung Sol. And the actual Deluxe Reverb may not respond as well as the boutique amp in the video. Some amps don't really deserve better tubes. Or I guess a better way to say it, is they would not benefit as much as the amp in the video does. At least to my ear.
 
GeeDub

GeeDub

Mojo Seeker
I tend to agree that JJs are not the greatest sounding modern tubes. I was one of those who read some raving reviews and thought I would put a set of JJs (EL84 & 12AX7) in the Blues Junior Lacquered Tweed that I ended up giving to my youngest son. When he came back to the area and moved into an apartment, he decided to leave it with me. Then, I decided to get reacquainted with the amp and man, it sounded like crap, very dull to my ears. So I replaced the JJs with a set of Tung Sols which made it sound so much better. Having said all of this, I agree that it is better to spend the extra $ for some better tubes.
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
That was a great video CapnDenny! I prefer the Tung-Sols ... if my SS-infested "me" matters a bit. I liked their sound better than the Gold Lions.
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
I went with Tung Sol 6v6, Tube Store Select 12ax7's, and JAN 12at7 for the PI and reverb driver. That was $200 worth of tubes. It better sound killer, or I might have bought myself some tubes? That's a lot for a set of tubes, but a Blackface Deluxe Reverb deserves some nice tubes. imho
 
OG_Blues

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
straightblues said:
I see that you clipped the old caps out about 1/2 inch above the board and made you connections there. Is there a reason you did it that way as opposed to pulling the old caps and soldering the new ones to the board?
Click to expand...
I also recommend doing it like CapnDenny did when repairing vintage electronics. I have rebuilt / repaired many vintage radio
receivers and transmitters that required a lot of parts to be replaced. This is considered by most, the preferable way to do it, especially
when there are multiple components attached to the same point. This leaves the original joint and the other components untouched.
The only thing I do differently is to use a very small drill bit as a mandrel to make coiled pigtail leads on the new part. The coil slips nicely
over the lead of the original part and holds the new part in place very nicely for soldering, and gives a super strong, solid mechanical and electrical connection to the old lead. This is sometimes very useful when the new part has to fit into a difficult to reach location.
Good work Capn!!
I hope the new tube set meets expectations.
 
JPsuff

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
With all this tube talk it got me thinking (thinking generally means "locate wallet") and I decided to do some tube surfing and I also decided to spring for a new set for my Blackstar Artist 15.

I have JJ's in it now and I wanted to experiment and I know what I'm looking for now that I've had the amp for a while.
So I just ordered some new bottles from Amplified Parts:
  • 2 - Genelex Gold Lion 12ax7's (gold pins)
  • 2 - Tung Sol 6L6GC STR Reissues
All made in Russia.

$138.00 for the lot and free shipping.

The price seems right, let's hope the tubes are as well! :Beer:
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Oh man. I hope you like them. I will feel bad if not.

I have been very impressed with the Blackstar amps I've heard. I hope the new tubes sound great.
 
JPsuff

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
CapnDenny1 said:
Oh man. I hope you like them. I will feel bad if not.

I have been very impressed with the Blackstar amps I've heard. I hope the new tubes sound great.
Click to expand...

Based upon the reviews from various sources I think the Gold Lions are a safe bet.
I took a flyer on the Tung Sols, but they advertise a bit sooner breakup (which is one of the things I'm looking for) than the JJ's so I figured, "What the hell?"

We'll see.
 
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