Matchless repair places?

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hey there everyone!

last night I went to a gig and set up my amp (matchless clubman 35 reverb) and stuff, I turned the amp on it made a loud low frequency buzz and then blew a fuse. So today I called matchless today, they told me that it was more than likely a rectifier tube or power tube issue, so i went out and bought a new 5ar4 and two new EL34's and set it up in house and it made the low buzz sound and then started smoking! I turned it off so as to not fry anything that's not already been fried. Matchless said i need to send in to their shop in LA to be worked on, I'd be OK with that if it wasn't so dang expensive so ship it to LA. So I'm here to find out if there are any places either in the Nor Cal area, Portland, Oregon or East Texas area that can work on it (while were on tour). If you guys could help me out, that'd be great!

Thanks in advance,


Jim

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Luckily, it's one amp that's laid out as simple as possible, so just about any competent amp tech can work on it. Don't worry that it's a Matchless...it's an easy amp to work on, being point to point.

Just find a guy who knows vintage amps, and has easy access to high end components just like the Matchless has. Normally, it's a tube issue, but in the rare instance that it's not, it's not a hard amp to service.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Otherwise, how's the tour going, Jim?

 

[glassman]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Luckily, it's one amp that's laid out as simple as possible, so just about any competent amp tech can work on it. Don't worry that it's a Matchless...it's an easy amp to work on, being point to point.

Just find a guy who knows vintage amps, and has easy access to high end components just like the Matchless has. Normally, it's a tube issue, but in the rare instance that it's not, it's not a hard amp to service.

+1

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Otherwise, how's the tour going, Jim?

tour is going well, it's very tiring though. we'll face difficulties here and there (gas card not working, amps blowing, horrible weather in Wyoming :banghead but, like my dad says, "You're just paying your dues". I'm looking forward to getting off the road and having some off time to practice and get some new gear (hopefully a Dr. Z remedy)

We've been very fortunate to be playing the tour we do (Acquire the Fire youth conferences) where we get to play in front of 2000-10,000 people on a weekly basis and it's all paid for by the Ministry we work for. TOTAL BLESSING! This weekend we're in Sacramento, CA and playing at the Arco Arena for around 8000-9000 people. Should be a lot of fun, and next weekend in Portland I'll be filling in with the band Leeland. So that's pretty cool.

:cool2:

 

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Re: Matchless repair places?

oh yeah, I found a shop in Portland, OR that's gonna take a look at my amp this tuesday. Innersound.com

Hopefully I can get everything working solidly by next weekend!

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Good luck with the repair and tour man.

I haven't "toured" since the 90's, but have gigged since the late-80s and can definitely sympathize with the whole "paying dues" thing. Paid a LOT of dues over the years... and when my current band starts gigging sometime this summer I will be paying more I'm sure. But hey... you get LOTS of good stories to tell people!

The older I get, the less dues I like to pay. That's why I've stuck with my current day gig (network admin) for the past 15+ years. Yeah... it does suck my soul day-after-day. But at least I can count on getting paid. I remember having to show-up at a club-owner's house many years ago to collect our pay for three weeks' worth of playing. Almost had to rough the guy up to get paid what we were owed (he was a cokehead from what I remember). Sheesh... I can do without those kind of dues.

Anyways... I live in MT, and we got a bunch of snow dumped on us last night. So I can picture your weather episode in WY.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Luckily, it's one amp that's laid out as simple as possible, so just about any competent amp tech can work on it. Don't worry that it's a Matchless...it's an easy amp to work on, being point to point.

Just find a guy who knows vintage amps, and has easy access to high end components just like the Matchless has. Normally, it's a tube issue, but in the rare instance that it's not, it's not a hard amp to service.

Joe,

How would you compare your Matchless to your XTC, in terms of tones and styles it'll do? I've just always been curious about them, but never had a chance to play one. Seems to me like they'd be a bit like a Shiva in terms of vintage types of tones and capabilities.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Joe,

How would you compare your Matchless to your XTC, in terms of tones and styles it'll do? I've just always been curious about them, but never had a chance to play one. Seems to me like they'd be a bit like a Shiva in terms of vintage types of tones and capabilities.

To me, Matchless amps in general have their own sound, much like Marshall, Fender, and Vox.

There's different models, but Matchless amps are the kings of huge fat cleans and rootsy midgain.....and that's it. High gain is NOT what Matchless is known for, although they've dabbled with it on models like the Independence.

My favorite has always been the Chieftain. It could be compared to a Bassman preamp with an EL-34 power section, so it's sorta like a JTM 45, being a Bassman on steroids. It's the hugest sounding clean tone I've ever heard.....and I've put it next to a lot of Fenders.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Matchless repair places?

Interesting. Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Matchless repair places?

cathode biased amps are just flat out special.

Did you open it up and look to see where the smoke was coming from? I love these amps. Hopefully, Innersound will knock it out for you muy pronto.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Matchless repair places?

cathode biased amps are just flat out special.

I wish I could find the time to know what any of this means .... biasing etc.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Matchless repair places?

I wish I could find the time to know what any of this means .... biasing etc.

Glassman or someone may eventually come along and explain it in more technical terms, but properly biasing your output/power tubes means adjusting the current/voltage that is running through them to the optimal setting (for tone and/or tube life). Cathode biasing is basically where the amp automatically senses and adjusts bias. So all you need to do is to plug in a new set of matched tubes and the amp does the rest. Fixed bias amps require you to check the voltage after plugging in a new set of tubes and adjust the bias via a potentiometer to optimal voltage. It sounds complicated, but once you've done it yourself, it's not that complicated at all. I've had several cathode-biased amps, and many fixed-bias amps. I actually prefer the fixed-bias ones any more, because I like to play with such things as biasing them myself. But it's not like a guy can't adjust the bias on a self-biasing/cathode-biased amp. I've got an early Traynor YCS100H that's cathode-biased, but that I've adjusted the bias to be pretty hot and it sounds MUCH better to my ears than it did when I just left it at its "automatically biased" setting. But I may pay for that with shortened tube life in the end.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Matchless repair places?

It's like setting the idle in your truck. If you set it too high, you burn too much gas (blow thru tubes faster). If you set it too low, you starve the engine.