krankguitarist
Krankitupologist
So, For those of you that don't know the story, here it is.
I went into the starving musician one day, just lookin around at gear. Found a vintage fender showman reverb that caught my eye, and gave it a try.
Liked the way it sounded, but noticed that the vibrato and reverb didn't work, and it had a bit of a background *buzz* to it. It was tagged at about 400 dollars. I had some surplus money and was lookin for a nice amp for cleans, so I picked it up.
The chassis was modded to accomidate two 8" speakers, and for 8" speakers they sounded damn nice. I wanted to ditch the extra weight though, so I pulled em out. I found an "Elk" 2X10 cab to pair it up with. Very nice for a relatively "no-name" brand, all plywood construction, 3/4 closed back, two carvin VL-10 speakers, silver grillcloth similar to the fender's.
Looked inside the chassis of the amp, found that the mallory paper caps were dated around the 25th week of 1968. So, I thought that was pretty cool. the thing's almost 20 years older than I am :banana: .
So, as far as the reverb goes, I opened up the reverb tank and found a broken wire inside there, a little solder fixed that right up.
I replaced the opto-coupler for the vibrato circut (basically a neon bulb and a photo-resistor, as you adjust the intensity and speed controls the neon bulb blinks faster and brighter, and thats how you get your vibrato) and I replaced a chocolate drop cap in there with an orange drop cap.
As for the filter caps, I noticed that one of the resistors in there on the filter cap board looked a little burnt, so I replaced all the carbon comp resistors on the cap board with some of the metal-oxide variety. I took out the nearly 40-year-old mallory filter caps, and replaced em with some brand new sprauge atoms.
I re-tubed her with a set of JJ/teslas, and bought a new RCA plug footswitch.
So now, after 400 dollars for the amp, 200 dollars in parts and tubes, and 100 dollars for the cab, I now have this new amp. Working reverb and vibrato, no more hum, and whats more, GLORIOUS tone.
Whats more? It was fun as hell to do.
Here's pics
:
Here's the before of the opto-coupler and the chocolate drop cap.
And after.
Before of the filter-cap board. Notice that resistor in the upper-left hand side. Looks a little crispy.
Here's the new metal-oxide resistors
And the after of the complete-new cap board.
I wanna thank the guys here for helpin me out with this, most of all a big thanks to Scott_F and kmcguitars. Couldn't have done it without you guys.
Peace!
I went into the starving musician one day, just lookin around at gear. Found a vintage fender showman reverb that caught my eye, and gave it a try.
Liked the way it sounded, but noticed that the vibrato and reverb didn't work, and it had a bit of a background *buzz* to it. It was tagged at about 400 dollars. I had some surplus money and was lookin for a nice amp for cleans, so I picked it up.
The chassis was modded to accomidate two 8" speakers, and for 8" speakers they sounded damn nice. I wanted to ditch the extra weight though, so I pulled em out. I found an "Elk" 2X10 cab to pair it up with. Very nice for a relatively "no-name" brand, all plywood construction, 3/4 closed back, two carvin VL-10 speakers, silver grillcloth similar to the fender's.
Looked inside the chassis of the amp, found that the mallory paper caps were dated around the 25th week of 1968. So, I thought that was pretty cool. the thing's almost 20 years older than I am :banana: .
So, as far as the reverb goes, I opened up the reverb tank and found a broken wire inside there, a little solder fixed that right up.
I replaced the opto-coupler for the vibrato circut (basically a neon bulb and a photo-resistor, as you adjust the intensity and speed controls the neon bulb blinks faster and brighter, and thats how you get your vibrato) and I replaced a chocolate drop cap in there with an orange drop cap.
As for the filter caps, I noticed that one of the resistors in there on the filter cap board looked a little burnt, so I replaced all the carbon comp resistors on the cap board with some of the metal-oxide variety. I took out the nearly 40-year-old mallory filter caps, and replaced em with some brand new sprauge atoms.
I re-tubed her with a set of JJ/teslas, and bought a new RCA plug footswitch.
So now, after 400 dollars for the amp, 200 dollars in parts and tubes, and 100 dollars for the cab, I now have this new amp. Working reverb and vibrato, no more hum, and whats more, GLORIOUS tone.
Whats more? It was fun as hell to do.
Here's pics
:
Here's the before of the opto-coupler and the chocolate drop cap.
And after.
Before of the filter-cap board. Notice that resistor in the upper-left hand side. Looks a little crispy.
Here's the new metal-oxide resistors
And the after of the complete-new cap board.
I wanna thank the guys here for helpin me out with this, most of all a big thanks to Scott_F and kmcguitars. Couldn't have done it without you guys.
Peace!
Last edited:
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