Sorry to double-post, but I'm reposting this topic in this forum at the suggestion of another board member.

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Hey there, I suppose I should introduce myself as I'm obviously new to the forum. My name is Casey and I'm an Industrial Electrician looking to get into repairing guitar amps as a hobby, and I thought this looked like a great forum for getting help, or helping others if I'm ever useful for that.

This week I have two problems that I was hoping someone could give me some tips on fixing. These seem like simple problems to me, but since I'm pretty new at this I figure it couldn't hurt to ask!

A friend of mine recently left me with his 1977 Fender Bassman 50. Originally he intended for me to fix the volume issues he had been having. (This involved the amp's volume cutting dramatically after he had it on for a few minutes.) Since the amp started having this problem about six months ago, he hasn't used it since, and now it's no longer having any volume issues, even after playing through it at a high volume level for a considerable amount of time. What I'm wondering is, if this issue comes back, what are some things I should consider? When he first told me about the problem, I thought it could maybe be a bad volume pot or a leaky capacitor. But since it's obviously a come-and-go problem, I don't think it's either of those. Any ideas?

The second problem that it's having is buzzing issues. When a user is playing a bass through it, it buzzes, especially with lower notes. I don't think it's a bass issue since I've played more than one instrument through the amp with the same rattle. One of the main problems though, is that my novice ears can't quite tell if it's a physical problem (something actually loose and rattling in the cabinet) or if it's an electrical thing, like a component going bad that's being pushed too hard and giving the amp a buzzing sound.


Any suggestions are very much appreciated, and thanks for reading my probably-way-too-long post! I look forward to hanging out here, throwing my one-or-two cents into your musical discussions, and learning ('cause as G.I. Joe says, knowledge is power!)

Casey

The buzzing issue sounds like a physical problem like tubes or loose screws rattling. It might not even be the amp. It could be the speaker cab or the environment. Bass frequencies tend to get stuff moving.

I don't have any idea about the volume issue. It could be related to heat though if it is an intermittent problem. If you don't have them already there are some good books that you should get. "The Tube Amp" book by Aspen Pittman of Groove Tubes and "A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps" by Gerald Weber.

Good Luck and Be Careful!!

quote:

Originally posted by JOELBYRON:
The buzzing issue sounds like a physical problem like tubes or loose screws rattling. It might not even be the amp. It could be the speaker cab or the environment. Bass frequencies tend to get stuff moving.

I don't have any idea about the volume issue. It could be related to heat though if it is an intermittent problem. If you don't have them already there are some good books that you should get. "The Tube Amp" book by Aspen Pittman of Groove Tubes and "A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps" by Gerald Weber.

Good Luck and Be Careful!!

Check the tubes first!