Want to increase performance and reliability of your reissue guitar amplifier? This is a bit of an invasive repair project but it will make your amp much like the vintage amps they are based on. I like to call the process “gutting & rebuilding”. The process is as follows: 1- Remove all printed circuit boards from the amp chassis. All PCB’s must go including the ones for the power supply (filter capacitors). 2- Construct and populate the appropriate board for your amp model (fiberboard for reissue Fender’s, turret boards for British type reissue’s) so that it may be hand wired. Using full size components such as capacitors and some resistors increases the dynamic response of the amp as well as making the overall tone nice and rich like the amps of the good ol’ days. 3- Install the new hand wired board and make all the necessary connections. 4- Power on the amp checking all voltages, current draw & set the negative bias voltage.
I have had much success in my 300guitars Shop with this process on reissue amps that have PCB’s. I am not against PCB’s if they are made of high quality board material, have adequate traces and a good layout. There have been some great amps constructed with PCB’s such as older Marshall’s and Ampeg’s as well as some newer models made by Bogner and Fuchs. When done correctly amps can sound fantastic, are reliable and become very consistent in mass production. The use of PCB construction is cost effective as well.
I don’t recommend a project like this to a novice for many reasons. Besides being somewhat dangerous a novice does not have the knowledge or experience to troubleshoot the amp if it does not work properly when complete which can be very frustrating. If you would like to attempt hand wiring a reissue amp you could source a pre-wired board, do the installation then take it to a tech for the final step of powering on and setting it up.
Here are some photos of some hand wired reissue chassis’.
My shop is located at 1 Executive Dr Unit L Toms River, NJ 08755
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or are in need of some tech work.
- Monday: 10am - 5pm
- Tuesday: 10am - 5pm
- Wednesday: Closed
- Thursday: 10am - 5pm
- Friday: 10am - 5pm
- Saturday 10am - 2pm. (I am in every other Saturday).
I am also an Eminence, Mercury Magnetics, Mojo Musical Supply dealer.
I do all the tech work myself so you deal directly with me. I am a one man shop and my hours can vary so please contact me to confirm that I will be open.
Email me: billy@300guitars.com
Call or text me: 848-218-0362
Shipping Info for all repair work:
Please ship all repairs to: 1 Executive Dr Unit L Toms River, NJ 08755
I am currently offering all phases of guitar work which includes:
- Set-ups
- Fret dressing
- Re-fretting
- New hand cut custom bone nuts & saddles
- Electronics work
And amplifier work which includes:
- Basic maintenance
- Bias adjustment
- Repairs and restorations
- Modifications
- And more....
Testimonials:
David Nicholas - The 20watt amp is sounding fantastic! Delivered the goods at the gig and I'm finding cool tones all over the place with it. Love the cab w Emenince Tonkerlites too- perfect for my sounds! Makes the 12 string sound like a grand piano!
Peter Lacis - I had an audition for something recently that was all about Led Zeppelin I -- my custom Pennalizer BLEW THE MINDS of the guys I was playing with. They couldn't believe the sounds coming out of that amp. That album was never in my mind when I came up with the idea....so that's yet another testament to the amazing work that you do.
Scott Goldberg - I am very satisfied with the set-up, and the fast turn around. With the "lower" action it feels easier to play. I will definitely spread the word.