where good for amp repair?

Beastieboy

Hello,

where would be good to get my ac30 looked at? it's literally howling..... or any ideas what that might be?


also i'm looking for a pick up for my acoustic guitar any advice? its just your average western acoustic..... sounds really nice acoustic but want to be able to play it through amp an at gigs.... i'm thinking something reasonably priced with the credit crunch and all that...
michael

Eoin Madsen

Beastieboy wrote: »

Hello,

where would be good to get my ac30 looked at? it's literally howling..... or any ideas what that might be?

When does it howl (does it come and go at random or when the guitar is played, does it happen without guitar plugged in, does it go away if certain volume pots are tuned down), what kind of howling (high pitched, low pitched etc), and when were the valves last replaced?

Beastieboy

Hi Eoin, thanks for the reply! the howl is pretty constant now.... it wasn't always. I used to be able to bang the amp and it would stop. I just had the guitar set up again so i don't think its the guitar. I've had the amp nearly two years and never changed the tubes. And its a high pitched howl. Could it just be that i need to change the tubes?

Matt Bianco

Hi there

I went to Aladdin Amps to get a 1963 AC30 fixed a couple of years back. Was in dire need of a service and overhaul - it ended up being pricey but he did a good job. He's based in Dublin and used to offer a service whereby you could leave it in Musician Inc and he would collect but that may no longer be the case with X Music around. Can PM number if required.

Eoin Madsen

Beastieboy wrote: »

Hi Eoin, thanks for the reply! the howl is pretty constant now.... it wasn't always. I used to be able to bang the amp and it would stop. I just had the guitar set up again so i don't think its the guitar. I've had the amp nearly two years and never changed the tubes. And its a high pitched howl. Could it just be that i need to change the tubes?

It's possible. A microphonic valve in the preamp could manifest like that. It's time to change them anyway, so I'd suggest doing that before forking out on a tech. If you go to one of the online valve shops (have a look at watfordvalves.com, tubedepot.com, thetubestore.com or have a google) you should be able to email them and get a suggestion for some valves for an AC30. I wouldn't touch Sovteks or Electroharmonix, personally. You shouldn't need to replace the rectifier valve (assuming it has one) as often as the rest, but I'd replace it for the first time anyway.

The power valves need to be a matched quad of EL84s. The rectifier is a 5AR4. The preamp contains five ECC83/12AX7s and one ECC82/12AU7. The The ECC82 is the only one that can easily be put in the wrong place, so just note which one it is when you're doing the swap. It will look the same as an ECC83 but should say ECC82 or 12AU7 on the glass.

There's no bias adjustment on an AC30, and therefore no real need to have a tech install the valves. Don't maul the glass of the incoming valves too much with your hands, and pay attention to which way around they insert before pushing (there will be a missing pin or notch so that they can only be put in one way) but otherwise it's simple.

bertone

where are you based? My Brother services amps in his spare time, We are in Co Mayo. AC 30s are Know to be fairly troublesome, especially when gigging them.

vox

Matt Bianco wrote: »

Hi there

I went to Aladdin Amps to get a 1963 AC30 fixed a couple of years back. Was in dire need of a service and overhaul - it ended up being pricey but he did a good job. He's based in Dublin and used to offer a service whereby you could leave it in Musician Inc and he would collect but that may no longer be the case with X Music around. Can PM number if required.

I agree with this guy, aladdins is very expensive but he is good. I wouldnt go back to him again myself. There are 2 other guys that I know of Conor Farren and Martin Nolan. A search should bring up their numbers.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Aladdin's Amp charged me €100 to replace a speaker in a 100Watt Valvestate amp.
Maybe it was my fault for having a crap amp, maybe he overcharged me.
Either way, it was hella expensive.

Eoin Madsen

Speaker value was probably around €25, so you paid €75 for 10 minutes of work.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Yup, it wasn't even a new speaker.

I also asked Mr Aladdin for a price to "true bypass" a Crybaby Wah pedal.

"The cost a true bypass mod on a Dunlop Wah is €45 inc the Carling switch."
^ was the response

Seziertisch

This is kind of related. I recently got some Van den Hul speaker cable I want installed in a combo. I would like to get this done sometime during the week this week if possible and have the amp ready for the weekend.

I would probably be able to do it myself (draining the capacitors, and the soldering) but it would be a serious inconvenience if it wasn't up and running for the weekend for whatever reason, and fiddling with the innards of amps is virgin terrritory for me. This job should only take a couple of minutes if someone knows what they are doing and I am willing to pay a reasonable amount for their trouble.

Can anyone recommend any guys working on the northside inner city who do this kind of thing. I have seen Ron Prevo mentioned in an older thread and another guy Conor Farren. Any experience with these guys? Contact details would also be appreciated.

Thanks.

Paolo_M

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Yup, it wasn't even a new speaker.

I also asked Mr Aladdin for a price to "true bypass" a Crybaby Wah pedal.

"The cost a true bypass mod on a Dunlop Wah is €45 inc the Carling switch."
^ was the response

Wow, €100 to replace a speaker with a second hand one?!?! :mad:
Think I'd have told them where to shove that 2nd hand speaker!!

€45 including the switch for the true bypass is maybe a bit much but it isn't too bad though. A single Carling DPDT will cost about €10 and it would take about 20 mins depending on whether they remove the buffer too.

Out of interest Beastieboy, did you get the Vox fixed? If so, what was the problem?

Beastieboy

dropped it into aladdin's amps.... hopefully get a diagnosis tomorrow....

Red Sleeping Beauty

Is he still working out of Templeogue ?

felim

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

Speaker value was probably around €25, so you paid €75 for 10 minutes of work.

Not to be contradictory Eoin but some of the original Valvestates came with G12T75s, you wouldn't get one of those for €25 I don't think.

Red Sleeping Beauty

He told me it was an old Celestion he was putting in it.

Yes I'm a moron who owns a Marshall (non professional) amp and I've made the mistakes that go along with it like get diddled out of a repair job.

Eoin Madsen

There are a lot of different kinds of Celestion.

I had a Marshall VS many many moons ago. You live and you learn.

felim wrote: »

Not to be contradictory Eoin but some of the original Valvestates came with G12T75s, you wouldn't get one of those for €25 I don't think.

Second hand? I'd say you would. You can get a new one for under £50.

Paolo_M

On a similar topic Celecstion are raising their prices a fair bit at the end of this month so anyone toying with the idea of buying a new speaker should get their order in soon, me included.

felim

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

There are a lot of different kinds of Celestion.

I had a Marshall VS many many moons ago. You live and you learn.



Second hand? I'd say you would. You can get a new one for under £50.

I replied before I saw the second hand bit. Sowwy!

I had the original 8080 valvestate when I was a teenager, I absolutely loved it. I played one again recently (although one of the valvestate ii series) and I couldn't get a decent tone out of it to save my life. I guess you do live and learn

jimmy99

Conor Farren is really good,but hard to track down.Never charged me to much.