Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your ques

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by mezcalhead » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:40 pm

*rips off length of tape*

Is now a sticky, thanks Brad!
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by dug » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:46 pm

Do you know anything about solid state amps?

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by øøøøøøø » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:14 pm

dug wrote: Do you know anything about solid state amps?
not much!  :)

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by Maggieo » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:35 pm

Dan Torres once told me that tube amps are something you repair and solid state amps are something you replace.
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by SonOfJazzmasterE » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:18 pm

Remember when you would go to the supermarket and you could just USE a tube tester>>??? That was cool!
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by mezcalhead » Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:26 am

Maggieo wrote: Dan Torres once told me that tube amps are something you repair and solid state amps are something you replace.
Probably nearly always true, as Brad says .. but not always!

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by Maggieo » Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:27 am

mezcalhead wrote:
Maggieo wrote: Dan Torres once told me that tube amps are something you repair and solid state amps are something you replace.
Probably nearly always true, as Brad says .. but not always!

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by Fiddy » Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:31 pm

SonOfJazzmasterE wrote: Remember when you would go to the supermarket and you could just USE a tube tester>>??? That was cool!
That must have been way before my time...  ;)

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by RumorsOFsurF » Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:02 pm

SonOfJazzmasterE wrote: Remember when you would go to the supermarket and you could just USE a tube tester>>??? That was cool!
Hell yes!  I'm only 25, and I remember Radio Shack had one. You could bring your tubes in to see if they were any good. 
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by øøøøøøø » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:11 pm

RumorsOFsurF wrote:
SonOfJazzmasterE wrote: Remember when you would go to the supermarket and you could just USE a tube tester>>??? That was cool!
Hell yes!  I'm only 25, and I remember Radio Shack had one. You could bring your tubes in to see if they were any good. 
I just turned 28 a couple weeks ago and I have vague memories of a tube tester at the drug store around the corner from my house as a kid.  I remember being about 5 years old wondering "what's that thing with all the checkers on it?" because it had red and black phenolic tube sockets like so:

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The funny thing is, those tube testers were barely testing anything.  They would register "good" or "bad."  They tested for emissions and shorts only.  You can't match tubes or anything on an old tester like that.

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by SonOfJazzmasterE » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:10 pm

I remember see those... I was really young myself... but I always thought they waz COOL!
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by Jay » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:18 am

The local electronics shop I use for the occasional need it quick part has a giant tube tester in the store that you can use still.  Pretty cool...  I also used to have an old Elenco (?) unit I bought at a Goodwill but I don't know what happened to it.  :(  Of course not being able to match tubes makes them sort of pointless to a degree but you can sort out bad tubes with them I guess.  In any case, they're cool looking things that's for sure.

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by Fiddy » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:36 am

There's a small local antique electronics store in town. They got 2 tube testers, they even offered if I wanted to buy the spare one. They both look like the smaller one tho' (First pic in Brad's post) :)

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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by terminalvertigo » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:18 pm

good guide  :)
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Re: Troubleshooting an amp? Read this before you post your question!

Post by knathan » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:07 pm

Great info-thanks.
Guitars don't define you, but rather what you do with them helps to define you.

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