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Simple question you guys know me at least by name. I live in Baltimore Md. I am looking to have two boards stuffed, two quad caps installed and the units looked over check the wiring and the sockets. Is there really no decent tecks in this town? I had one guy ask me what is that the board come on man.I shouldnt have to ship these things accorss the country to have them worked on have we fallen this far? It was not that many years ago I could grab a guy and he would have the amps I have singing and not for my lifes savings. Humor me is this really the way this town has gone, this country. I still have not forgot how to run high pressure HVAC units set the curbs chip the stone, have the crane drop it perfect onto the curb seal it. That was over 20 years of my life, and I can still walk into a clinic and do EKG's, draw blood, inject intermuscular shots. Take your pulse and you would not even know I was doing it and I only did that work for 10 years.
Yea I am mad.
Follow Ups:
Hi, John, well, here it goes. I worked at Music Tech for a year and didn't make shit for wages, I was their warranty tech, as was several other guys, and there is no money in that kind of work. The reality is I can make more driving a school bus than working on electronics, although I do work on amps and such on the side. Nobody wants to pay what it costs to do good work, so all the good ones left and/or work on high-end electronics, like medical systems and the like, where the equipment costs a lot and therefore a decent wage can be charged. Look at Dave over at Elpasotubeamps on youtube, super knowledgeable, comes from a military electronics background if I am not mistaken, even he says he doesn't like working on amps as there is no money in it. I don't know of a single profession that requires more STEM knowledge and pays so shitty as an Etech, the customers bitch and gripe, and the companies (like Roland, Marshall, etc.) cheat the techs, whoTF would put up with that bullshit?
Check loal amatuer (ham) radio clubs around you, if you don't get a response on the hifi sites.
You should be able to find someone. Maybe a local will give you a hand. If you were in the San Francisco area I would.
If you have no luck here maybe try audiokarma.
Is Springfield VA too far? If not Music Technology will get the job done, but they are not cheap. I do all of my own work but a friend of mine who is not so technical has used them and felt that they did very good work.
PS: I do HVAC work on my house. I got tired of the expensive and poor service from the "pros".
Dave
Is it that you can't do the work physically. I don't mean to pry?? Just asking if you need work done or the amps are not working properly???Rant clause:
Hold onto your hat because I have a little more bad news. Think it's hard having tubes fixed, then try having solid state fixed. The days of the "repair" shop are gone my friend. Tech schools no longer teach young men and women the skills to diagnosis and fix a stereo. The only thing they know is how to find out what board is blown and how to order it from the factory. After that you're outta luck!
A few of my uncles owned a TV/audio repair shop. I used to spend hours in that shop (aka also know as the local mafia employment center) just looking at all the cool stuff. I was considering going into that field being I had a keen eye on something technical but I had grander dreams. By the early 80's their 35+ year old shop closed down.
OK enough of me, what's going on with your MKIV?
These are fairly simple amps and you should be able to fix them. Heck - the worst case scenario is find the building instructions and start tracing every step.
You're among friend that will help. Unfortunately they are not local.
charles
Edits: 07/08/16
Problem one. They will play for a while could be months and then a tube will glow I mean red hot, I can shut it down and start it up again with a new tube and same problem.
Gone on for years
A guy I know said put new quad cap in them(bought them) and he GAVE Me a set of boards but they have the stuffing but have to be soldered on and put on. I figure do that have all the sockets tested and wiring and I will be in good shape never thought it would take this much time and no one in the area who works on them I live in Baltimore Maryland.
John
That's funny! I had the same problem with my Mark IV's, but it was more intermittent. It only happened once but it scared the crap out of me because the output tubes on one of the amps when cherry red. I turned it off and let it sit. It worked fine after that. I never found out the problem because one amp got ripped off by a shop that went out of business when it was in for repair. I sold the other one.
Dave
Have you read and then implemented Jim McShane's "Tube Problems" That Aren't Tube Problems in the Asylum's FAQ? (link below)
Make sure the amps are unplugged, and the power supply caps are discharged. Clean the sockets using the method Jim describes, and tighten them using a dental pick (if you have one) a round toothpick, a sharpened chopstick, etc.
Tube amps require more maintenance, sad but true.
Hopefully you'll be able to find someone locally to help you for what you can't do yourself. I thought that finding a local Ham radio operator was a excellent suggestion.
Good luck.
I will check out your suggestion on the cleaning and read up on it appreciated. I was talking to a friend this morning and he showed me this audio set up that the guy he is renting to and how he builds his own speakers etc. So I said how about tube amp repair and he told me he has a guy who does all his work for him so might of stumbled onto a good repairman. Told me give him a week and expect a phone call. See how it goes.
If not him put me in the group of guys into the vintage audio I love listening to so much. Plus the other guy could look over my maggies the old ones and JBL's and Heresy Yea I bought up a bunch of audio several years ago before everyone went crazy with the prices. I was told from a friend what to grab and what to pass on. And he knew what he was talking about.
Thanks again.
Might work out.
I totally agree with how hard it is to get stuff fixed. Thank god for the kind souls on this and other places like audiokarma, diyaudio etc that kindly give guidance and share knowledge. Over the years I've gotten a countless number of things going again and learned a great deal in the process which I couldn't have done without help.
Yea I am disabled FUBAR if you want the details eamil me.
And the places I stopped at yesterday and in the past made me sick be a man if you cant do the job move on to something else. Lie to me on the phone I got to burn gas & time for some dumb ass to not know a board from a socket. Hey thanks for letting me talk about my audio, I never talk about my health but today screw it.
Take care.
Pete Kay in Montvale, New Jersey is the most skilled and knowledgeable tech I know. Until Tech Hi-Fi shuttered its doors, he ran the service departments for all their stores. His prices are extremely reasonable, and he's a hell of a nice guy. His number's 845-665-6850. His e-address is oldtriumphs@earhlink.net.
Really Henry? Did I miss something. Pete had my Amps close to 6 months did almost nothing to them and charged my $700+ for the service. & then as a courtesy plus another couple of hundred dollars he did some truly piss poor work on my JBL 660 amp. Whats changed? do tell...
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