# Wild Bill is Back!



## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

It has been a hundred years or so but finally I'm back! For those who didn't know me before, I am an amp tech who runs a business called Busen Amps in Hamilton. Some years ago I discovered this site and noticed that there wasn't anybody offering technical advice for guys with amp problems. So I jumped in to help out!

Scott was good enough to add a specific forum and also before too long we attracted a few other tech guys from across the country. Soon we had a good pool of tech help available.

I had some personal issues that derailed me for a year or two and that accounts for my absence. I went through a painful separation and eventually moved to my own house, in the old part of Hamilton, not far from the old Guitar Clinic.

It's been a rough time but I've survived! I have a 90 lb Shepherd named Fred, who doesn't know he's big. Half of my customers who bring their amps to me also bring Fred treats, making him incredibly spoiled!

One positive note is that all the cosmic debris has dramatically improved my blues appreciation!

So I am now in a better frame of mind with my time better organized. I promise to make a sincere effort to check in most every day. As before, it would be better if people with questions asked them through the forum rather than sending me a private email. That way, not only does more than one person get the benefit of any explanation but also other techs might chime in with more info or even a better answer than mine!

So lets do it all again! Tube amps will never die! With good care and maintenance they will outlast even the youngest of us!

Wild Bill/Busen Amps


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2012)

Welcome back Bill!


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## Fader (Mar 10, 2009)

Welcome back Bill. We missed you a lot.


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## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

Good to see you back Bill, your advise was always welcome.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Cool, glad to hear the 'meter' is pointing generally in the right direction for you again. I love happy endings 

You have been missed.


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

Looking forward to learning more from you.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Welcome back. Glad you survived the all flack and crap in the recent past. My daughter has a 115 lb Malamute - it also has absolutey no concept of big.


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

Welcome back. I wondered what the heck happened to you. Glad things are all better. I have a German Shepherd Pup. She's a year old now and tips the scale at 95lbs. Her Dad weighs 135 so I think she has some more weight to put on to match her height. Look forward to your contributions.


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

Happy to see you back Bill!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Welcome back Wild Bill. We certainly missed you here. 
I'm looking forward to reading your posts once again.

Cheers

Dave


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Bill, about time! Hope you're feeling better and very pleased to see you back posting!


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Hey 

Soooo for old times sake: What is the safest way to clean tar and nicotine from your new vintage amp?


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## starjag (Jan 30, 2008)

Good to have you back Bill!


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Welcome back, Bill. Get posting you have a lot of catching up to do


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Welcome back, you've been missed!


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## bobb (Jan 4, 2007)

It's great to have you back.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Welcome back.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Definitely good to have you back.When you left I was using modelers.These days I'm enjoying a couple of nice tube amps.I'm sorry to hear about the domestic woes.That can be devastating.I look forward to reading your posts.


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

Welcome home Bill! Great to see you back brother.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

welcome back!


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## jcayer (Mar 25, 2007)

Welcome back !!!

:food-smiley-004:


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Welcome back! We all really appreciate how much you enhance this place. I'm going to have to start checking in a little more often again, to not miss any of your interesting posts.

Sorry to hear about the rough stuff too. 
Life, eh?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Life can be a bitch, buddy. Glad to have you back in working order. Hope the experience didn't turn your beard white!

Mark


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

keeperofthegood said:


> Hey
> 
> Soooo for old times sake: What is the safest way to clean tar and nicotine from your new vintage amp?


Safest way? First off, I'd leave it there! It's the only way to get that true, vintage blues sound! Maybe spill a little beer or whiskey on it while you're at it!

However, if you must I just use ordinary Windex-type cleaner. It works on the easy stuff and doesn't leave a residue. ArmorAll unfortunately is prone to do that. For tough spots I use rubbing alcohol or sometimes lighter fluid. If it's really bad I'll use an old toothbrush as well.

The absolute safest way of course is to pay someone else to do it! If he screws it up at least you can beat him!largetongue


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

3 pages and its only been a day or two! I am deeply touched, people! I do hope I can be as helpful as before.

Meanwhile, my troubles have dramatically improved my blues appreciation! I'm living in an old cheap house in the north end of Hamilton, near the water. It's just big enough for me and my dog but I have room for my shop stuff and when customers bring their amps to me I can treat them to my tube stereo and vinyl. I have two pairs of bigass old 70's style hifi speaker cabs mounted on shelves near the ceiling. The ex would never have let me do that at my old place!:2guns:

If anyone is coming let me know and I'll put on one of my Pat Travers LPs. "Crash and Burn" on 11, anyone?:rockon2:


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## Guest (Mar 29, 2012)

'making magic' would be cool too. Good to hear from ya Bill.
Still meaning to stop by for a coffee. Quick question .. how does
one verify wattage on a amp?


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

You were truly missed Bill. 

Having experinced a couple domestic explosions myself I will tell you that it does get better ...... way better - Both my old "smelly" Marantz AND my home gym took over the "only for company" living room once I saw her taillights for good


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## brimc76 (Feb 14, 2008)

Great to see you back here again Bill, and I'm looking forward to reading your helpful posts.

Brian


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Good to see you back, and looking at the positive!


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## Jamrod (Dec 6, 2008)

Welcome back, Wild Bill!


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

Unfortunately, that's not always an easy question to answer! That 375 watt figure probably refers to how much power the amp DRAWS! You want to know how much it puts out to the speaker!

They are not the same! No device is 100% efficient, including me as I get older and fatter!sigiifa

However, the fuse ratings tell me that you probably have a 100 watt amp. Most such amps will have a 4-5 amp fuse for the main power and a .5-1 amp fuse for the high voltage. What means more to a tech is what tubes the amp uses, and how many of them! Tubes are normally able to handle a certain amount of power. A pair of 6L6's or EL34's will deliver 45-55 watts or so. An amp that uses 2 pairs or 4 such tubes will run double that, or 100watts.

The output wattage rating can be a little vague, since it depends on how you measure it and at what audio frequency. The good news is that it really doesn't matter! Our ears don't notice linear increases, like 10 watts as twice as loud as 5. Instead, our ears follow what's called a logarithmic curve. To keep sounding twice as loud as the last increase 2 watts would have to be increased to 4, a 4 watt amp to 16, a 16 watt to 64 and so on. So 45 watts compared to 55 watts really doesn't make any difference to the human ear.

Of course, "suits" will use any measurement test that gives the highest number, at whatever frequency works best to make the amp sound more impressive in the ads!hwopv

Hope this makes sense!

Wild Bill


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

Hey WB, what trickery did Traynor use to get such high output from the two EL34's in the YBA 1A MkII (other than big iron). I've often wondered this....thx

DW


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

TheRumRunner said:


> Hey WB, what trickery did Traynor use to get such high output from the two EL34's in the YBA 1A MkII (other than big iron). I've often wondered this....thx
> 
> DW


Trickery? Pete wasn't really into trickery. He understood that how you measured the output could give a higher number than some other method. He very quickly decided he didn't care! An amp was either loud enough for a certain venue or it wasn't. That's why in the Traynor brochures he often put no output wattage figure at all!

Voicing can make a huge difference. Bright amps can sound much louder than you would expect. Look at the Vox AC30. A pair of EL84's is generally expected to be putting out 25-30 watts. This amp is so bright that it sounds as loud as a 50 watt Marshall!

Wild Bill


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2012)

I sorta thought it was a 'consumption' rating. Thanks for the info.
Very informative. Wanted to make sure I knew what it meant for
any potential queries on my ad.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Welcome back Bill! It has been a long time indeed.


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

Hi Wild Bill....missed ya.........welcome back........in retrospect, some things in life turn out to be "mice nuts"........cheers, Gerry


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## parkhead (Aug 14, 2009)

Wild Bill said:


> Trickery? Pete wasn't really into trickery. He understood that how you measured the output could give a higher number than some other method. He very quickly decided he didn't care! An amp was either loud enough for a certain venue or it wasn't. That's why in the Traynor brochures he often put no output wattage figure at all!
> 
> Voicing can make a huge difference. Bright amps can sound much louder than you would expect. Look at the Vox AC30. A pair of EL84's is generally expected to be putting out 25-30 watts. This amp is so bright that it sounds as loud as a 50 watt Marshall!
> 
> Wild Bill


Like most of us the Traynor folks were not interested in the suits and their numbers games...
(that same suit at a marketing company who now offers the world 1000watt chinese computer speakers for $19.99)

The Formula was pretty simple USE a monster power supply and output transformer so that the amp could produce a wider bandwidth at full power. 
Add capacitance in the power supply to get that power to the tubes faster. (although this does not always work for guitar) 
Get rid of the choke and use a small value, high wattage resistor for a more stable hair trigger screen grid 
(marshall was trying to do this with a 3h choke and 50mfd on the screens ... but this is unstable as the screen voltage can exceed the B+ under certain conditions, without screen resistors the el34's melt, adding screen resistors on early 70's marshalls is the fix ...) 
place the raw bias voltage on one of the control grids of the EL34 to keep them from melting ...

they knew that most amps were measured 50 watts at 1k but those numbers never told you that the amp was distorting at 20 watts at 200hz 
that 1k measurement does not account for transients which we now call "chugs" but are essential to define the note even if you are not chugging 

I think the 90 watt thing was ...OK If you want to use that method HERE's our NUMBER ! 
Otherwise they always talk about BURST POWER ie how the amp handles dynamic music 

the consumption rating that appears on the back of a 20 watt Fender Deluxe as 200watts was mandated by Hydro people as a measure of energy consumption like your washer dryer ... 


p


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## KujaSE (Jul 30, 2006)

Hey Bill,

What's the best way to get a hold of you? I'm having a couple of small problems with my Matchless Clubman and I'm thinking it's just a loose solder joint or two. Either way, I'd love to stop by and have you give it a quick go-over!

Mike


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

I'm late to the party, but I think you still deserve a Welcome Back, Bill!
You were always a really nice guy and a really good tech with widsom.
Hope your new frame of mind will last forever! 
Cheers!


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## KujaSE (Jul 30, 2006)

Just had Bill give my Matchless a once-over and helped me realize my own careless mistake. Truly a "duh" moment. He knows the stuff better than anyone I've ever met and is a wicked nice guy to boot! I'll echo his name to the masses and return with all of my future careless mistakes.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

Hi Bill,

Was wondering what happened to you. Glad to hear you weathered the storm.

I work very close to the Guitar Clinic as well and wondered if you'd be interested in giving my Marshall JCM900 a 'once over'. What's the best way to contact you to arrange for a meeting?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

PM sent.....


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## TubeStack (Jul 16, 2009)

Hey Bill, good to see you back!


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## urko99 (Mar 30, 2009)

Welcome Back Bill! Always enjoyed your input.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

great news, welcome back Bill!!

looking forward to getting my BTO


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

djem said:


> Hi Bill,
> 
> Was wondering what happened to you. Glad to hear you weathered the storm.
> 
> I work very close to the Guitar Clinic as well and wondered if you'd be interested in giving my Marshall JCM900 a 'once over'. What's the best way to contact you to arrange for a meeting?


Give me an email! I don't feel right about discussing business on the board.

[email protected]


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Wild Bill said:


> Give me an email! I don't feel right about discussing business on the board.
> 
> [email protected]


Hey, there is the dealers forum here. Go for it.


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