# NAD ! Elk Twin amp 50 !!! Pic intensive...



## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I took a look at some adds last night and feel on this amp... The guy was asking very little for it since the amp needs a cap job and major cleaning.... others had contacted him but I was the only one that asked if I come over right away ( it was 10 PM)...

Here are the ADD Pics:


Went over and was advised the amp was bought in 1970, one owner, he did about 150 shows with it, the amp was then left in the basement not in use, he tried it 5 years ago, started to make lots of noise and hum... knows all the caps needs replacing ( normal in these Japan heads ) The owner is a major extra heavy smoker... This entire amp is covered in nicotine... the nicotine is actually dripping off the amp... the nicotine was dripping off the walls at his home also...

The amp works, just after warm up, starts to make noise... I negotiated with him some more ( the part I like the most... ) and came home with the amp.... 

Man this thing smells bad...

I left the cab in the back on my truck last night and just brought the head inside... the smell of the head actually woke up the wife%h(*& and she made me put it outside in the shed so much it stank... Then I got the reg routine...Why another one ...


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

This morning it was raining so set myself up on the balcony to do a major clean up on this thing or this thing will never enter the house... 

Some quick pics of the head before cleaning...


Notice that the knobs are golden.... There are not in real life !!!


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Let me show you the cab now !... 


The brown stuff is nicotine !!! I had to wash and Febreze the trunk of my truck to get the smell out !!!


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

So... the cleaning began.... and this is only to be able to bring it in... lol

Just washing the exterior of the head, needed to change my water 4 times...


Also went inside since need to get all the smell...


Transformers..


Rectifier...


and to my surprise, USA made Philips 6CA7 power tubes !


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

5 pre amp tubes...

After a couple of hrs of scrubbing and cleaning, changing the water, scrubbing and cleaning, changing the water, scrubbing and cleaning, changing the water.... you get the drift !!! 

This is what I got :


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Ohh... it also came with the original foot switch... 
​


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I hid the cab ... ( the wife didn't see it yet... ) 

The head can now come inside without any worries... 

Now to make a list of caps to bring her back to her glory !!! 

She will get more attention later on ...


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## mister.zed (Jun 8, 2011)

Wow. I love adventures like that. I once went to get a Garnet head. When I got there, he had a 2x12 cab with it. It was included in the price. He just never took any pictures of the cab. 

Anyway it's nice when you score an old gem and bring it back to glory. Nicely done.


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## capnjim (Aug 19, 2011)

Ha! Man, you always seem to snag the deals I almost get. I was a hair away from jumping on this as well.
My wife would not tolerate a stinky amp anywhere near the house so I am glad I passed.
You are lucky the tubes are "normal" some of these Elk amps have very weird tubes and even sockets.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

Very, very, very cool amp!


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

mister.zed said:


> Wow. I love adventures like that. I once went to get a Garnet head. When I got there, he had a 2x12 cab with it. It was included in the price. He just never took any pictures of the cab.


Funny, when I bought my Garnet Rebel head it too came with a cab that I was not aware ...



mister.zed said:


> Anyway it's nice when you score an old gem and bring it back to glory. Nicely done.



Thanks, having fun restoring amps lately...


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

capnjim said:


> Ha! Man, you always seem to snag the deals I almost get. I was a hair away from jumping on this as well.


This add was posted in the morning, I was surprised it was still available at 10 PM !!! 



capnjim said:


> My wife would not tolerate a stinky amp anywhere near the house so I am glad I passed.


This thing was filthy ... But a gem underneath !  I don't mind the clean ups, you get to know the amp better. 



capnjim said:


> You are lucky the tubes are "normal" some of these Elk amps have very weird tubes and even sockets.


I took a look on the net before contacting him... I don't like surprises.. bad caps are one thing...


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

SaucyJack said:


> Very, very, very cool amp!


Thanks ! 

Once the caps are changed, this thing will rock !!! Tons of great reviews on these.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Plus this amp will look amazing with my late 60s Elk Galaxie guitar !!! HNG^%$


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## Guest (May 27, 2018)

Never herd of Elk. Were they deer?


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## capnjim (Aug 19, 2011)

Player99 said:


> Never herd of Elk. Were they deer?


Sorry..you have now been banned from the internet.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Player99 said:


> Never herd of Elk. Were they deer?


Most of them were Fender knockoffs (in appearance, not circuit) sold in the Japanese domestic market


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

"the nicotine is actually dripping off the amp... the nicotine was dripping off the walls at his home also..."
I'm a smoker and that grosses me out


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Nice score. Again. You lucky bastard.

Feel ya RE the nicotine stains. Had this contractor at work who brought her comp in every year because it wasn't working. The reason was all the cigarette tar gumming up the insides; instead of reinstalling everything for redeployment we just tossed them, cuz there was no bringing it back and it reeked too bad. This was back in the generic grey comp case days. Hers came back golden brown. She just sat in her ( home) office chain smoking all day apparently. All I could ever think is 'Omg her poor cats.'


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

keefsdad said:


> "the nicotine is actually dripping off the amp... the nicotine was dripping off the walls at his home also..."
> I'm a smoker and that grosses me out


I' an ex smoker miself but never seen this extreme. .. I was in his home for 15 minutes tops... took me me 5 to get use to the smell. .. my wife made me take a shower and wash my hair once home...

Seriously. .. it was that bad... I would put him in the 3 packs a day minimum. .. plus his wife...

Take a look at the first few pictures of the knobs... the are gold... after ashing them 3 times to remove the nicotine, they were silver again which is the true color. ..


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Thanks GG. Even with all the clean up work. This is still an amazing deal...

I feel bad for her cats also !!!...


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

That's a cool looking amp!


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

butterknucket said:


> That's a cool looking amp!


Love the grey Bleu faceplate... really like the look of these plus I know I have a knob for it somewhere in my stuff to replace the missing one...


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## Guest (May 28, 2018)

I dealt with the same problem a coupla' years back with an amp I bought off of a friend.
I used OxiClean for the grill (puke and beer stains)







.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

the wife found the cab due to the smell! !!!

More cleaning and more groveling is required MJF$#


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Any nicotine miracle cleaner out there ???


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Frenchy99 said:


> the wife found the cab due to the smell! !!!
> 
> More cleaning and more groveling is required MJF$#


May the cleaning and grovelling forces both be with you.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

laristotle said:


> (puke and beer stains)


You and @Frenchy99 need to start buying your amps from little old ladies that are not smokers and only played the amps at church every week.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Isopropyl alcohol will disolve cig tar. 9x% is best (no dyes or other additives, like rubbing alcohol has) - sometimes it's on the shelf, but other times you have to ask for it special at the pharm counter. Any pharmacy should have it though.

Alternatively, go down the local head shop and get some bong cleaning solution. Not sure how fabric safe that will be but grille cloth is pretty tough.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Isopropyl alcohol will disolve cig tar. 9x% is best (no dyes or other additives, like rubbing alcohol has) - sometimes it's on the shelf, but other times you have to ask for it special at the pharm counter. Any pharmacy should have it though.
> 
> Alternatively, go down the local head shop and get some bong cleaning solution. Not sure how fabric safe that will be but grille cloth is pretty tough.


Straight ethanol also works, if you know a local moonshiner.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I think that I will need to take it 100% apart and clean every bit of it even the speaker cones...

I always laughed when I saw guys sell music gear stating a smoke free home ... but will now pay attention to that ... when you need to invest 4 to 5 hrs just to clean the gear.... 

The amp is worth it but man... what a learning experience. ..


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

laristotle said:


> I dealt with the same problem a coupla' years back with an amp I bought off of a friend.
> I used OxiClean for the grill (puke and beer stains)
> 
> 
> ...


Will need to buy some and compare... the LA Parisienne stain remover that i used on the grill cloth impressed me so far...


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## Guest (May 28, 2018)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Isopropyl alcohol will disolve cig tar. 9x% is best (no dyes or other additives, like rubbing alcohol has) - sometimes it's on the shelf, but other times you have to ask for it special at the pharm counter. Any pharmacy should have it though.
> 
> Alternatively, go down the local head shop and get some bong cleaning solution. Not sure how fabric safe that will be but grille cloth is pretty tough.


Costco sells the 99% isopropyl.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

There was a house we re-did years ago. Very heavy smokers, and lots of them. Ok, it was a drug house........anyway, the ceilings were so stained that I scrapped off all the textured ceiling to re-texture them. I swear, the texture I scrapped off the ceiling looked like coffee grounds laying on the floor. It was that dark.


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## Guest (May 28, 2018)

Lincoln said:


> There was a house we re-did years ago. Very heavy smokers, and lots of them. Ok, it was a drug house........anyway, the ceilings were so stained that I scrapped off all the textured ceiling to re-texture them. I swear, the texture I scrapped off the ceiling looked like coffee grounds laying on the floor. It was that dark.


You could have rolled the coffee grinds up and smoked them.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Player99 said:


> You could have rolled the coffee grinds up and smoked them.


Missed opportunities. The thought never crossed my mind.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Well... The cab is in the shed !!! 

Cant bring it in until I clean it again... Wife orders...


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## Brett Pearson (Apr 26, 2016)

Hopefully the amp can still give a good blues tone after getting rid of all the tobacco stains...lol. I have often used scented bounce sheets to get rid of the nasty smells in amps. I throw them in the cabs and in the space under the chassis where the tubes hang...it takes a while but it works well. just stuff a bunch of them in there when you aren't using it.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Lincoln said:


> There was a house we re-did years ago. Very heavy smokers, and lots of them. Ok, it was a drug house........anyway, the ceilings were so stained that I scrapped off all the textured ceiling to re-texture them. I swear, the texture I scrapped off the ceiling looked like coffee grounds laying on the floor. It was that dark.


I once ripped the all the walls down and re-gyproc them since even after washing the walls , no paint would not stick to it... this was a renovation contract... It was easier to redo the walls...


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Brett Pearson said:


> Hopefully the amp can still give a good blues tone after getting rid of all the tobacco stains...lol. I have often used scented bounce sheets to get rid of the nasty smells in amps. I throw them in the cabs and in the space under the chassis where the tubes hang...it takes a while but it works well. just stuff a bunch of them in there when you aren't using it.


 Thanks... will stuff a bunch in the head just in case... The head seems almost OK...

The cab needs another major wash...


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## Brett Pearson (Apr 26, 2016)

This is one of the reasons I don't do much repair work anymore for customers....a few times the amps came in and were so bad they stunk up the shop...and I worked out of the house so its not cool...my wife has the same opinion on the matter as yours...lol. I once bought a Jimmy Vaughan strat from a guy who was a professional smoker. I will never forget going to his house...he answered the door and the smell just about knocked me over. I was a trooper though and went in to look at the strat. He handed it to me and my hand stuck to the neck. I then sat down with it and played it a bit and when I went to pull it away to look at the back of the guitar body, it was stuck to my shirt! What a gooey mess this thing was and it was all tobacco goo. I was pretty disgusted so I made a real low ball offer and he took it. I had to drive home with the windows open and spent a couple of hours cleaning it as soon as I got home. Turned out to be an awesome playing guitar though after it spent a few weeks in a case with a ton of bounce sheets. It was april fresh from then on


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Brett Pearson said:


> He handed it to me and my hand stuck to the neck. I then sat down with it and played it a bit and when I went to pull it away to look at the back of the guitar body, it was stuck to my shirt!


lol... You just described a similar experience I had with a guitar I got years ago... Except this one, a cat sprayed the guitar and case...  I washed the inside of the case with soap and water and then put it outside for 3 to 4 days in the sun ( sunlight kills bad smell )and sprayed it daily with Fabreze ...
The guitar, I actually wet sanded the thing to get the smell off...

this guitar: 

As for the amp. The amp handle was glued to my hand when I picked it up ... The entire amp was sticky..

My wife respects my hobby, the least I can do is respect the fact that she wants everything clean and smelling nice...


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## Brett Pearson (Apr 26, 2016)

The things we do for our hobby...lol


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## Guest (May 29, 2018)

I bought something a year ago that was covered in tobacco smoke. I Googled it and there are tips and products to remove the smoke goo.

How to Remove Cigarette Smell from Leather » How To Clean Stuff.net

removing tobacco smell from leather furniture - Google Search


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Good news !!!

The groundhog that lived under the shed moved out !!!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Frenchy99 said:


> The groundhog that lived under the shed moved out !!!


Couldn't handle any more nicotine and associated cleaning smells?


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

cboutilier said:


> Straight ethanol also works, if you know a local moonshiner.


Could be a money-making opportunity. After cleaning the gear, sell the used ethanol to someone who likes a ciggie while they drink. Cut out the middle-man.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

High/Deaf said:


> Could be a money-making opportunity. After cleaning the gear, sell the used ethanol to someone who likes a ciggie while they drink. Cut out the middle-man.


I have an associate who uses shine to extract the good stuff from the green stuff. That's the money maker


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

greco said:


> Couldn't handle any more nicotine and associated cleaning smells?


Not his brand ! 

He left pissed... Probably means a longer winter for me next year !

Can you imagine, if the previous owner smoked weed instead, I would most likely have Justin Trudeau live under my shed by now !!!


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

I payed way too much for a 90's LP Special that was so sticky, I ended up removing the finish from the neck and tung oiling it and replacing the tuners completley. The fretboard got a steel wool treatment. Its a total beater now and I even ended up scotchbriting it with a coarse pad to give it a matte/textured finish. It looks cool and no longer stinks but I could never re-sell the damn thing.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Was nice out yesterday so decided to take the cab back out for another cleaning.
Nice cab but weird Japan speakers.
very funky.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Also, once I opened the cab up... smelled like an ashtray inside !

Fabreezed the speaker and left them cook in the sun all day.

Washed everything inside an out... did the whole thing and at the end of the day put everything back together.
Its in the house now.


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