# Props to Chris Church!



## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

I don't post often, but I would like to make it known that more than once Chris Church has done an awesome job for me. 

Simply put, Chris takes care of the customer. If you are somewhat local to Hamilton, he is well worth the effort to track down.

Peace,

Paul


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Great to hear!!! Thank you for letting us know that once again Chris did great job!


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## _Knighthawk_ (Mar 2, 2014)

Paul M said:


> I don't post often, but I would like to make it known that more than once Chris Church has done an awesome job for me.
> 
> Simply put, Chris takes care of the customer. If you are somewhat local to Hamilton, he is well worth the effort to track down.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this Paul. I too have heard good things about Chris.

May I enquire as to what work did he do for you and on what amp? Does Chris have a website or could you PM his contact info? It would be good to have if I ever blow up an amp (heaven forbid).


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

_Knighthawk_ said:


> Thanks for this Paul. I too have heard good things about Chris.
> 
> May I enquire as to what work did he do for you and on what amp? Does Chris have a website or could you PM his contact info? It would be good to have if I ever blow up an amp (heaven forbid).


Chris has worked on my amps a couple of times. He went over a twin reverb, and made it quiet and clean. Chris replaced the carbon comp resistors in a Victoria Victorilux, and got rid of the hiss. (I don't hear the mojo in olde schoole resistors, I want quiet!!!)

The latest repair was again to my Victorilux. It was dead. It turned out the rectifier had failed, but didn't take the fuse with it. That's an uncommon failure mode, and I didn't want to start swapping parts and blowing things up. Chris tracked down the faults, and checked everything out to give the amp a clean bill of health.

I won't lie....it always takes longer than I would like, but Chris does meet his target dates. I gig, and I prefer the Victoria over my other amps, but I do have other amps, and I can work around. Chris is conveniently local to me, and does excellent work.

You can make contact with him HERE


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## _Knighthawk_ (Mar 2, 2014)

Thanks Paul. Filed.

Question: in your opinion, the carbon composite resistors are quieter than the old school hobbies?


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

_Knighthawk_ said:


> Thanks Paul. Filed.
> 
> Question: in your opinion, the carbon composite resistors are quieter than the old school hobbies?


Carbon composition resistors, while matching what OEM's were using back-in-the-day, have a reputation for getting noisy or hissy. I play quietly and clean, so any noise floor is too much for me. I want a quiet amp. After 10+ years, my Victoria, (built to back-in-the-day specs), was getting hissy. I had Chris Church replace the carbon comp resistors with carbon film resistors. I've got a MUCH quieter amp now. The same improvement in noise floor would have happened if the original carbon comp resistors were replaced with fresh carbon comp, but I would have had to replace them all again in another 10 years or so.

Peace,

Paul


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

The problem with carbon comp resistors has more to do with manufacturers using barely rated or under rated ones in high voltage circuits. Most if not all the troublesome CC resistors in earlier Fenders for instance, were 1/2 watt. Bad idea as they were used as plate load resistors for the preamp tubes. The high voltage eventually takes it's toll on them. By the early '70's Fender decided to use 1 watt CC resistors there instead which solved the problem. These amps are far more reliable with respect to this problem.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Chris was able to put a bias control in my reissue Vibroverb, not an easy thing to do.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

nonreverb said:


> The problem with carbon comp resistors has more to do with manufacturers using barely rated or under rated ones in high voltage circuits. Most if not all the troublesome CC resistors in earlier Fenders for instance, were 1/2 watt. Bad idea as they were used as plate load resistors for the preamp tubes. The high voltage eventually takes it's toll on them. By the early '70's Fender decided to use 1 watt CC resistors there instead which solved the problem. These amps are far more reliable with respect to this problem.


Being old, I worked in the industry from the days when carbon comps were replaced with films. They couldn't switch over fast enough! Not only do comps often make noise, they also tend to drift outrageously. When overloaded, they also can burst into flame! They were the only cost-effective type of resistor from the beginning years but their negative features were what drove research into better alternatives. Film resistors had almost completely taken over by the mid 1970's. I was working for TTI, a distributor of electronic parts in the late 1990's. We were the last distributor in the world for carbon comps. The manufacturer was Allen Bradley. Virtually the only market was for the military. They bought them because their specs were so flipping old that's all they could use! Updating mil specs takes longer than for a politician to deliver on a promise! By this time the military demand was just too small to be worth supporting, no matter what price we charged. We were selling 1/2 watt carbon comps for over $1 US EACH! Allen Bradley offered a final lifetime buy to their customers and then scrapped the production line.

There was still a tiny niche market demand. In some VHF and UHF circuits a carbon comp resistor can be a better choice. Films have a tiny bit of self-inductance, mice nuts most of the time but if the frequency is high enough it can be troublesome. That left the audio market. The only factor I can think of to justify using carbon comps in those applications is just mojo! 

Still, mojo often means a profitable market. They get great money for gold-plated connectors and oxygen free copper juju blessed speaker wires and guitar cords! Some specialty houses sprang up to make and sell carbon comps but the quality was terrible. I saw a bag one of my customers received where the leads had fallen off some of the resistors while still in the package. Eventually the quality got better but of course, the price rose proportionately.

I've never had a customer insist I install carbon comps in his amp, whether for a repair or a new build, after I explained all this to him. If he did, I'm not sure if I would. Not because I don't see any positive value. The customer owns the amp and if he's silly enough to want me to install a mojo hand under the chassis then he's entitled to have it! It's his amp, after all. No, I'm more worried about legal liability. If I install a carbon comp resistor in his amp and someday it bursts into flame, causing a fire, would I be responsible? 

If someone can get a few million dollars out of McD's for serving a coffee that's too hot I'm sure there's a lawyer somewhere that would come after my ass! 

Wild Bill


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## epis (Feb 25, 2012)

Welcome back Wild Bill !


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Nice to see you're back Bill....carry on.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

nonreverb said:


> Nice to see you're back Bill....carry on.


Nice to be back, NR! Been incredibly busy for a couple of years. New lady and tons of home renovations. Giant trees in backyard blowing over in windstorms - seems every day there was something new!

I basically had and have close the doors to any amp builds or repairs for a long time. My workbench has been buried under drywall! None of my vintage ham radio gear is working and somehow I've never found the time to fix any of it, let alone operate it.

Things are loosening up a little bit so I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Finding a new lady after a LONG bad marriage has helped immensely.

So I can now spend a bit of time hanging out on this board again. I won't likely get into any long discussions but when I can throw in something that might help someone out I will.

Hope life's been good to you and the rest of the veterans on Scott's board!

Wild Bill


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

Aw Bill, you just missed the abuse. Welcome back!


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

WCGill said:


> Aw Bill, you just missed the abuse. Welcome back!


Abuse? I thought it was "Getting hit on the head lessons" in here! Sorry! I'm off to feed my Norwegian Blue parrot! 

Wild Bill


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