# Tips for communicating with your amp repair shop.



## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

I had a customer bring me an amp, before he came over we had a little chat about the amp and what was wrong with it. It was a 1966 Princeton. He told me the guitar clinic in Hamilton replaced the output transformer with "junk" and that he wanted something closer to the original put in. This repair was done many years ago. He dropped the amp off today had a quick look at it. After the customer left. Date code in the transformer?? 606 5XX meaning ether 1975 or 1965. In any case very little differences between the two and not what I would call junk. The moral of the story is this. Many shops that are pretty scummy would have just kept the transformer and installed something new. So here are a few tips for communicating with your tech.

1 Tell the tech what the amp is doing. Don't assume it's tubes or a speaker or anything until he or she has looked at it. This tip will save you money if your tech is honest.

2 Ask to get the old parts back. Most good techs will do this anyway. 

3 get an estimate before the work is done. 

4 get a receipt or claim check for the anp being repaired that has the serial number on it unless you have it recorded at home. This one is important if you have to file an insurance claim for loss. Hopefully that will never happen.. But it could, do you have your serial numbers and gear list in a safe place??

5 if you get a bad vibe from the tech take it somewhere else. In most cases your first instinct is the correct one. 

6 insist on accurate deadline for the repair once the estimate is done. 
This last one is a bit tricky for example I have a few kit amps that need to be rewired. This will take me two days to do properly. In this time I can have many amps fixed and I can't charge you 16 hours fir labour right? So I need to squeeze it in between jobs that pay the bills so it's done at a time that is not actually going to cost me more in missed repairs than the 4-5 hours I will charge you to rewire. 

7 I honestly believe that good guitar amp techs are players... You can't just stick an amp on a scope look at the pretty waveform and call it a day you have to plug a guitar into it and play. Good amp techs are usually good guitar players. 

This the #1 point cost me quite a few extra dollars at a garage when I was young. I walked in and said I thought my car needed new struts. They happily replaced them but that was not the issue. So I had to pay for that plus fixing the real problem.

there are plenty of customers that really know amps and electronics and if that's you hey disregard some of what I have said. But if it's not you, then you might save a few dollars with my advice.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

8. If you really need your blown amp 2 days after it's dropped off. I will charge you a premium fee on top of my regular rate. With all the repair work I have waiting in cue, it's the only fair thing to do.



Amprepair said:


> I had a customer bring me an amp, before he came over we had a little chat about the amp and what was wrong with it. It was a 1966 Princeton. He told me the guitar clinic in Hamilton replaced the output transformer with "junk" and that he wanted something closer to the original put in. This repair was done many years ago. He dropped the amp off today had a quick look at it. After the customer left. Date code in the transformer?? 606 5XX meaning ether 1975 or 1965. In any case very little differences between the two and not what I would call junk. The moral of the story is this. Many shops that are pretty scummy would have just kept the transformer and installed something new. So here are a few tips for communicating with your tech.
> 
> 1 Tell the tech what the amp is doing. Don't assume it's tubes or a speaker or anything until he or she has looked at it. This tip will save you money if your tech is honest.
> 
> ...


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Amprepair said:


> I had a customer bring me an amp, before he came over we had a little chat about the amp and what was wrong with it. It was a 1966 Princeton. He told me the guitar clinic in Hamilton replaced the output transformer with "junk" and that he wanted something closer to the original put in. This repair was done many years ago. He dropped the amp off today had a quick look at it. After the customer left. Date code in the transformer?? 606 5XX meaning ether 1975 or 1965. In any case very little differences between the two and not what I would call junk. The moral of the story is this. Many shops that are pretty scummy would have just kept the transformer and installed something new. So here are a few tips for communicating with your tech.
> 
> 1 Tell the tech what the amp is doing. Don't assume it's tubes or a speaker or anything until he or she has looked at it. This tip will save you money if your tech is honest.
> 
> ...



Solid advice regarding anything

I always google the shop and look for reviews and BBB claims. There's a guy near me with terrible reviews about rip offs. (Switching vintage amp & guitar guts)
Like you said, always go with your gut


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Word of mouth is the best review any tech could hope for....or dread.



Scotty said:


> Solid advice regarding anything
> 
> I always google the shop and look for reviews and BBB claims. There's a guy near me with terrible reviews about rip offs. (Switching vintage amp & guitar guts)
> Like you said, always go with your gut


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

nonreverb said:


> Word of mouth is the best review any tech could hope for....or dread.


Exactly. I don't understand people who screw clientele over for the sake of making a few extra dollars. Top quality service And reasonable pricing should earn you customers for life. The dumbest thing people could do is to run the risk of a bad reputation which means constantly searching for new customers.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Amprepair said:


> I had a customer bring me an amp, before he came over we had a little chat about the amp and what was wrong with it. It was a 1966 Princeton. He told me the guitar clinic in Hamilton replaced the output transformer with "junk" and that he wanted something closer to the original put in. This repair was done many years ago. He dropped the amp off today had a quick look at it. After the customer left. Date code in the transformer?? 606 5XX meaning ether 1975 or 1965. In any case very little differences between the two and not what I would call junk. The moral of the story is this. Many shops that are pretty scummy would have just kept the transformer and installed something new. So here are a few tips for communicating with your tech.
> 
> 1 Tell the tech what the amp is doing. Don't assume it's tubes or a speaker or anything until he or she has looked at it. This tip will save you money if your tech is honest.
> 
> ...


Other than my own I don't fix guitar amps but I still twist wrenches at times especially on old bikes. I basically agree with every point but for #1, tell the tech or who ever if you tried to fix it yourself. Had a truck come in the garage....the owner said he'd given it an oil change and a tune up. It had run good for a while then made a loud noise and didn't run all that good. The truck was towed in. It started and sounded like the pocketa-pocketa machine from the Danny Kaye version of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". If you're old enough and know the movie and sound you know your first thing to do is count spark plugs. There were only 7. It might be a good idea to take your guitar with you too.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

I'll agree with all the above, except to mention neither Leo Fender or Ken Bran had much going on for guitar chops.



nonreverb said:


> 8. If you really need your blown amp 2 days after it's dropped off. I will charge you a premium fee on top of my regular rate. With all the repair work I have waiting in cue, it's the only fair thing to do.


 No extra fee, except you pay double for rush jobs that aren't picked up right away. That's the big money maker (wink).


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## toby2 (Dec 2, 2006)

I am sure the transformer is fine . The owner of the amp might be best to move on to a different model


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

jb welder said:


> I'll agree with all the above, except to mention neither Leo Fender or Ken Bran had much going on for guitar chops.
> 
> 
> No extra fee, except you pay double for rush jobs that aren't picked up right away. That's the big money maker (wink).


If you need it PDQ and don't pick it up when you say, I will sell your amp. ;-)


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

WCGill said:


> If you need it PDQ and don't pick it up when you say, I will sell your amp. ;-)


Yes, you can pick it up on e-bay :smile-new:.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Lol! Good one....






jb welder said:


> yes, you can pick it up on e-bay :smile-new:.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

9. If it's a trouble shooting/diagnosis scenario, ask your tech to contact you _before_ proceeding with extensive repairs. 

Out of desperation one time (I needed my amp fixed within a week for an upcoming gig), I left my '62 Pro with an available but unfamiliar tech to address some "noise" issues. I'm not a tech but probably know more about how amps work than most players. Anyway, having already tried tube swaps on my own, the continuing static/crackling led me to believe it was likely screen resistors in need of replacement....which I made a point of mentioning to the tech. I also made a point of explicitly saying "If it's something more than that, contact me before replacing anything else...._especially_ if it's going to be over $200". When I checked in a week later, the tech tells me "I'm probably 1/2 way towards fixing this and we're already at $400". WTF?! Turns out, he felt that returning the amp to stock was necessary before addressing the issue I actually brought it in for. He apparently didn't consider the possibility that some mods had _intentionally _been completed previously to improve the amp. 

Moral of the story: Develop a _relationship_ with your tech and communicate _everything you know _about the amp beforehand. Oh, and that guy was (and still is) an arrogant dick by the way, unlike any of the tech members I've encountered here.


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## parkhead (Aug 14, 2009)

nonreverb said:


> 8. If you really need your blown amp 2 days after it's dropped off. I will charge you a premium fee on top of my regular rate. With all the repair work I have waiting in cue, it's the only fair thing to do.


I don't do amp work but this is my favorite... 
the amp has been acting up for months & suddenly 2 days before the gig panic sets in 

these amps are also the ones that sit forever waiting to be picked up afterwards 

p


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## keithb7 (Dec 28, 2006)

I know of 1 local amp tech that I was not happy with. 3 trips in to address a crackling noise, he never did find it. I drove 3.5 hrs each way to another tech who found a cold solder joint. I was not impressed. Since then, about 5 years ago, I have studied my butt off and performed many amp repairs and built 3 amps myself. I have seen very good results, always learning more, having a ton of fun. I have 5 tube amps of my own and love keeping them going. I no longer tell the local tech anything. Nothing of mine will see his shop again.


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## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

keithb7 said:


> I know of 1 local amp tech that I was not happy with. 3 trips in to address a crackling noise, he never did find it. I drove 3.5 hrs each way to another tech who found a cold solder joint. I was not impressed. Since then, about 5 years ago, I have studied my butt off and performed many amp repairs and built 3 amps myself. I have seen very good results, always learning more, having a ton of fun. I have 5 tube amps of my own and love keeping them going. I no longer tell the local tech anything. Nothing of mine will see his shop again.


 I chopstick the living hell out of things, once I'm done with the chopstick I work my way up to a rubberized screwdriver if it passes both of these tests there are no cold solder joints. I would not write a tech off because he did not get it right the first time. Seems like you started in a similar way to me. I started learning how to fix amps and electronics when I was 10. I broke a speaker connection off of a speaker, it only needed to be resoldered it cost my dad $25 if I remember correctly. For my birthday I askied for a soldering gun and that's how it started for me. Techs are not flawless we screw up and we make mistakes.... It's what you do when you make a mistake that separates the men from the boys. Or the professional tech from the unprofessional one..


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## TeleToons (Aug 13, 2014)

Church-Audio said:


> I chopstick the living hell out of things, once I'm done with the chopstick I work my way up to a rubberized screwdriver ..


Just how hard do you whack your connections ? I kind of just tap them a bit, maybe I am not aggressive enough ? Just a beginner learning how to do it.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

parkhead said:


> I don't do amp work but this is my favorite...
> the amp has been acting up for months & suddenly 2 days before the gig panic sets in
> 
> these amps are also the ones that sit forever waiting to be picked up afterwards
> ...


The other side of the coin is when the amp tech neglects to tell you that he has a queue a mile long and by the time he gets to yours only to find out he needs to special order parts thereby putting your work at the back of the queue so far you forget you ever owned it! Maybe you don't need to rush him but never tell the amp tech that you're in _no_ hurry either! Pose a deadline be it a couple weeks or a month and see what he has to say.


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## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

I whack the shit put of them if it's point to point. They should be able to take it. I also use a magnifine glass as well. For pcb boards light tapping is all that's required.


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## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

Hamstrung said:


> The other side of the coin is when the amp tech neglects to tell you that he has a queue a mile long and by the time he gets to yours only to find out he needs to special order parts thereby putting your work at the back of the queue so far you forget you ever owned it! Maybe you don't need to rush him but never tell the amp tech that you're in _no_ hurry either! Pose a deadline be it a couple weeks or a month and see what he has to say.


i have admittedly had a few amps like that. Where parts are almost impossible to find. Had a bass amp that had transistors in it that were no longer made ordered the parts from a source in the Internet had to wait 3 months for this tiny company in Taiwan to start production of the parts then send them too me only for them to be the wrong parts ( not my fault) and they get sent out again for new ones. It happens, there are also project amps that sometimes get dropped off that require so much work they must be "fit in" to my schedule because they will take more time then I could ever charge for them to fix. But since I'm stubborn and don't want to see them go to another tech that most likely will half ass it I accept the repair. There are always reasons why things sometimes take a while but communication is key. My personal goal is to get everything out asap only because the Realestate an amp sits on is worth money to me. Repair shops are not perfect nobody is perfect communication is everything.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

If you're looking for cold solder joints on a PCB, two other methods are slightly flexing the board (a pencil pushing down slightly on different areas, causing the board to flex) and shooting different areas with cold spray and then a bit of heat, back and forth to shock it. If the board isn't too complicated, sometimes reflowing all the pads is the best option.


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## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

High/Deaf said:


> If you're looking for cold solder joints on a PCB, two other methods are slightly flexing the board (a pencil pushing down slightly on different areas, causing the board to flex) and shooting different areas with cold spray and then a bit of heat, back and forth to shock it. If the board isn't too complicated, sometimes reflowing all the pads is the best option.


Yeah I remember the days of the cold spray  Its so expensive now. But good tips. Some amps Like hotrod deluxe and peavey classic 30 / delta blues are just better off being reflowed as well as the Fender solid state line from the 1980s thru the 1990s


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Chris brings up a good point and a hard lesson that most pros eventually have to face. The cut off line. I have in recent years for the sake of efficiency and my sanity, won't accept certain equipment in for service. If a unit contains components not readily available or discontinued, is a real basket case or not intrinsically worth what it costs to repair, I won't take it on. The reasons being, they are real money losing ventures and a colossal waste of valuable time. If there's no future upside resulting from all that effort then it's not worth it. Junky little amps costing $99 new are not worth the effort if it costs $160 to repair. Likewise, bringing a HR Deluxe that's been living underwater for the last 2 days probably isn't worth the effort either.
Don't get me wrong, I take on many units which others won't tackle but we all have our limits.



Church-Audio said:


> i have admittedly had a few amps like that. Where parts are almost impossible to find. Had a bass amp that had transistors in it that were no longer made ordered the parts from a source in the Internet had to wait 3 months for this tiny company in Taiwan to start production of the parts then send them too me only for them to be the wrong parts ( not my fault) and they get sent out again for new ones. It happens, there are also project amps that sometimes get dropped off that require so much work they must be "fit in" to my schedule because they will take more time then I could ever charge for them to fix. But since I'm stubborn and don't want to see them go to another tech that most likely will half ass it I accept the repair. There are always reasons why things sometimes take a while but communication is key. My personal goal is to get everything out asap only because the Realestate an amp sits on is worth money to me. Repair shops are not perfect nobody is perfect communication is everything.


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## Church-Audio (Sep 27, 2014)

nonreverb said:


> Chris brings up a good point and a hard lesson that most pros eventually have to face. The cut off line. I have in recent years for the sake of efficiency and my sanity, won't accept certain equipment in for service. If a unit contains components not readily available or discontinued, is a real basket case or not intrinsically worth what it costs to repair, I won't take it on. The reasons being, they are real money losing ventures and a colossal waste of valuable time. If there's no future upside resulting from all that effort then it's not worth it. Junky little amps costing $99 new are not worth the effort if it costs $160 to repair. Likewise, bringing a HR Deluxe that's been living underwater for the last 2 days probably isn't worth the effort either.
> Don't get me wrong, I take on many units which others won't tackle but we all have our limits.


Good points. As far as the $99 amps. I tell customers to sell them asis on kijiji or craigslist. So that they don't land in a landfill. Or they donate them to me and I inturn fix them when I can and donate them to a school music program. Let's face it we can pretty much fix anything on our own time. It's just like you said it's not financially viable for a customer to pay me my minimum bench charge when just that is the value of the amp used.


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