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... I am an amp tech, but the stories I've heard from some of my customers about other shops are just sickening!!!.....your thoughts?????..... My shop/I are not quot;off limitsquot;.....(unless you're V!N.... ..I'm trying bro!...really!)

Jeff Seal

I've personally had nothing but great service from the only amp tech that I've ever used. Problem is that he's moved and I can't find him now... I am about to try my own amp teching here shortly. I'm not modding the power section. Just the preamp board.

My local Guy is Great ! I've been goin' to him for the last 20 years. Not only does he fix my Amp, He take's me into his work area and show's me what's going on, Explain's what he did and educate's me. To the point where I almost don't have to go to him anymore (Unless I get myself into deep $h!T)
Then I get a lecture from him, But I always stop in his shop to buy strings and stuff even tho I pass like five other guitar store's on the way.
Talk about Amp tech's. My Buddy live's around the block from Jess Oliver. He had a 69' SVT in disrepair. So I said why not bring it to Jess to Fix? So we walked it around the block in a Lil' red wagon. He wasn't home. So I didn't get to meet him. But My buddy whent back later and droped it off and got a pic with him. Now the Bad A few month's ago I ordered a 50 watt MV 2204 board from Metroamps. I got my kit pretty fast, But i was missing a 820 ohm amp; 10k resistor and only had a layout for a 2203? So I shot him a email and he had the parts out that day. He also said don't worry the 2203/2204 are the same layout. WELL, YES untill you get to the rectifer curcuit. Lucky for me I figured it out on my own (Full wave vs. Half wave).
Now because this was going in a Laney the PT wiring was different. I noticed the Laney had a different style rectifier curcuit. After some research I discovered the Laney use's a Full wave Diode curcuit. So I emailed their tech support and was told NO ! If it's a 50 watter you have to use the half wave? Lucky for me I checked with my local guy. He said what ever curcuit your PT is using is what you have to use!! (Strike two for metro) Than I had 2 orange wires coming from my PT one a 90v (main) the other a .5v Bias tap. Unsure what to do with this wire? I email there tech support. Took 4 days to get back to me. In the mean time I just wired it to the ground side of the bias pot like it was on the Laney. The amp worked fine? When tech support got back to me, They said`you don't need that wire.. Cut it and tape it off. So I did... When Fired up the amp... The Tubes whent Chernobyl on me !! I soldered it back... all was well? (Strike 3 for metro) But I gotta say the amp does sound AWESOME with the metro board.

I guess my amp tech is okay. He's always done his job and never fried any of my amps. He is the only amp tech in my town AFAIK, so I have no choice. Complaints: he takes forever (more than 2 weeks for a bias!), is expensive ($40 service for a bias!), and always costs more than he's quoted at ($40 for the bias $20 more for quot;cleaningquot; I didn't ask for).

Sigh, I guess that's the price I pay for living in Hawaii.

My local guy has been doing it here for a couple of decades and also handles the stuff that's over the heads of most of the basic shop techs in town. He does a great job and usually comes in under what he quoted me.

I think that it's a huge advantage to be in an area where there's a lot of competition. It keeps him honest.

The guy in my town at home ive never even seen or spoken to.. the guitar shop sends technical problems his way. I dont think he actually works for them but i dont know. Anyway he did a good job fixing my Laney, i know most techs dont see one everyday so im sure it was an experience for him. Only downside is he didnt fix everything the first time around (took him 2-3 weeks also). I played it right there in the shop before leaving just so i could check out this fender i was interested in. Volume kept cutting out, so i had to leave it for another 3 weeks. Wasnt charged for that second time, so i was happy about that. Total cost- $130.

Oh, if you want to talk about guitar techs, JohnJohn still owes me $100. Although he hasnt been on the board since the job he did for me....

My tech Tom Schalipp is great, but only does maintenance work

Jeff

I have had what three amps blue-printed by yourself and as far as I am concerned, you are extremely good at what you do. Why else would I ship an amp from WIsconsin to Texas to have you fix it, after another 'so-called' tech F'd it up...

Your the best in my book.
PS: You also let and teach people about their amps, while your looking / fixing them...

I had a great amp tech, Tracy Sands, who would never quot;fixquot; more than needed to be fixed, unless you specifically told him and it made more sense as long as the chassis was open.

Unfortunately - for me - he has a full time job at Bad Cat now, and not much time for side projects.

oh man, there's a tech here, who is arrogant amp; mean as hell

back when i was into modding the **** outta the bassman 50, i called him up amp; told him i wanted it blackfaced. He told me the schematics he had for blackfaces but they weren't the ones i wanted. So i told him the one i wanted, and he's like quot;this is the official book from fender, if its not in here it doesn't exist.quot; Knowing the circuit obviously DID exist, i told him a few internet sites with the schematic on there, but he wouldn't budge. Then he's like quot;so what do you wanna do with the rest of the amp?quot; after asking him what he meant, he gave a deep sigh amp; said quot;what, do you want to do, with the rest, of the amp?quot; And then proceeded to tell me he didn't know what the tonal differences between the circuits he had were, and he could find out, but he'd charge me for time going over both schematics. Load. Of. Crap.

you do great work, jeff, trust me.

i have only used an amp tech once about 15 yrs ago .. but it was none other than Jeff Bober, of Budda amp fame ... he had(has?) a company called 'precision audio tailoring' and i brought a hybrid 'legend' amp to him cause i was getting a weird rattling on sustain notes ... he had to write away to legend to get the schematics and it took a while, but he did his best to find/fix the problem ... he replaced a tube and put in some better caps and installed a switchable mod to tighten bass too ... but the rattling wouldnt go away he thought it might be my guitar and i told him i was convinced it wasnt .. he handed me his SWEET PRS (CU24 or whatever it was called back then) ... and the first note i hit made the same noise ... he only charged me $25

i was thrilled with his service and willingness to go the extra mile even though he didnt fix it .. i'd recommend him in a heartbeat, but i do not know if he still takes in side work or not

t4d

Some of the sloppiest work I've ever seen came from Dan Torres shop. He gets slammed alot on the internet and I found it hard to believe the reports because I've used his kits, read his book Inside Tube Amps and also spoken to him on the phone and always found him helpful and knowledgable. But my brother Bruce Collins( from : localhost/showed me a Fender Bassman that came into his shop for repair that had been modded by the Torres shop and the workmanship was just astoundingly sloppy. Sloppy solder, wires all over the place instead of being neatly bundled or routed, etc. Very disappointing. Here in Colorado, I think my brother Bruce is the man...but I've also seen good work done by Fat Willie of NBS. He calls himself Lord Valve these days...I could never bring myself to call Willie quot;Fat Williequot;, even though he used to introduce himself that way. Lew

I cant believe I left Jeff Seal out.. a while back not long after i got my Laney he told me how to discharge my caps and do some simple diagnosing inside my amp at no charge.. I am still very greatful for that Jeff! Thank you!


Originally Posted by Jeff SealMy shop/I are not quot;off limitsquot;.....(unless you're V!N.... ..I'm trying bro!...really!)

Looking forward to it more and more every day !

Well there's an amp tech the town next to me I can share some stories about... he's not really a tech per se, since he specializes mostly in vintage restoration work for any string instrument, but he does offer amp services and guitar services.

Anyways, I installed 2 pickups for a friend in his strat... eveything was wired perfectly and sounded great. three months later my friend brought his guitar to this tech by my recommendation that his bridge was sharp because he kept breaking strings. The tech said he's fix that and give a full setup. Well, he also decided to tell my friend that I didnt know what I was doing with a soldering iron and I left the ground wires unsolderedquot; which definately is not true, and always make sure the grounds are secuire... I mean the thing was FINE for 3 months until the tech got a hold of it. The tech told him quot;dont bring things to your friends to do, bring it to a professional.quot; He charges 50 dollars for pickup changes. I do it for free in 25 minutes.

I also brought a PA amp there once to get fixed. He honestly did nothing to it to fix it... nothing (although he wouldnt admit it). He couldnt give me a straight answer when I asked him what he did to it. He charged me 25 bucks. wtf?