Conference napalm::guitar

    	MDS has bought several companies inventory when they went
    Chapter 11,for example Arp synthe's and Linn Drum's are 2 
    I remember. I wonder who else they handle?......
    
    							Rick

    I called MDS in .0 to find some volume/tone knobs and whammy bar for my
    Mustang.  They didn't have either, but recommended I try this place
    that also deals with obsolete stuff.  This place did have the knobs for
    the Mustang.
    
                       Angela Instruments
                       8600 Foundry St.
                       PO Box 2043
                       Savage, Maryland  20763
                       (301) 725-0451

    
                        -< Need Champ 12 power switch >-
    
    I hope this is the right note... 
    
    My "new" Fender Champ 12 needs a new power switch. Is there a Fender
    "parts" place that I could order a Champ 12 power switch from?? Anybody
    out there know?
    
        Phil

    

>    My "new" Fender Champ 12 needs a new power switch. Is there a Fender
>    "parts" place that I could order a Champ 12 power switch from?? Anybody
>    out there know?
    
        Phil, if its discontinued, try one of the places in .0 or .2
    
    Mike

    I'd like to restore my Fender Super Six amp. I want to try to get the
    original grill cloth or at least something close to it before I use
    the generic black mesh thats commercially available. I'd also like to
    get a new metal bezel which I'll bet is impossible. Anybody out there
    know the phone number for Fender or someone else who might be able to
    supply what I need? I'll try the places that are mentioned in the
    earlier replies.
    
    Maybe there's another place for this, but has anybody ever tried to
    recover the tolex on you amp. Is it difficult, any snags, or any advice
    you'd care to offer?
    
    Thanx,                  "sakman"

Note 1553 has a lot of information on recovering cabinets/amps in both 
tolex and ozite.  Check it out, I think you'll find the information you
want there.

Greg

	There's a note with manufacturer info. Fender's phone number is in
	there. There's also a note in here somewhere where Tom Gallo posted
	some info about a company that stocks obsolete Fender parts.

	ccb

     Has anyone called MDS lately? I called a the number in .0 and
     got a recording that said it was disconnected. Then I called the
     number listed in Pittmans' Tube Amp book V3 800-722-8171 and a
     woman there told me the MDS number is 800-488-1818. So I called
     and was asked if I was a dealer, I said no, and she told me I
     would have to order parts through an authorized dealer. In
     my area that would be either Kurlans or RMI. I need some hard-
     ware for a Fender amp.

     Neal

    What a pisser! That's exactly the kind of thing dealers are (in general)
    pretty bad at handling. I'd call Fender, Neal, and tell them you want to
    order parts. See where they steer ya. They're the ones that gave me the
    number for MDS when I ordered parts from them. Something musta changed.
    Damn, MDS was pretty easy to deal with, too. Anybody out there know a
    Fender dealer that's not a bozo that might have someone competent enough
    working for them that could handle an odd little order for some obscure
    parts and not FIUp? I don't. Damn. The problem with music stores is that
    they're mostly run by musicians, as opposed to people with their
    shi...errr, doo-doo together.

    --Ron

    
    >>Damn, MDS was pretty easy to deal with, too. Anybody out there know a
    >>Fender dealer that's not a bozo that might have someone competent enough
    >>working for them that could handle an odd little order for some obscure
    >>parts and not FIUp? I don't. Damn. The problem with music stores is that
    
    
    I don't either...  I had a heck of an experience recently with
    my '68 Deluxe Reverb.  My tremolo died -- rest of the amp was fine.
    I checked the basics (tubes, footswitch...) and couldn't find anything.
    So I took my amp to my local Fender dealer (one of the larger stores
    in the metro-Detroit area, and part of a 3-store chain), where I
    had bought the amp (used).  It took them five weeks to "fix" it.
    I came to pick it up, and wisely decided to try it out before leaving.
    Well... the tremolo did work, but the rest of the amp was seriously
    sick.  Major cut in gain, terribly loud hum.  I quickly turned the
    thing off.  They said they'd send it back to their repair center
    and put a rush on it.
    
    Five weeks later (after several phone calls), I finally get my
    amp back.  I try it out at the store and it sounds OK.  The repairman
    claims he didn't do anything (so why did it take five weeks?!).  
    I take the amp home and notice my tube retainers are missing.  I stop
    back in to the store and raise a ruckus...   They say they'll find
    them.
    
    A couple days later, I'm doing a little jamming in my basement and
    the amp starts making terrible noises.  I turn it off and back on
    and it's real quiet -- TOO quiet.  I check out the tubes and I have
    a bad pre-amp tube.   So that's been the problem -- a flakey tube --
    I say to my self.  I stick in a different tube (an old one, just
    in case) and the amp seems fine.  I leave the amp on for a few minutes
    (guitar is not even plugged in), and SNAP, crackle, POP!  I started
    hearing the same noises I heard right before the other tube went
    bad.  I quickly turn the amp off.
    
    I stop at the store over lunch.  They quickly run over to tell me
    they have my tube retainers -- I tell them about the amp and demand
    back the $30 I paid for the original "repair."  The store manager says
    to let him try one more time.  I tell him that I started with a 
    perfectly good amp with no tremolo, and now I have a totally unreliable
    amp.   They suggest that perhaps the problem was with my guitar.  I
    point out that the amp has problems with all of my electric guitars,
    and the guitars are perfectly happy with my other two amps.  They
    still think it might be my guitar.  I tell them again that the amp
    was making terrible noises with nothing plugged in.  They stammer
    for a little bit...   Finally, I agree to bring the amp in one more
    time.
    
    Five more weeks!!!!  I get the amp back.  It seems to work OK.  
    Repair department still claims they did nothing to it.  The amp has
    been OK since.  I haven't been back to the store.
    
    With service like this, I'm going to mail order.
    
    Jim
    
    PS...
    There are a few decent dealers out there, but they seem to be the 
    exception.

    Jim,

    Your note's like dejavu all over again.

    --Ron

    Horror stories like this point up the advantages of rolling your
    own when it comes to amp repair.  I wouldn't necessarily suggest it
    for modern transistor or complicated multi-channel jobs, but anyone
    who owns an older Fender or similar ought to be able to do their
    own repairs pretty easily.  This stuff isn't rocket science, and
    there are a lot of good books and materials to help even the greenest
    novice along.  One of these repair aids will pay for itself the
    first time you have an amp problem, not to mention the savings in
    aggravation and time lost without your amp.  Plus, there's always 
    the Guitar notes experts to fall back on.
    
    /rick

    Or using an amp tech that you know to be reliable instead of a music
    store.  I've had similar experiences at a couple of places and I avoid
    them for repairs.  One place charged me a $40 surcharge to send my old
    preamp back to ADA for work when I could have sent it myself!  I took
    it to that place because they were an ADA dealer and supposedly could
    repair them.  Then a couple of weeks later, some dude from ADA in CA
    calls me up to ask about the problem.  Not only did this place tack on
    the extra money, but they made the repair take between 2 and 3 weeks
    longer then it took ADA to do it.  "We had to send it to Denver, and
    they sent it to ADA..."  Gimme a break...
    
    gh

    Oh YEAH!  I stopped doing repairs for stores a LONG time ago, as most
    of them promise the world, then deliver nothing, NEVER pay the service
    guys (AKA: me) and then blame it on the techs when they can't get their
    act in order.  I've done more free-be repairs to folks who have been
    burned then I want to count, and a few stores (one BIG name in Boston)
    owe me $$$$$$$$.  IF ya have a older Fender, buy the Tube book and
    LEARN how to fix it, change tubes, bias it yerself.  That's how
    I got into this crap.  I got tired of the local dealer NOT fixing
    my Twin, and charging me $40 a hour NOT to fix it.
    
    Besides, you all have one of the best sources for info/help around.
    
    This Notes file.
    
    Jay Tashjian
    

    Fix it yourself. That's how I got into electronics, etc. But beware of
    the 450 volt B+ lines inside tube amps. You can get seriously hurt in
    there. Even seriously dead.

    --Ron

    I'd probably be willing, but aren't there some fairly expensive tools
    required to do tube amp repair?  Oscilloscopes and what have you?
    
    Greg

    Greg,

    Most repairs can be done with a VOM (volt-ohm meter) and a good
    soldering iron and some sidecutting pliers.

    --Ron

    I thought a scope was required to do biasing?  Am I totally outta touch
    or what?
    
    Greg

    >I thought a scope was required to do biasing?  Am I totally outta touch
    >or what?
    
    >Greg

     Yes, you need a scope, signal generator, a voltmeter,
     and a ~100 watt dummy load to bias an amp. I've done
     3 or 4 Fender amps in the last few weeks.

     Neal

    Seems to be cost prohibative for me...

    
    	It's like cars.  Some fixes you can do yourself, some are
    	beyond your equipment/cost/knowledge limits.  It's not an 
    	all or nothing thing.  I am thinking about taking an 
    	electronics course at Greenville Tech just so I won't be
    	a total electronics feeb all my life.  Might also be fun.

    Well, although you can do a better job biasing an amp with an
    oscilloscope, if you have a schematic with the bias voltage called out
    on it, you can do a decent approximation from that, provided that all
    the other voltages are correct. If they're not, you need to determine
    why they aren't and fix that problem first, before you bias, anyway.
    That ought to get you to within a few percent of optimal. It's better
    than giving it to some yuckaluck store yahoo.

    --Ron

I thought Groove toobs sold a gadget to do it without a scope ?
Some sort of probe ??  Still, me thinks Charlie over at Rice is worth 
the $25 to rebias.  :)

jc

    I can add nothing to the last few notes, but yup.   It's like cars.
    
    that bias-probe isn't sold anymore.  It was not very stable, and
    burnt quite a bit.
    
    The best bet is to find a good service dude/dudette and pay 'em the
    monnies to keep ya junk in tune.  They are out there.
    

    GT does sell a probe to do biasing which plugs into a vom,however I'm
    not sure as to the cost. I've heard of other techniques of doing
    biasing by measuring current however I have never had any experiance
    with doing it this way. Ron is correct about tube amp maintenance
    alot of it can be done with a simple meter and schem's. After you get
    your feet wet you can recognize problems fairly quickly. It certainly
    is a lot more comforting to know some guy isn't hacking away at your
    amp..... As there are some amp techs out there who shouldn't be even
    holding a soldering iron!
    
    							Rick
    

    You got that right.   50% of my repairs are from some 'tech-ie' who
    thought he/she could make a Marshall out of a Plush.  "There ought
    to be a law!"
    
    Again I say, if ya find the right repair dude/dudette, they are worth
    the $$$.  AND the right tech backs up his/her work, me, I do it for
    life of the unit.....but only the work I did.
    
    Jay Tashjian