Say goodbye to the word "original" for my 1958 Pri

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Sigh.

Talk me out of it.

Have Lupe talk me out of it.

I've had this sweetheart for a l-o-n-g time. And, as with many current, former and part-time techs I just could NOT follow my own advice on this one.

A 1958 tube amp needs a cap job. Heck, it should have had 3 or 4 by now!!

I've always kept it in the "rotation" of amps to keep the caps from crystallizing, but knew it was a time bomb.

I just could NOT (and gathered up parts for it at least 10 times!) touch it. Original *everything* - the only weak point being the worn-off "Princeton" white paint on the control panel. And it sounds in-freaking-credible; 4 1/2 watts or so in that big finger jointed box is stunning with 6-string, and beautiful with low-volume steel.

Opened it up again today just to think...took my inspection mirror, and "game over"; two caps with significant blisters on them.

I could stick it on a shelf. Or sell it. But it sounds SO good that unless some miracle happens or I'm abducted by aliens by tomorrow night it'll have new caps and a 3-prong power cord.

Any aliens on the forum? Feel free to abduct me - just don't use that....er...."probe"....

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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Jim, don't feel so bad about it. Heck, would you love your grandma any less with a pacemaker? Heck no. Give this girl what she needs, she'll still love you back the same.
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Danny Hullihen · From: Harrison, Michigan

As you know Jim, a new cap job won't hurt it a bit, and in fact will make things better. You can always hang on to the old parts and put them back in if ya just can't sleep at night over it. Smile

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Ken Fox · From: Nashville GA USA

You can use F&T or TAD caps and put them inside the old Atron cap bodies. You have to slip the old cap can out of the paper body and then drill out and pick out the old material inside the can. Insert new cap and fill the excess space with Goop or silicone. It is a time consumimg job but can be done.

Might pretty amp. I would not be ashamed to put a new set of pretty blue Atoms in it.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Fix it, dude. It's NO GOOD FOR ANYTHING. This isn't hard? Unless you're going to sell it to a lawyer or doctor for his "museum." I'd love to have an amp 1/10th this nice, but only if it WORKS. My Digitech RP250 sounds better than this.... Devil

I've become (ing....) un-enamored of the tube-sniffing self-indulgence, anyway. Try to explain this to a Bosnian, Vietnamese or something? Get a decent guitar, a decent amp - and play great music.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Ten years ago, my tech put the new caps inside the old ones, as Ken suggests. Looks perfect.

Mitch Druckman · From: Arizona, USA

I think putting new caps inside the old ones is deceptive and can only cause confusion.

Geoff Cline · From: Southwest France

New caps in a great old amp=a player/owner who knows how to take care of rare, valuable equipment and keep it doing what it was meant to do...inspire and make great sounds.

As Bob would say--"Don't worry about a 'ting 'cause every little 'ting gonna be all right!

Richard Damron · From: Gallatin, Tennessee, USA (deceased)

Jim -

Since you love that old amp so much then cave in!

Throw a bunch of modern-day caps in it, fire it up, and play a bunch of pretty music!

Don't get any better than that!

Steve Norman · From: Seattle Washington, USA

replace them, keep the old ones in a bag in the freezer or where ever they will keep just to have them for historic purposes.
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Blake Hawkins · From: Florida

Mitch,
Putting a new part in an old one is a standard
restoration technique used on antique radios and
amplifiers.
Up until a few years ago, radio collectors did not mind having new parts in there because it was considered that during its life an amp or radio would
be serviced several times and the technician would
have used modern parts.
There was discussion about it because many collectors
wanted to preserve the wiring and the look of the
original equipment.
However, you had the choice of a piece of original,
non functional equipment or one which performed to
original specifications but did not look original under the chassis.
The problem is solved by using the shell of the old
part and inserting a new component which meets the
original specs.
There is no deception involved.
The owner of the equipment knows what is being
done and is given this option by the technician.
The owner can admire his vintage amp and hear it the way it performed when it was new.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Change the caps. I'm pretty hardcore, but the amp obviously needs new caps. I think putting new caps inside the Astron bodies is a good idea - it's pretty close to a museum piece, and there's no deception involved as long as a seller discloses what's been done. Like you're gonna sell the amp? Right.

Would you drive a '56 Mercury with the original tires?

Murnel Babineaux · From: Mermentau, Louisiana, USA

Lupe Lopez!!! Wasn't she Leo's first employee?

Change the caps !

Murnel
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Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Steve Schmidt · From: Ramsey, MN, USA

I was talking to my son about my old telecaster. Many years ago I routed a hole in the middle and put in a center pickup. I like it that way, and have no intentions of selling it. I told my son, after I'm gone, It'l be his problem. Sounds like you have no intention of selling the amp. Fix it, play it, enjoy it, and after your gone, let someone else worry about it.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

If you can put knee levers on a Fender 400 with a clear conscience, why do you hesitate to replace the caps in an old amp? Confused

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Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

you should rip out all that messy old wiring and put in a nice fresh pcb. someone named Lupe left some tape on your chassis too, a little goo gone will clean that up.

Matthew Carlin · From: Lake County, IL.

Ben.... you totally nailed it, i would have to chop it as well, make a nice head, retolex it in some sweet purple snakeskin and add a drive channel, go for that early crate blue voodoo sound. Very Happy

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Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

right , that thing would sound alot better thru a 4x12 with V30's.

I hope Jim has a good sense of humor. we could go on all day...casters, multi-effects, little MOSFET here, little COSM there, etc. Very Happy

William Clark · Posted 2 Feb 2010 3:20 pm

You could always use Luxe capacitors. He has a store on Fleabay. The caps are a little pricey but he uses quality components. Here is a V-front Super I recapped a couple of years ago. The amp works and sounds great! The first picture is the amp before servicing, next two are after.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Well, it's done with Atoms and sounds even better. the volume scared me at first - the jump was a little surprising.

Those Lux caps look interesting - I'll check those out.

I was, of course, kidding about the whole thing. It HAD to be done, I just kept putting it off because it was all-original. If the tweed was unblemished and the silkscreening completely intact I'd have left it alone, sold it to a collector and bought a couple "players"!

I did leave the 25/25's in place. I only replace those if they are absolutely bad (leaky, toasted, etc) - far too many "complete" cap jobs have wrecked the tone of similar amps (I keep a bunch of things like those, the blue tubular Fender .1's, white Mallorys etc) around that others have pulled.

Danny Hullihen · From: Harrison, Michigan

Jim. I can't begin to tell you how disappointing this is to hear that you actually went and did repairs on this amp! As you can see from the above, we were no where near done raggin on you yet about doing this, now this thread is null and void! Laughing

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Steve Norman · From: Seattle Washington, USA

Awesome...your a lucky man.
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GFI D10, Fender Steel King, Hilton Vpedal,BoBro, National D dobro, Marrs RGS

T. C. Furlong · From: Lake County, Illinois, USA

I was recently faced with the same dilemma. I have a dead mint 1965 Pro Reverb that was starting to get noisy and just wasn't as good sounding as it should have been. After two years of deliberation and not playing it, I called my amp guru, gave him the green light and that baby came back better than ever. Now I play through it all the time and smile every time I hear it. My only regret is that I didn't recap it two years ago and the reverb is stunning.

Do it dude...

TC

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

T. C.,

I recapped my '67 Pro Reverb two weeks ago. During a routine inspection I discovered the tell tale goo coming from two filter caps. The amp is much punchier now. The degridation in sound quality is so slow you really don't hear it unless it gets noisey, mine wasn't. Nothing like a new set of Sprague Atoms.

RH

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