Cap symptoms

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 26 Mar 2001 3:23 pm

How can you tell when it's time to get a cap job done on an amp. I've got a Musicman 65-112 that is starting to get a little noisy. It's a 25 year old amp that hasn't been played too hard or too frequently. It has been recently re-tubed which had no effect on the noise. Thanks, Larry Clark

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 26 Mar 2001 6:24 pm

What kind of noise do you have, Larry? Filter caps usually make an amp hum. Electrolytic bypass caps sometimes cause squeals or "motorboating" (a plop-plop sound). On the other hand, when the coupling caps go bad (these are the little ones) you get distortion, or "clipped" sounds...kinda like a fuzztone (or a bad speaker).

Sometimes, tubes can cause their own brand of noises, called "microphonics". This type of noise is a "bonging", or ringing sound, or sometimes even feedback.[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 26 March 2001 at 06:25 PM.]

Jerry Erickson · Post by **Jerry Erickson** » 26 Mar 2001 9:16 pm

Here's a guy's address from Vintage Guitar Mag: Terry Loose
628 George St.
Clyde, OH 43410
Sorry there's no ph # maybe information will have it.
Jerry

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 26 Mar 2001 9:53 pm

Donny, It's a definately a hum,makes you want to flip the ground switch which unfortunately has no effect. Considering it hasn't blown a fuse in 25 years I guess it deserves a check-up from an amp tech. Thanks, Larry[This message was edited by Larry Clark on 26 March 2001 at 09:54 PM.]

Rick Johnson · Post by **Rick Johnson** » 27 Mar 2001 4:19 am

Larry
Try David Allen at www.allenamps.com
He's the best tech and builds a killer amp too!!!

Rick

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Rick Johnson

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 27 Mar 2001 5:07 pm

John LeMay at Miracle Audio will help also.
Dennis

David Rich · Post by **David Rich** » 10 Apr 2001 8:22 am

If the amp is 25 years old and has never had a cap job, and it's humming. I'd say it definately needs new caps.