Anyone else think the most important thing is knowledge like Lyle has gets passed on in full. We need a new generation of amp techs that are as switched on as lyle!

They perhaps thought that the heater wire connection will eventually weld itself. 😁

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

The tube socket terminals looked decidedly yellowed and tarnished (could it be a lighting artifact?) , and that unsoldered connection likely needs a good detarnishing before being soldered. The fiberglas-bristle scratch brush is my go-to tool for that kind of polishing.

It doesn't make much sense to use a Keps nut on a fastener for a tube socket where there's a vibration damping silicone grommet there to decouple the socket the tube from the chassis (to limit tube rattle and microphonics). They'd have to use some kind of thread locker on the nut to keep it in place; or simply use a Nylock or Brilock nut that has a compressible nylon bushing inside the threads of the nut. Those don't require a thread locking compound and they won't come loose on their own. And for those who aren't aware, current production 5AR4/GZ34 rectifier tubes have a tendency to rattle sometimes, hence the use of rubber grommets and loose coupling.

congrats on 40k subs!

@sgt.grinch3299

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

@jaronensley

Жыл бұрын

Congrats Kyle! Curse mor often!

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

My name is not fucking Kyle!

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

;)

My old Bad Cat Cub 2R (2002 model) had a similar issue with an unsoldered wire connection unwinding itself over time. Was on the Focused switch. Noisy, An easy fix et voila!

unsoldered power tube...wow 😲

Wonderful amplifier! Mod to try: remove the 25uF cathode bypass capacitor on the second preamp stage. In my Lightning, this reduced rfi, improved overall guitar string balance (bass not so loose, treble not so harsh), increased clean headroom and improved volume control range without compromising characteristic Matchless chime.

Out of curiosity - I was always told not to touch the glass on tubes but I noticed you're doing so sometimes. Was that a mistruth or do you clean them? If so, what do you clean them with?

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Skin oil doesn’t hurt tubes. They aren’t halogen bulbs.

@w2cfx

Жыл бұрын

@@PsionicAudio the amount of time this will save me changing tubes over the course of my life time is huge. Thanks for the reply ☺️

So lemme get this straight. Big brand manufacturers have design flaws because mass manufacturing requires cutting corners, right? So when you find the same shoddy manufacturing in a boutique brand that costs 3x as much... what exactly is the excuse?

@nikkisimpson1835

Жыл бұрын

Human error. This happen at Fender during the golden era of amps, tweeds and black panels. I've seen time to time. After many hours on a build and or examining a completed build this can be easy to miss especially if it fires up and runs and test well...Fresh eyes will easily find this, plus as Lyle is a good tech he visually inspects a repair carefully.

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I didn’t belabor the point because it’s a small oops in an otherwise good design and is unlikely to be present in the vast majority of their amps. The faceplate and the loose nut are more systemic, though the nut would still be relatively rare. Other Matchless models have design issues but the Lightning 15 is a good amp.

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

​@@nikkisimpson1835, yeah, like yourself I've seen bad soldering in classic old Fenders ---- cold soldered wires or component leads that can be physically pulled free from an eyelet or tube socket terminal, and occasionally a connection that was never even soldered in the first place.

@culturetrash3191

9 ай бұрын

@@PsionicAudio what models have you found that have design issues? Currently looking at getting some, because I love the sound, but if there are any problematic models out there it would be great to know!

Love your channel, Lyle. I have to ask your opinion on fan cooling amps, especially those that commonly run hot like Class A or AB1. In 2023 with more low noise fans available than ever before, even lower voltage DC fans like for PC cooling, I don't understand why more manufacturers don't use them.. What's your take? To be clear, I'm not concerned as much with absolute temperature, though that obviously matters, but with stability. It's not uncommon that some amps sound and feel way different 3rd set than 1st from thermal effects accumulation. Maintaining a solid average seems a good thing to me.

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Well, you won’t find many Class A amps out there despite marketing departments’ efforts. But heat/airflow can be an issue especially with small crammed amps. Fans can introduce a lot of dust (a LOT) and aren’t always used effectively. Space and air are the best tools in the designer’s arsenal.

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

​@@PsionicAudio, and, a fan filter fine enough to catch the majority of the dust will also limit air flow, and clog and get blocked up very quickly and easily. And nobody ever cleans the filters. If you make the filters easy to access then they might tend to fall out during transit. If you embed the filter in some way that it won't easily fall out, like if you have to break out the screwdriver just to clean the filter, then it's "too hard" for must musicians to be bothered with cleaning it.

I've been getting a lot of scratchy background noise. If you don't play anything, it just kinda makes scratchy static noise. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. I hope it's not a cap going out.

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Make sure it’s not your phone or wifi etc.

Have yii gone through a Headstrong amp for quality?

I Don’t Like heads with under mounted tubes. Just asking for problems imo.

Do you think with your experience with Vox amps, a Matchless like that would benefit from a tone cut ? I've built something similar and honestly it reduces a lot the hiss ...

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Yup.

@PhilthyCasual

8 ай бұрын

I had the first tone cap removed

No, I didn’t. It’s not my fault this time.

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

"There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! It's not my fault, I swear to god"! The Blues Brothers movie

knowing how hot they got, why do they insist on continuing to build them tubes down?

@PsionicAudio

Жыл бұрын

Well, the tubes down thing isn’t a huge problem except with the plastic panel. The front panel on this one has a small crack too and it doesn’t get much heat. I’m not a fan of this material.

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

Orienting the tubes to point upwards does tend to dissipate heat better due to the hot air naturally rising, but tends to collect dust and debris around the tube sockets which can cause noise, intermittent audio, and arcing, burned sockets. A liquid spill from the drink or water bottle sitting on top of an amp will pool on the chassis, crack the hot tubes and ruin the sockets. Conversely, mounting the chassis at the top of the cabinet with tubes pointing downward pretty much requires tube clamps so that the tubes don't work loose due to gravity; and any liquid spilled on top of the amp is somewhat more likely to get inside the chassis and contact the components, the printed circuit or turret board, etc, doing damage which is often difficult and costly,, or perhaps impossible, o repair There are pros and cons to both approaches; I'm curious if Lyle has a preference. Of course, if it's a fairly modern combo amp the tubes almost invariably hang upside down (some older combo amps had the controls/preamp at the top and the amp at the bottom of the cab, which allowed tubes to break easily if you stowed the power cord, a footswitch, or an effects pedal in the bottom of the cab).

@jutukka

Жыл бұрын

​@@goodun2974True. I prefer tube amp heads which do not have tubes upside down. And I don't spill liquids on them either. If I use for example Fender tube combo amps for hours, I turn them upside down, because they run much cooler that way. 😁

@goodun2974

Жыл бұрын

@@jutukka , It always amazes me when I see people put beer or soda or water bottles on top of their amp. There's video on KZread of Sonny Landreth with a water bottle on top of his Dumble; Although I've heard tell that Dumbo would pot some of his circuits in epoxy so perhaps that made them relatively impervious to liquid incursion....🤔😁😉

Big oof

Half the price of these amps must be the shrink wrap. That shit is ridiculously expensive for what it is.

Well you don’t know who else has messed with the amp since it was purchased. Fender’s new amps unless you pay a fortune for hand wired are sitting on a printed circuit board. Sickening.