Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

An hour installation = $100 around here, but the problem is we installed a laminate floor a few years ago, and just butted it up under the lip of the dishwasher. The only practical way to replace it is to pull the countertop up. We plan on replacing the countertop at some point, so maybe then we'll do the dishwasher (won't be my choice!).
With 2 of us in the house, it would take a week to fill the dishwasher - we'd run out of dishes to use before it got filled!

Mike in our house the dishwasher hasnt been an issue, but that washing machine that was a biggie.

Most of the time there is only two of us at home, of course my son gets out of college in a few weeks for the summer, that will be a change.

An hour installation = $100 around here, but the problem is we installed a laminate floor a few years ago, and just butted it up under the lip of the dishwasher. The only practical way to replace it is to pull the countertop up. We plan on replacing the countertop at some point, so maybe then we'll do the dishwasher (won't be my choice!).
With 2 of us in the house, it would take a week to fill the dishwasher - we'd run out of dishes to use before it got filled!

There are feet adjusters at the bottom of the dishwasher, screw them all the way up and remove the 2 screws attached to the underside of your counter top. After loosening and removing water supply and drain hoses. Use a wonder bar (flat pry bar) and gently raise the dishwasher above the laminate flooring and slide it out. This is very common Mike I do it all the time. Kitchen cabinets are not typically tall enough to run flooring under the dishwasher. I remove dishwashers with laminate & ceramic tile butted to them.

An hour installation = $100 around here, but the problem is we installed a laminate floor a few years ago, and just butted it up under the lip of the dishwasher. The only practical way to replace it is to pull the countertop up. We plan on replacing the countertop at some point, so maybe then we'll do the dishwasher (won't be my choice!).
With 2 of us in the house, it would take a week to fill the dishwasher - we'd run out of dishes to use before it got filled!

There are feet adjusters at the bottom of the dishwasher, screw them all the way up and remove the 2 screws attached to the underside of your counter top. After loosening and removing water supply and drain hoses. Use a wonder bar (flat pry bar) and gently raise the dishwasher above the laminate flooring and slide it out. This is very common Mike I do it all the time. Kitchen cabinets are not typically tall enough to run flooring under the dishwasher. I remove dishwashers with laminate & ceramic tile butted to them.

Jeff - QUIET! You want my wife to hear how 'easy' it would be? There goes my 'Taylor guitar money'!

Our dishwasher works fine, you just smack her if she won't wash the dishes !!!!!

(that's a joke people) (drum roll and rim shot) lol

An hour installation = $100 around here, but the problem is we installed a laminate floor a few years ago, and just butted it up under the lip of the dishwasher. The only practical way to replace it is to pull the countertop up. We plan on replacing the countertop at some point, so maybe then we'll do the dishwasher (won't be my choice!).
With 2 of us in the house, it would take a week to fill the dishwasher - we'd run out of dishes to use before it got filled!

There are feet adjusters at the bottom of the dishwasher, screw them all the way up and remove the 2 screws attached to the underside of your counter top. After loosening and removing water supply and drain hoses. Use a wonder bar (flat pry bar) and gently raise the dishwasher above the laminate flooring and slide it out. This is very common Mike I do it all the time. Kitchen cabinets are not typically tall enough to run flooring under the dishwasher. I remove dishwashers with laminate & ceramic tile butted to them.

Jeff - QUIET! You want my wife to hear how 'easy' it would be? There goes my 'Taylor guitar money'!

Duh I should have seen that coming Mike LOL! Mums the word. Oh its too hard to change that unit out Mike (wink wink) I guess you'll have to wait til you and the Mrs. are ready for those new granite counter tops!

Our dishwasher works fine, you just smack her if she won't wash the dishes !!!!!

(that's a joke people) (drum roll and rim shot) lol

OK...Sorry, I haven't been around much lately, since moving back to Texas I have to drive 20 miles to town to get online. That happens once a week at best...

Amp...sounds like either a bad solder joint somewhere or possibly a bad resistor or capacitor. Not hard to check if you know how to be careful. The filter capacitors (the biggest ones) do hold a high voltage charge for several months after being shut down, and it is definitely deadly.

But...the "chopstick test" is not difficult, and not too dangerous. Pull out the chassis, connect the speaker. (NEVER turn on a tube amp without a speaker connected) Use a chopstick, pencil or wooden dowel at least a foot long to poke around inside the amp, turned on and volume fairly low. BE VERY CAREFUL. Keep your other hand in your back pocket. Anything that's loose will crackle when you push on it. That's how I found out I had a broken contact on a capacitor in my Fender Champ.

There is a reason for keeping your hand in your back pocket. That way it can't touch the chassis and cause any accidental shock. Anything that makes noise, check it out carefully.

This will usually locate any loose connections or bad solder joints. Anything loose will move and will make noise. I use a wooden dowel or a plastic screwdriver designed for TV adjustments. As long as it's at least a foot long and non conductive you should be OK. Do not touch the chassis or any metal parts while doing this. I've located several loose connections this way. I do a professional soldering job and I know how to drain the caps, (my super reverb actually does it automatically when I shut it down, I have to drain the Champ.) You can unplug the amp while still playing the guitar, and it will keep making a sound until the caps are drained. Not the best way, but it works. Unplug it, don't turn it off.

Guitar...Sounds odd, check for bad connections, still might have a dirty switch or pot, pickup switch could be going bad, or if you're really having a bad week it could be a bad pickup. Bad connections are more difficult to trace, but if you pull the back cover of the electronics and plug into an amp you should be able to wiggle the various wires and knobs and hear noises if anything is loose. This is safe, any voltage is very low and not hazardous.

There should also be a capacitor connected to the tone pot. This filters treble, it's usually the correct one but it can also be changed for a different value to get more or less treble. If it's going bad it could easily cause variances in volume. The only way I know of to effectively test it is to replace it with another of the same type and value. Capacitance must be the same, voltage can be higher but not lower. With a LP it should be a small green ceramic capacitor, probably in the 250-470 pF range. Voltage is far from critical, these can usually handle at least 450V, the guitar produces less than one volt. I don't remember, but I think it's in the millivolt range...(it's been 30 years since I put a meter on a guitar...) Any cap can handle it, make sure the capacitance is the same. Just get one with the same number printed on it. It's usually a little rectangular green job that looks like a pillow.

I just swapped out the one in my Harmony guitar, I've been meaning to for ages to give it more treble, it took a 333. the one i n it was marked 473. I can't remember the numbering scheme, I think that means 47 and 3 decimal places. So .047pF (pico Farads) The .033 filters out less treble, now it sounds a lot better. Easy to do, if you know how to solder.

Anyway you shouldn't need to change values, just a direct replacement, if the cap is bad, it can definitely cause volume changes. That was the main problem when I got my Super Reverb, bad cap caused the volume to drop about half after 15 minutes or so. It had other minor issues, but that was the biggie. When I replaced the last couple of caps, it started working right.

Paleo,

I like your chopsticks method. You and I must have gone to the same shade-tree academy for electronics and amp repair.

Regarding the filter caps in tube amps, you are correct. They store a high voltage charge like a battery even after the amp is unplugged. I find the easiest way to discharge them is to play my guitar through the amp and pull the plug from the wall while still strumming the guitar (with the amp on) until the sound fades completely. Then I unplug the amp and pull the chassis and connect a wire with an alligator clip on one end to the chassis and VERY CAREFULLY touch the other end of the wire to each terminal of the big electrolytic caps in the amp (the one's that look like big metal cans). I do this with one hand at my side. Putting one hand on the chassis and touching something with a charge would cause the voltage to discharge across your heart. Talk about riding the lightning. Instant defibulator.....not good at all and something to avoid at all costs. That discharges any remaining voltage. I even made a tool for doing this by mounting a 10W wire wound resistor inline in my discharge wire and covered the whole shebang with shrink tubing. I put alligator clips on both ends. The resistor helps knock down the spark if there is a little more than normal voltage in the cap I'm discharging. Typically the caps only have a few volts after using the pull the plug method so I've never really encountered sparks. Some dudes just do it with a long screw driver and let the sparks fly. I wouldn't dream of doing that. Then check the caps for voltage with a DMM before touching anything. If you are unsure of your ability to do this take it to a pro. Fear is good...it keeps you on this side of the grass. The problem you are describing is a minor, inexpensive repair and is a pretty common issue with board mounted input jacks.

+++++1111111 SPOT ON.

Just turn the amp off (or unplug it) but don't flip the standby switch before you do it. (if you don't have a standby switch, then you have to unplug it, don't turn it off) You don't have to play while it drains, but it lets you hear the sound fade out, and that is the caps discharging. Follow everything Lizzy says here and everything PaleoPete says and you will be fine. Your problem sounds like a very simple fix if it's just an input jack issue.

Sound Im not gonna argue with you cause Im not a techie on amps, but last night I was talking to a guy about amps, and he warned me to never get into the caps with out hooking a ground and draining them. Im not sure if just leaving it off standby will do it, and I wouldnt want someone on here to try that if they really dont know what they are doing. I dont know if the voltage could kill someone but from what he said it will hurt.

When in doubt on a tube amp best to take it to someone that knows them and understands them.

That's what we are describing John, grounding them to the chassis to drain the voltage from them. It's not something you want to try yourself if you are unsure with what you are doing. Amps are rather dangerous even unplugged because the caps are still charged up until you drain them. I've been recapping and biasing my own for about 10 years.

When in doubt on a tube amp best to take it to someone that knows them and understands them.

Those are words to live by, literally.

As described somewhere, you can unplug the amp while playing it, that will mostly drain the caps. Don't turn it off, just unplug it and keep playing till it's dead. Then a wire from caps to ground should drain the rest, but if not drained it is deadly.

Thought of something else, if the amp was originally cutting in and out, there is also a chance it could have fried a transformer. (costly, mine for my Peavey MX was $125, about 10 years ago.)

Also check the impedance of the amp. Tube amps do not like an impedance mismatch. you can run a 4 ohm amp on 8 ohm speakers, it will work it a little harder but not likely to do any damage. But running a 8 or 16 ohm amp on a 4 ohm speaker load is asking for trouble, that can also fry a transformer. Solid state amps are more forgiving of impedance mismatch but will do the same.

No load is what caused mine to blow, the tensioner on the speaker jack was weak and letting the jack jump in and out, so it was going very quickly from 4 ohms to no load. Sounded really nasty... Next day when I found out what was happening, and replaced the speaker jack, my normally super clean amp was sounding garbled. Fried a transformer...