I offer repair services on most audio and musical equipment amplifiers.
Services offered:
I just love working on Guitar amplifiers, the older the better. I have worked on all types over the years. There is only one amplifier, that I accepted for repair, that I can remember that I could not fix. It was a Peavey head that was burnt to a crisp on the main circuit board. Although I was a solid state designer by trade before retirement, I prefer the Vacuum Tube amps. I still love seeing the tubes light up. I respect the designers of this older equipment. They did the designs by paper graphing and designing to slide rule accuracy. Yet they achieved amazing sound from these components. I am just old enough to have worked with some great Vacuum Tube designers in the day.
My ability to repair amplifiers and other musical equipment is dependent on my ability to obtain service information such as schematics. With vintage equipment, this is usually not an issue. Such schematics are available on the Internet through free and paid sites and I have an extensive library of schematics. The more modern a piece of equipment is, the less likely I will be able to obtain a schematic. I do, however have a good working relationship with Peavey, Carvin and Macke for example and can easily obtain the schematics and service information from the factory for these brands. Marshall changed their policy in early 2014 and will no longer supply me with service information as did Fender. So my ability to repair newer Marshall and Fender equipment (less than 5 years old) has been restricted. I will have to take it on a case by case basis with these brands. Another exception is Yahama. I will not work on Yahama as they are not supportive of independent repair facilities and do not make the service information and parts available. Also I will not service Line-6 products. Their internal workings are not repairable and no schematics or repair parts are available. Please do not buy Line-6 products. In my opinion, they are junk. As a rule, cheap department store solid state amplifiers (from Wal Mart for example) are not serviceable because the schematics are not available and the parts are all sourced in the country of origin and are not available.
I stock an extensive parts inventory for vintage amplifiers from Fender, Marshall and Peavey. Modern solid state amplifiers use many brand specific parts that are not available on the open market. Parts for Fender, Marshall, Peavey and Macke for example are obtainable. Other brands, not so much. I recently was asked to repair a recording studio preamplifier. I called the company in California and eventually talked to a repair person who told me that the preamp was made in England and that he did not have a schematic. He said he returned every unit to England for repair. He kept an inventory of replacement units and merely swapped out a customers preamp for a replacement during the warranty. After that, it took 6 months for the round trip. I dclined to attempt a repair on this item. Of the respected US brands, Peavey stands out as having the best support of any brand.
Cost:
I charge $50 an hour plus parts for repair services with a one hour minimum charge. Often the initial one hour is all that is required. If I accept an item for repair and then decide that I do not want to proceed with the repair, for whatever reason, then there will be no charge. If after diagnosing a customer's repair issue, the customer decides that he or she does not want to proceed with the repair, then all charges incurred to date are due and payable. I will contact a customer if the charges become more than anticipated and seek approval before proceeding. If an amplifier is left with me for more than 90 days, I will dispose of it including selling it to recover any repair charges that are outstanding.
Bring me your amp and I'll treat it with respect and repair it right.