kudyba Posted August 23, 2001 Share Posted August 23, 2001 A couple of weeks back I was doing an outdoor gig and during the soundcheck, all of a sudden, my Marshall just stops working. The power light was still on so I knew it wasn't the fuses. The dang thing just cut out. Fortunately, the guys in the band had a back up Marshall a couple of miles away from the park we were playing so they were able to save the day. So I bring the head in to an authorized Marshall repair guy that I used a couple of years back (who charged me $100 to change the tubes and do the usual maintenance--bias, tighten tube sockets, clean pots, etc.). Well lo and behold he says a bunch of resistors and capacitors were blown in the "high voltage" area of the head. The receipt indicated he spent 4 hours to repair those as well as the other regular maintenance (mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph). He says that there's really nothing I could've done to prevent this and he's seen it happen frequently. And of course he said that the head should be looked at once a year and depending on how much you play it (I probably use it for 2-3, maybe 5 tops gigs a month--in the rehearsal studio we play in they have their own amps), the tubes should be changed yearly as well. Is he full of it? He didn't change my tubes (and it's been 2 years) but he did say from what he could see, I could probably get another 6-12 months out of them, based on my usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted August 23, 2001 Share Posted August 23, 2001 I have a little Marshall 4210 (I think...the 50w tube combo with 1x12). I've had it for years. I've only changed the tubes in it once. Hmmm...to me...if you took the thing in not working, and it came back within a reasonable amount of time working, it was money well spent. Heck, it coulda been 600 bucks like everytime I end up taking a car into the shop. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudyba Posted August 23, 2001 Author Share Posted August 23, 2001 I brought it in on a Saturday and picked it up the next Saturday...I could've picked it up on Thursday but he closes at 5:00 on weekdays... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted August 23, 2001 Share Posted August 23, 2001 Geez Rob... Our Marshall guy here in KC is a really nice guy, does good work, er, but, er, he kinda takes WAY too long to get stuff done. I mean, WAAAAYYY too long. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPetrarca Posted August 23, 2001 Share Posted August 23, 2001 He's right about not being able to prevent it but, I'm VERY skeptical about the projected life thing though. Generally, tubes (with the possible exception of power tubes) are like fuses and light bulbs, they either work or they don't. There's no such thing as a fuse or light bulb that's beginning to wear out. The $100 repair bill doesn't seem too out of line though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj3 Posted August 23, 2001 Share Posted August 23, 2001 I used to play a 50 watt head (way back when...) and the dang thing would blow the output transformer every couple of years or so. It was a small epidemic at the time if I recall. How old is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudyba Posted August 23, 2001 Author Share Posted August 23, 2001 I bought it around 1990... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin O Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 $100 = bag of shells when it comes to amp repair. One place I know charges $75 minimum. Someone I know got charged about that for a bass setup! Can you believe that! I dont even think that the frets were shaved or anything like that - just strings & setup. So dont 'fret' about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudyba Posted August 24, 2001 Author Share Posted August 24, 2001 Yeah here in NYC there are a few cats that charge that or more for "simple" guitar set ups... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 Rob, You should contact Marshall's service department about the problem and see what they have to say. Maybe there is something about the circuit in that particular model that is known to be problematic. You never know.... Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 Originally posted by kudyba: Well lo and behold he says a bunch of resistors and capacitors were blown in the "high voltage" area of the head. . Hmm. I would think to fry things as described it would have had to let A/C through, which is what the fuses are for. I've seen heads fried by having a transformer blow; the juice has to go somewhere... Grid resistors fry from a tube freaking out. If it just stopped working - sounds like a spontaneous component failure, unless it had been on and working hard in direct sunlight. If a bunch of stuff was fried - my intuition would say it would have made a wonderful "shERBARRRRRRP!!!!" before it let go, it wouldn't have just stopped. "High voltage area"; hmm. Not the tone controls, where capacitors should be found... grid power coming off the rectifier section would zap the resistors on the tubes, smoke would have come out the back and you would have smelled it; it also would have made a "bahOOOOOOMP!" sound. Beyond the tubes - I dunno, that's high voltage right? Goes to the transformer: if a short happened there I suppose you would get things fried back in the circuit, but I don't see that happening - and not without a tell tale cool sound. Marshalls generally make cool sounds before they blow up, unless it's the HT fuse going (which is grid resistor fail usually I've seen). I haven't seen anything get fried without an interesting sound accompanying it, and not without some sort of warning ("man, it was going "brrrrrnnnnnn" then it went "POP!!!!"). But I'm just a heathen. Anderton should know.... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott from MA Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 Originally posted by Chip McDonald: it would have made a wonderful "shERBARRRRRRP!!!!" it also would have made a "bahOOOOOOMP!" sound. Aren't those typical sounds for a Marshall? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif (sorry... couldn't resist) Scott (just another cantankerous bastard) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrmac Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 $100 is the typical price for a 1 hour repair job in most places. I think you got a decent deal but I wonder about the 4 hours to fix it. If it was a typical problem it would take minutes to diagnose and soldering some resistors and caps in in not a time consuming procedure. You can usually tell if the smaller preamp tubes are going bad by tapping on them. They become microphonic as they degrade. Most power tubes have a heat sensitive paint for the label. When the writing turns brown it is time to consider new tubes. It is good to keep the output tubes in good condition. If a tube gets too old it can develop a short and this will usually neccessitate a repair. By the way the 2550 is a really nice amp.That's the Silver Jubilee model isn't it? If so I've used one a bunch of times and it was one of the best models I ever tried. ------------------Mac BowneG-Clef Acoustics Ltd.Osaka, JapanMy Music: www.javamusic.com/freedomland This message has been edited by gtrmac@hotmail.com on 08-24-2001 at 05:06 AM Mac Bowne G-Clef Acoustics Ltd. Osaka, Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trick fall Posted August 25, 2001 Share Posted August 25, 2001 Took me a month to get my Marshall back and it cost 180.00 bucks so I don't think your deal was too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudyba Posted August 25, 2001 Author Share Posted August 25, 2001 Why yes I have the Silver Jubilee 2550 and it does rock. Doesn't need to be cranked up either. Half way decent clean tones too--especially with my early 80's LP. I'm looking at the invoice and here's what the chicken scratch appears to say: Locate & repair failed high voltage circuitry. Clean & tighten tube sockets. Clean/lube controls. Set bias. Repair (something that looks like "c/s") connection. Plus some other illegible stuff that looks like "Burn in 4 hours." $106.75 He looked at the power tubes and said that the paint still looked OK. So maybe it didn't actually take him 4 hours but that's what I misread...he wasn't there when I picked it up. Guess I didn't get hosed on this one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panhead7seconds.com Posted August 25, 2001 Share Posted August 25, 2001 Since I am currently in a similar quandry (rebuilding an old Ampeg), I can tell you for a fact that every week it gets harder to find high voltage caps (perhaps the "c/s" reference)for guitar amps. I was just today retrofitting the filter caps, took me a few days just to find the damn things. I haven't dug into a Marshall, but over ten years use on your high voltage caps sounds fair, so does a hundred bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted August 25, 2001 Share Posted August 25, 2001 Originally posted by panhead@7seconds.com: I was just today retrofitting the filter caps, took me a few days just to find the damn things. I haven't dug into a Marshall, but over ten years use on your high voltage caps sounds fair, so does a hundred bucks. Check out Mojo parts... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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