About-Guitar-Amps

Great New Electronic Component Testing Book

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:04:00 +0000

I came across this great e-book from Jestine Yong who is a professional electronics engineer specializing in electronic repair. Jestine has written a whole book dedicated to testing electronic components and it's pretty good! Take a look at it on the About Guitar Amps website

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Hi all

Just wanted to wish all my blog visitors a very Happy New Year

Best Wishes
David
www.about-guitar-amps.com

About Guitar Amps Video Guides

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:20:00 +0000

New About Guitar Amps Video Guides. Check them out here

What do you need to know?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:32:00 +0000

Times have changed

There's a new Forum at About Guitar Amps. Come and see what it's all about and introduce yourself.

Need a schematic that's difficult to find? Post a message....

Had poor service from your music dealer? Post a message....

Had great service from your music dealer? Post a message....

Share your experience about the amps, effects and guitars you use - it will help us all out : ) Post a message....

Know of a good techie in your area?

Are you a good techie? Let us know what you do and where you are. There's becoming a great shortage of engineers who can fix gear these days. Post a message....

see you there

The new About Guitar Amps Forum

David

Latest AGA Newsletter is out now

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:35:00 +0000

Articles include...

> Overdrive your amplifier at your peril !
aaand How NOT to blow up your speakers

> More schematics

> On a personal note....

You can see it here

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:54:00 +0000

Best Wishes from

David - about-guitar-amps.com

Guitar Amp Schematics on DVD anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:38:00 +0000

Is there a need for Guitar Amp Schematics on DVD? For details go here. Please let me know....

Quick News

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:27:00 +0000

Well another two Newsletters have gone out with lots of useful information : ) The last one included an article by Brandon Drury from Recordingreview.com about recording rock and metal guitar - thanks for that Brandon.

You can see the About-Guitar-Amps Newsletter Archive here

The First About-Guitar-Amps Newsletter Has Been Sent!

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:09:00 +0000

Yes, the very first About-Guitar-Amps Newsletter has been sent!
If you haven't signed up for this free resource then you can at the About-Guitar-Amps website, or read it on line here.

Ebay and Buying Used Guitar Amps

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:08:00 +0000

Although there is an article on the about-guitar-amps.com website about buying used guitar amps, I would like to mention here again about dangers of buying on Ebay or buying before seeing /trying /inspecting.

I have nothing against Ebay and have purchased various goodies myself, including electronics, (which weren't without faults) but one fact remains constant....

We regularly get amplifiers in for repair, I mean most weeks, from people who have bought on Ebay and have real problems with their purchases.

The latest was a Fender Pro Reverb - This is the list of faults!

12AT7 smashed - No Reverb

EL34's fitted instead of 6L6's - Would have been ok if mods to electronics had been carried out.

Main earth to chassis resoldered very badly. I pulled the cable gently and it fell off! - Lethal.

Smoothing capacitors replaced with oversized cases so the 'can' wouldn't screw down to the chassis properly and bits of cardboard stuck to the inside of the 'can' to stop HT (400 volts plus!) from shorting to the chassis. - This fault with the combination of non existant earth - well....BIG bang plus one possible fried guitarist.

Various other dry joints/broken bits and pieces.

In short - a disaster waiting to happen.

The problem as I see it is that the seller may not know how bad or dangerous their guitar amp really is.
They may have paid loads of money getting the thing 'fixed' to sell, so they can advertise it as 'Fully Serviced' - who knows? And there the problem lies - Who Knows?

So beware - If you are buying without being able to check the amp out properly, make sure you get the seller to give you a trial period, or some sort of money back guarantee.
If they won't 'play ball' then take your money else where.

Be Safe - Take a look at the article Buying Used Guitar Amps on our website - It could save you a lot of time and trouble.

Have you bought Used Guitar Amps and gear? What experience have you had? Leave a comment...

Half Watt of Magic

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:07:00 +0000

Would you buy a guitar amp with a half watt output? You'd think twice right?
Check out the Zvex Nano - The smallest tube amp I have ever seen - but does it sound good or what!

The new Google videos at the bottom of the page are showing the NanoHead in action.

It really is worth watching/listening.....

(Hover your mouse over the images to find the two videos about the Nano)

Zvex

Used Guitar Amps - Don't buy a 'Bad Un'

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:19:00 +0000

The reason for this post is that today I received an email from a guy who was asking how he could make sure he bought a good used guitar amp and not one that had been hammered. He was looking at an expensive Marshall and I guess was going to part with some serious 'dosh' so who could blame him for being cautious.
There must be countless people out there looking at purchasing used/second hand guitar amps that aren't really sure how to make sure they don't buy a 'bad un'
Believe me, I've had many amps and pieces of kit through the workshop from people who bought from ebay and such like, they thought they were buying good stuff, but turned out not to be the case.
So how do you make sure you buy a reliable piece of kit? Well in all honesty you can never be 100% sure, but you can minimise the risk. I wrote an article about Buying Used Guitar Amps which is on the About-Guitar-Amps website, so if you're in the market for a used amplifier, take a look and save yourself some possible grief.

As usual your comments and experiences welcome.........

Marshall AVT 20

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:16:00 +0000

Just had a Marshall AVT20 in for repair. We've seen plenty of the larger AVT's but the 20 is not that common and I don't know why. It's a cracking little amp!

I think it may have been replaced by the AVT20X - don't know what the difference is apart from a prettier front panel : )

Anyway this would be a good new or second hand buy. The sound is warm, with good control over distortion on the overdrive channel and a nice, if somewhat understated clean channel. It has all you would need in a small guitar amp - A great sounding Spring Reverb (3 spring), EQ, Headphone socket, DI (simulated) socket, CD IN socket, and and external speaker socket.
The unit has a closed back, a 10 inch Celestion Speaker and a 12AX7 tube (valve) preamp which gives a warm cuddly sound but with punch.

As a side note, the AVT had come in for repair - it had a blown output chip, but this was easily fixed in half an hour or so, plus Marshall supplied the part for nothing - bless um!

If you're in the market for a this type of guitar amp, then this is the one - it's brill!

Welcome to The About-Guitar-Amps Blog

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:07:00 +0000

Welcome all - Please post your comments and experiences......

Hope the stuff here helps you with your Guitar Amp needs......