Amp Maintenance Time
As the owner of a tube amp, it’s pretty much my expectation that I’ll occasionally need to do some maintenance to keep it happily purring. Last night I noticed that my clean headroom seems to be fading and that the amp sounds a little anemic. My assumption is that I need to get new tubes, which is no big deal. But I’m also aware that all amps have idiosyncracies based on the specific model, and these usually require some specialized knowledge for troubleshooting. My amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and has some well-documented areas where things need to be tightened up or re-soldered. I know it’s strongly recommended to re-solder the connections on the tube sockets and on the op-amp switching circuit on the preamp board. I had the latter work performed earlier this year, but I am quite certain the tube sockets have never been inspected. At a Dudley Manlove Quartet show this summer my amp fell on its back a few times (!) while powered up and hot (!) on a very hot summer day (!) on a stage that was bouncing up and down quite a bit (!). Good heavens. I can’t believe my amp and its tubes survived that crazy ordeal and the fact that it needs a little TLC hardly surprises me. At any rate, I’ve been wanting to get it to the shop for a few months and I finally have a window of time when I can get it looked at. Hopefully when I get it back it’ll be back to the beautiful tone machine that I know and love.