Need Repair Info and the Wall Of Orange...

[CD9266]

So I stopped in at York Music Corp again because I wanted to check out if they had a repair shop as well. This is what I find upon walking into the doors.




It's a wall of Orange (and some white with Orange written on it. )... I believe that have every possible Orange amp in production save for the RV50 MKII and the DT. Still all run at list price and still impossible to test them at any real volume above say 1/20th on the volume knob...

So anyways, I stopped in to see if they had a repair shop as well. Turns out they do. Now I'm pretty loyal to the folks who do good work for me but lately I have not been able to get ahold of Full Custom Music Repair in Lemoyne, PA and I hope they aren't shutting down because Kevin does phenomenal guitar work and a Floyd Rose is out of my league right now and that's something I'd like to get setup sometime. Plus I'd like my Les Paul to play like it was made by Jesus again...

Back on track, they have a bench rate of about $60/hour for tube amps. I'm wondering if anyone here has used their services before or if anyone knows if they are an authorized Orange repair shop?

[Neiloler]

I'd give Orange themselves a call (or e-mail Alex at the US Orange headquarters) to check on dealership status.

As far as $60 an hour for bench work, well, that doesn't sound bad, IF it's a problem you've not been able to address yourself (test fuses with a multimeter [$30-$40 for a multimeter], change out tubes, etc).

I'd just hate to hear it was a simple $0.50 fuse and you had to pay $60.50 for it.

[Alan The Tank Engine]

i can only wish to experience such a beautiful sight...

[CD9266]

Neil you are right... however I don't know of any way to fix the problem. I don't normally open up amps, computers, electronics, etc. That's why I'm having this problem in the first place is because I took that chance on putting the old preamp tubes back in. Then after I had the problem I tried putting all of my new Tung-Sol 12AX7s back in and the problem still persist.

The problem is when I crank the amp I get incredibly annoying hum and squeal. Among other noises. If I pat the top of the amp when it's on and not in stand-by I get what my drummer describes as a hammer hitting a chisel except it has this hollow reverbish sound behind it. Like I said, I need a repair shop to take care of this.


I know the guys at Full Custom do a great job and I did get a retube for half the price of the bench rate (64.something) because my amp was so well taken care of and Tim didn't need to fix anything else in it, I just screwed up and took a chance with preamp tubes I dreaded in the end. I like the Tung-Sol in the clean slot though, and as I've said before I did learn how to get my RV50 apart should I ever need to again. I just can't get a hold of the guys up at Full Custom right now. I should give them a call again and see if I can get a hold of them. Either that or just drive up but that's a 45 minute drive and my bills and expenses aren't getting any easier these days (nobody's are).

@ Alan - Feel free to drive on down to York, PA but beware, this is about the only good sight you'll find here. York Music Corp is owned by the same guy that owns Jim's Music/Guitars (something like that) in Baltimore as far as I know and they keep themselves WELL stocked in Orange amps. This is only half of the store though. They have a lot of used gear on the other side and a wall of guitars.



EDIT - I just talked to Tim and from what I described (hammer on chisel part) he said it sounds like it could be a preamp tube problem (go figure). Since they've always given me the best of service I'll give them a shot again and see if we can get the problem fixed. Once he does fix the amp I'm not touching the insides of it again...

[flea]

The chisel sound to me sounds like a tube, probably a pre-amp tube. I wouldn't fret that much about it if it fixes it, it's a simple and cheap fix, and nothing you could've done would've saved it. Maybe you just got a bad tube.

[Secondhand Dan]

What is the name of this shop? I need to go there!

[Y0UNGBL00D]

I hear symptoms of a microphonic preamp tube. Turbot on and tap each tube wit a pencil. The one that makes the noise through the speakers is your culprit.

[CD9266]

York Music Corp in York, PA. (as I stated, there's nothing else here so don't bargain for a good vacation...)

That's also what Tim thought about the RV50 weird sound. However, the excess hum I get might not be the tubes because when I put the brand new Tung-Sols back in (after trying them they worked perfectly find before I took the amp apart) it still made this horrible hum when I turn the guitars volume all the way off and then turn up the volume knobs on the amp with the power switch at "On".

Either way, I once he diagnoses and fixes the problem and my amp works the way it is supposed to, I'm not touching it again...

[flea]

What I was getting at was that I don't see any way just changing the tubes would cause that problem, unless you put a power tube in that wasn't designed for it. Tube amps aren't really as fragile as some people think. When I got my first tube amp, I thought it was pretty delicate. It's not that they're delicate as much as they require more maintenance than a SS amp. I said all that to say don't be afraid to change the tubes (the pre-amps at least).

[CD9266]

Yeah, but Flea that's the problem. That's what I did in the first place that got me into this predicament. I changed the new Tung-Sol preamp tubes out for the stock Sino tubes. That's when I started having all sorts of problems with it. Then any cleaning, air dusting of the pots, and more tube swapping back to the Tung-Sol's just didn't do any good. So it's out of my hands as I don't have someone around town to just show me "this is how you fix it" after I've given it my try. I don't know enough about these amps to do any other work on them. It's also been advised by Billy and several other folks here to not even bother with the board or anything inside the chassis or power tubes as they need biasing.

So hopefully today I'll make the trip up to the shop and take in a note of all the problems I've had and my normal test settings so that Tim can take a look at it and I won't see my amp for a few weeks.

[Y0UNGBL00D]

Biasing is easy if you have the right tools. I use the Weber socket probe. Get the angled one though so you don't have to remove the chassis. It just plugs into the tube socket, tube plugs into it, and it sends readings to your multimeter. Then you look up where the readings should be (ballpark) and adjust the trim pot through the little hole to taste.

But yeah, other than that, these oranges aren't fender champs. You can't just go ripping the boards out.

[CD9266]

Well earlier today I dropped my amp off at Full Custom Music Repair and hopefully I'll hear good news next week about it.