AITA? Vox AC30 HW | Let's Play "Shoot the Messenger"

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[@Rico_G]

Really enjoying the "Lyle is a Jerk" series.

[@mattjohnson6916]

I think this is less of a "Lyle is Being a Jerk" series than "Lyle is Being Honest and Defending the Righteousness of the Profession". I always appreciate your candor at pointing out things. I've been building amps for over a decade now, but I feel like I've learned more from watching your videos and FB page during the past three years than from any other source!

[@woolyfuzzy]

“The world is full of dusting supplies” - a lol moment for me. 😂 thank you for that.

[@jbolt247]

The Count strikes again... I really enjoy these videos and it's not necessarily because I enjoy the criticizing the work of others. It's because I'm hobbyist trying to maintain my own gear as best I can. So the "what not to do" videos have become some of my favorites.

[@rickycompton2610]

The more of your videos I watch Lyle the more I admire your clean and attention to detail work that you do you really know your stuff.

[@KKMcK1]

From one great big jerk to another: Shine on you crazy diamond! Revel in your time! It seems to me that if anyone is going to send you their amp(s) to work on, the only thing they should say to you is, "Have at it Lyle! No expenses spared! Carte Blanche! Make it perfect! Show 'em how it's done!"

[@russhay422]

I would love to do just that. There’s several awesome amps out there that if I could afford I’d love to send down there just to see the circuit analysis.

[@mkii1964]

I think you are a perfectionist, you set a very high standard for yourself and I applaud that Sir!! 👏🏼

[@richclayton5785]

OMG I would be so p____d if some one did this to my amp! You aren’t the jerk in this scenario!

[@jfmax2000]

Lyle.. In My View What Your Pointing Out is What Any Good (And Honest) Service Tech Would Find and Agree With... So You Just Keep Doing Your Top Notch Amp Servicing...You Sir are The Man 😎👊💯💯

[@warmothgmc]

I’ve had good and bad experiences with local techs in my area (Portland, OR). Early on, when I originally purchased a used ‘69 Marshall JMP50 Plexi 1987 head, I had nothing but excuses and bad luck from a tech I took it to originally to look it over. Fortunately, I think I’ve found a good one now…Trevor at Arcane amps in Portland. He serviced and restored my ‘83 Marshall JCM 800 4010; and it sounds devine. He also does his own builds.

[@HiHello-ku1fl]

I love Germino amps. Very nice work.

[@kendipietro6855]

Honestly, you're not being a jerk. In these videos, I see a mix of professional opinions and direct calling out of bad practices such as the mounting of the grid stoppers for the output tubes being on the board instead of the tube sockets. As far as your opinions go, that's something which others may challenge and defend their views on that topic. But no one who calls themselves a professional is going to defend mounting the grid stoppers on the board and I'm looking at you Vox. Many of us are dependent on documentation that is either unreadable or in some cases just wrong. With that in mind, maybe it's time for a repository tobe created where the corrected schematics and layouts can be found or, failing that, any resource where safety code and accepted mods could be found.

[@cdr-sailor]

Lyle, don't apologize; you're sharing knowledge gained from your experience. Rework on a high-end hand-wired amp should not be lazy or sloppy.

[@kickcanlurky7147]

If a jobs worth doing, its worth doing right, not picky at all, great videos and mods.

[@kenwhelan3003]

Your straight forward honestly is frightening...

[@faultlessguitarsandamps1116]

You're not being a jerk .That's all fair comments made .

[@jimmyjoefine]

I thought I was the only one who used a nut can to prop up an amp chassis, but it works great, about the same height as many power transformers.

[@Curtislow2]

Ah, the pursuit of perfection.

[@TubeGuy1975]

Appreciate this video as all of your videos. Will be very interesting to see if any of the 60th Anniversary AC30 amps ever come to your shop for service. These amps were made on a highly limited run over in the UK. UK handwired with Sowter transformers and Celestion even produced a special run of their Silver Bell Alnico speakers for the amp. Pretty cool!!

[@PsionicAudio]

Supposed to have one coming in soon.

[@SkyscraperGuitars]

LOL! I have a feeling that at your level of circuit understanding, there are few folks who are going to nail the "perfect circuit." I'm a bit surprised though, at the lack of mechanical attention to detail... Maybe it's job security for some techs? Just enough movement to keep the amps coming back every year or two. I grew up doing electrical work. with my dad. Our circuits were attached to buildings and didn't get tossed into the backs of trucks/vans, but we approached the mechanical connections and attachments with incredible attention. If an electrical branch circuit is going to fail, it's almost always a mechanical failure. We did everything in our power to prevent that. When correcting someone else's work, you could almost predict where the issues were just by the appearance of the wiring.

[@garycrant4511]

Plastic jack socket dust caps... A bag of 50 is fairly cheap, and the bright red or yellow caps are easier to find when dropped on the floor.

[@spottedtauren]

The jerk store called… (lol). That was an entertaining video. You have an impressive amount of esoteric knowledge.

[@chrisdee5032]

I put 1k5 resistors on the screens of my custom classics. Sounds absolutely fine to me although I'm wondering if going lower might yield better results.

[@gcvrsa]

If that is in fact a 2003 Vox AC30HW, and not one of the later models that is frequently misidentified as a "Vox AC30HW", anyone who modifies one of those needs to have their soldering iron taken away from them. Very few of these amps exist, and they are among the finest amps ever made.

[@danielsaturnino5715]

No one will learn if you dont point errors out. Thumbs up from me.

[@aaronlsuton]

Love you work and personality Lyle! Do you recommend NP0 ceramic caps? I noticed you said Vishay and I’m sure they make several different series but just curious about the NP0

[@BenState]

A cover is essential for nice amps IMHO

[@97guitarzan]

You're no jerk...I respect your attitude...do it right! I have a good amp tech here in Montreal, but he refuses to do any of the mods you recommend on my Blues Jr 3. It's like crap amp and don't bother kinda thing. He will help me with my Maz 18 though.

[@alasdairmunro1953]

Carry on, the guy who did the work didn’t take care, and leave the amp as if it hadn’t been molested. Fair play to you for calling them out.

[@MR_Cellarpop]

Hello! I have a VOX AC30 HW60 Anniversary made in England, it is build from a 1964 modell. I think it have a high self hum/noise, more then any other VOX AC30 I had. The tubes in it is good, do you have any clue what the problem can be?. The amp sounds very good but I want to fix the hum problem. Best/Mathias

[@Rotary_Phone]

If im not mistaken, I believe I read these Vox HW amps are made overseas. Is this a fact? The jokers at HQ, probably decided to use the cheap pots to cut down the costs further. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's the way they do. Also speaking of ceramic caps... I saw a YT video years ago where a guy tested many types of caps for the tone control in a guitar. The old circle D ceramic, and Sprague black beauty sounded the best to my ear. I read one time they recommend the silver mica caps for the tone stack in an amp.

[@jasonstone1046]

Another great vid, so informative. Thank you \o/

[@robertritchie2860]

Fair play to everything you have found to be lacking or not up to scratch. Despite your findings the amp has been in operation for 10 years now... Is that not an acceptable life cycle before something fails? Had the customer not brought in the amp to be checked over it may have worked for another 5 years. Who knows? I am no expert but can see that it seems to have lasted some considerable time already. What would you see as an acceptable lifespan? I suppose the whole amp could have been built and designed to "never" fail (which is impossible), however, if you did build and design it that manner the amp may be prohibitly expensive... And no one would buy it. It's a matter of finding that sweet spot🙂

[@cap217cap217]

You used to use to put a 330k resistor on the last 2 filter caps, now there are ceramic caps. Why the change and what value are the caps? I have an old mod of yours. Different more still filtering too.

[@sloppy_hand]

hey buddy, do you think that el84's screen resistors should also be in the 470r - 1k range for AC15s or Marshall 18w too?

[@brucetaylor1753]

From one big jerk to another. Keep up the great work.

[@aquilarossa5191]

Ignore folks getting on your case i guess. I worked at sea for most of the '90s and '00s, so I was late to the whole forums and comments thing. I did not get it at first. People behaved in a way people usually do not in person. I used to lose it and challenge people to meet me outside my Auckland apartment building and say it to my face and I meant it too. Then I'd be puzzled why it was me getting banned and not the rude or cheeky people lol. Now it is water off a duck's back. The only thing that still bothers me is seeing old friends or family fall for propaganda or the conspiracy stuff. Hive mind trend thinking bothers me too.

[@davidreynolds6718]

You mention Brian May's amps use 270, the custom series uses 470, you prefer 1K. Is there a sonic trade-off? Is this a situation where if you are Brian May and you have a team of techs, then the equation leans more towards optimized tone than tube preservation and so 270 works for him?

[@PsionicAudio]

He has a stash of very rugged British NOS tubes, fuses on the tubes, spare amps, and a tech on the road. He also goes through expensive alnico speakers a lot. For the rest of us… and it doesn’t negatively impact tone.

[@davidreynolds6718]

@@PsionicAudio Thanks. I am not trying to blow speakers, but like many others, I AM trying to get Brian May's tone. haha.

[@nickbenjamin6527]

I'm sure you're your own harshest critic...that's what makes you good at what you do. Some people confuse criticism with rudeness: we'd still be living in caves if people didn't say 'no, not like that, like this...' when they see a problem being created down the line.

[@skeeterbuck1355]

Hey Lyle I have an Aiken Tomcat. Any experience working on one? I always thought it was well built. Just remember, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time". Keep calling out the shoddy work. That's the only way we can learn and improve.

[@PsionicAudio]

I have not, but Aiken is one of the gold standards from what I've seen.

[@skeeterbuck1355]

@@PsionicAudio Maybe after I send you my Vox clone I can send the Aiken for a checkup.

[@bones11252]

I own a Tomcat, work of art

[@markarita3]

D5, hot sauce and Titebond...what's going on over there?!

[@PsionicAudio]

Living the dream, man.

[@markarita3]

@@PsionicAudio lol

[@lennyverralis]

this is the hw2 right ? the hw first one has a ef86 which i desperatly want.. anyone got one in london ?

[@jeffm8122]

Hey Lyle, I know you won't put the grid stoppers where your finger landed, won't do much good there. I guess the unused pin 1 threw you off. No criticism, I'm sure you can count. Great series, thanks.

[@PsionicAudio]

On playback I realized it looks odd. I was pointing at pin 2 but my finger rested on 3.

[@sarcophagist4097]

Is this amp grid or cathode biased? In the latter case, could it be that the cathode bypass capacitor for the output tubes is underrated? Can't see it very well, but it looks like it's rated for only 25v.

[@PsionicAudio]

Cathode. The stock cap isn't underrated. Cathode voltage is around 10-12V.

[@sarcophagist4097]

@@PsionicAudio Didn't know cathode voltages were this low in AC30s. (Low compared to Champs and many Tweed era Fender amps). Thank you for clarifying this.

[@orionwarren4244]

While I don't work on amps, I do look at YT videos to research construction techniques of others in my field - plumber/handyman. I will watch lots of different people doing the same job and then emulate the person I feel does the best job. Result? I end up doing 'the best job' and my customers are none the wiser and receive the benefit of 'someone else's expertise'. So don't beat yourself up, Lyle. I can tell you're at the 'top of your game' and if I WAS an amp tech, guess who I'd be copying? That being said, Colleen Fazio [Fazio Electric] is much nicer to watch but...LoL

[@IL2TXGunslinger]

Colleen rocks :)

[@paulbroughton-alleyne9271]

My amp would be on its way to you if that did not involve a transatlantic crossing.

[@MuscleDad420]

Sozo caps. Hmmm, was this another tech whose name rhymes with Ron?

[@StijnAerts]

sloppy yes, but I see 1.5k. And which of these pots is going to take more than 1/4W?

[@PsionicAudio]

I'm r/g colorblind so I don't look at the stripes much. They all measure 1.6K. Either way,, weird that they were replaced and they are sloppy and not where they are doing much good. The self noise of resistors (including pots) decreases as the wattage increases. And the taper/feel of a 1/2W 24mm pot is better.

[@fletches4084]

Someone send Lyle a HiWatt.....

[@vanguard9067]

Lyle is not a great big jerk.