Ampeg VL-1002 Strip & Rebuild - Part 1

[@Lavabug]

This was my second tube amp and the first I ever had the courage of working on. Lee's servicing video on it taught me the ropes. Then I added some "soldano" mods and a resonance control on the NFB that I wired up wrong... I pity the future techs that have to see my abomination and I promise to never do it again.

[@AlexKenis]

Oh boy, I had one of these in the 90s. It sounded great, but the wiring harnesses and connectors would just go bad one by one. I played whack a mole with them one at a time as they went bad for a few years before just replacing all the remaining wiring and selling the thing after some header pins overheated and scorched the board. That hotrod preamp tube is likely original. I think it shipped with rebranded Siemens el34 and 12ax7

[@kbirridia]

"...teaching you what to keep an eye out for in your own amps if you've had them serviced." This, on a 1960 Fender Super, is why I started digging in to "refix" that amp and started hobby-fixing/-building. Please /do/ continue to be a fault finder; folks who care about details thank you. :-) Even if you /are/ a [EOF]

[@subversivecraft]

I repaired a couple of these on my channel. There's a few bullet proof mods to keep the boards from charring. Little late in this scenario. You can get the knobs still. The mid selector is very hard to turn and usually cracks the knobs. If you reinforce the non D shaft bits of the knob by filling them with epoxy it won't happen. The impedance switches cause a ton of problems. Best to replace pre-emptively as the issues are intermittent when failing.

[@KamilT138]

yeah, those impedance switches are often failing, burned trace on PCB from plate to grid could be caused by flyback voltage. It looks like short between plate and grid trace around 26:46. Thanks for tip with freq knob, gotta do it with mine

[@zulufrog]

I got a big smile from the “..if indeed that is your real name.” Big thumbs up on the Colonel Bat Guano reference.

[@vintagetubeamplifiers]

The serial number shows it's the 6th amp made in May 1992 for the UK market. L12 denotes 100 watt, 2 channel. I have the 50 watt VL-502 and really look forward to this. I have the service video for these amps on my google drive if anyone needs a link.

[@entertainment911717]

Just got one of these and could use the video if you dont mind. Thanks.

[@scottwilcox6313]

Can't wait to see this work.

[@Satchmoeddie]

I have a 50 watt Saint Louis Mucous era Ampeg in the queue. I am more than content to fix the one I have. My new soldering set up started out with stuff from Offer Up & Market Place so I am going with bits of everything. Pace, Hakko, Metcal, Weller, American Beauty and my 1950s 220 watt Sound Design iron. Those tweezer handpieces are awesome. I just bought some plugs for those headers. I have some silicon, Teflon and fiberglass hose that fits over the barrel of most soldering pens. I also have a kit that I can use to put pads and traces back on boards, but it's stupid expensive to buy and the depopulation, super cleaning, bonding & repopulation labor is a financial killer too.

[@Satchmoeddie]

I probably have 3 or 4 of those PCB trace & pad repair kits from eras as far back as the mid 1980s. Bu Ku Bucks Incorporated will happily pay me to repair obsolete IO boards for their old PLC systems.

[@ChrisG4646]

I have one of these that I replaced the filament wires on and luckily it was otherwise not a fraction of fucked up as this one was. It will be cool to see the power tubes hardwired.

[@shane011471]

Just wanted to say that I am glad you are back, and I am sorry what happened. I enjoy watching and learning from a person that takes pride in their work (getting hard to find in today's world.) I think you made a comment about you wish that you would get to work on all those old Fender amps that Lyle seems to get all the time. I mean NO disrespect at all as I also enjoy his channel very much, but it has become (just for myself) less interesting when he stopped taking work from the music store that he had an agreement with at one time. Sure, all those Fender amps are wonderful, but it is not what 95 percent of musicians today are using because they are for the most part broke as shit. I enjoy the real-world diversity and honesty from this channel, and it is much appreciated.

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

Thank you, mate! I think it's good to have a wide range of devices, too. It keeps me agile and keeps me thinking as well as being relevant to the majority of the gear in the wild.

[@metalhead573]

Fantastic observation about PCB based stuff now. It's not that the format is bad, the companies made it bad to save on costs and make more money. High quality parts are high quality parts. Format is almost a matter of taste at this point. Point-to-point with a quality turret board is what I prefer, but that's just because I don't like working with PCBs.

[@TeleCustom72]

I feel your pain with this amp mate - I repaired one MANY moons ago. It wasn't ever a great sounding amp as I recall. Good call on hardwiring the octal bases - I did the same thing on a Mesa single Recto head one time where the PCB was charred beyond repair.

[@KamilT138]

Awesome heads, I like to ground output tube cathodes directly to power supply board (there's additional grounding spade terminal) cause those socket to chassis connections are often causing problems =D Some people had volume drops due to cold solder on screen resistors (or intermittent screen resistors if that 's possible =D ) or failing impedance switch

[@SirLoinMagroin]

Quite an amp.

[@xsonicassassinx]

being a chronic problem solver is also being a chronic problem identifier. if folks mistake that for being negative and miserable, fuck 'em. sticking high voltage connections to terminals without the foresight of at least a cheeky bit of heatshrink is bananas.

[@johnwilliamson467]

1980 intel chip WOW ! 8bit on a good day. 300 is a very fair price.

[@victorbeebe8372]

Mahalo Brad!

[@coalfacechris1336]

Feel bad for Lee Jackson that his name ended up on these, feel bad for you mate having to try and fix it.

[@siriusamplification]

This looks like a shitshow! Love the commentary though, it's the best part of the videos for me

[@PhuketMyMac]

What a mess it was!

[@pellelov5081]

Looks to me like the power tubes spacing is to small, spacing on 6550 and EL34 should be 64 mm

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

You should see the majority of 300W tube bass amps, then. Sometimes the tubes are touching! Not good at all.

[@JEmilioJNava]

"Hot Strains" 😂

[@thatampguy]

Glutton for punishment

[@bambule5268]

As you were panning on the valve board i started getting more and more annoyed by the crappy work. Im so surprised you were not going full Australian on the guy that butchered it. But dont worry , i m still cursing for you.