How to repair rebuild Fender 5F1 Champ tube guitar amp kit basic troubleshooting

This kit amp arrived D-lab in need of repair to operation. A recent kit build with problems needing attention. So, I thought what a great opportunity for EMI to learn the ropes. Tried my best to keep her attention. As you can see, I was not so successful. However, I do believe she caught on to a few of the basic concepts. This is a Mojo kit. A pretty nice clone of the original. Most components are top quality. We had fun fixing + presenting this video.

[@WayneKnight_Rider]

super impressed with her analysis and interest in these topics! you lucked with this grandkid Terry!

[@jcampbell2481]

I really enjoy these videos. Especially if Emi is featured. Fantastic grandpa/grand daughter relationship. This is so much better than having her playing video games.

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes Sir, She really adds a special element to the videos. I am lucky to have her in the shop + Family

[@backspin6698]

So nice to watch. Hope Emi keeps the interest for electronics and amps.

[@bryanlemeilleurtexas]

Grandparent time is vital to a grounded and stable society. Thank you for teaching if not a skill, and appreciation for the trade of electronic repair, to the next generation.

[@simonkormendy849]

Looks like you've got yourself a new workshop supervisor.

[@alphabeets]

Kudos to Emi for hanging in there. She’s seems like a great young lady. You never know what will happen in future years.

[@hamradioguy1359]

She is such a good little troubleshooter. Good set of eyes. Keep mentoring her and she will be making her own repair videos in short order. She is already better than a lot of "technicians " I have met.

[@funlife51]

Very inspiring to see you work closely with your granddaughter. Those memories will be with her forever.. thanks for sharing !

[@d-labelectronics]

She is my light

[@CH_Pechiar]

Excellent for teaching your grandaugher the art of electronics craftmanship. Also, make her get her ham radio license.

[@edwardhannigan6324]

Great video, and props to the guy for his great attempt and that's how we learn as you say. Learning lots from all you guys on You Tube..Thanks for sharing your invaluable knowledge. Great fun to have your granddaughter helping, I'm afraid she stole the show..Ed..U.K..😂

[@n8nkqrp595]

When Emi decided that the green/yel wire was connected to the wrong terminal strip lug- because it was not the grounded lug- because one of the lugs was soldered to the chassis- that is no small feat in reasoning at her age. Troubleshooting electro-mechanics is to a large degree, in my opinion, an innate trait. You have it or you don't. Emi has it. Sure, you can learn to troubleshoot if you're not a natural at it- but you'll never be good at it. Emi can be if she chooses to be, given your wonderful gentle teaching ability. She's a lucky little girl. GREAT video! Thanks. 73 old man

[@andrewgillis8572]

I am going back because I missed it - that is great - The Guitologist in Lousville KY has his daughter come on camera & she also is hilarious - Emi you're a talent!

[@barrychristiansen4579]

A blessed man to have such a wonderful , beautifu, intellegent grandaughter ! Cheers to you and the misses Terry

[@78sevenfold]

I pulled up the StewMac amp building diagram to follow along since I couldn't see in to the amp. Really helps make the parts where he is checking the tube connections make sense.

[@daveogarf]

LOVE the way that Emi mugs at the camera when you're not looking! Reminds me of my own hammy self as a kid. GRIN!

[@rciancia]

These kits, especially the cheaper ones have crappy documentation so that is where people go wrong. I also admire the kid who built this... No one invents things by mistake. Failure is the catalyst for success. Well done Terry and Emi.

[@d-labelectronics]

I agree Sir, a good experience for him either way. I have had many failures in my life, but made sure to learn, try to improve. Thank you for your kind support, my friend.

[@Starcrunch72]

At least this guy tried to put something together. Yes the instructions are crumby, not written like the Heathkits or Dynakits.

[@DeadKoby]

I've done 3 amp kits... The first one needed a veteran tech to find my error. The second one worked, but had one mod to resolve an issue. The next amps I made worked correctly from there forward.

[@mfowler8808]

Stew-Mac has new amp kits out, Mojotone kits, with great build instructions you can download.

[@waynewayne3709]

We've all been down the learning road and there are still things that catch us out.. After 26rs doing this stuff, there are still things out there that get the old gray cell's thinking. It's good to see tech's that show the good fault finding skill and strip it back to bare bones.

[@ferraridinoman]

Damn Old Grandad Terry!! Emi is the Professional here! Stand back and watch Emi show how its done! Listen and learn!)

[@DennisMurphey]

Good things to watch out for in any F51 build. Oh boy! Parts in the mail. Thank You.

[@tripencrypt]

Thanks for training the next generation of electronic repair technicians

[@brucejoseph8367]

Great video, you have a lot of patience trying to teach your young future tech how it's done. She's lucky to have such a clever grandad!

[@ImBlueHeavenBound]

Terry, I absolutely love the clarity of your videos, the audio the visual everything is spot-on!

[@d-labelectronics]

Excellent, I will make sure to keep on track

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

Props to the guy who had the guts to attempt this as a first build. Doesn't matter if it didn't work right off the bat, what matters, is, as you said, that he tried. And now, with your analysis he can see what needed to be done in order to fix the mistakes. That can only give a hobbyist a nudge toward trying again. To all those interested in getting into electronics as a hobby (or more), find someone who is willing to teach or mentor you. We're out there. All you have to do is ask. (Just look at how Terry lights up when he gets Emi interested in a project!)

[@russellesimonetta3835]

If you want to build a guitar amp,, this ,or a 5f2 is the best choice.

[@daleburrell6273]

...THERE WAS A "FIRST TIME" FOR EVERYBODY!!

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

@@daleburrell6273 Truth!

[@daleburrell6273]

@@TheTrueVoiceOfReason ...YOU BETCHER LIFESAVERS-!!!

[@MichaelLloyd]

I enjoyed this for a lot of reasons. You are a great teacher, your granddaughter is a great student (and she cracked me up a few times), and you ended on a positive note. I hope the owner takes your advice and builds another one.

[@goodun6081]

I havent actually read it, but there is a do-it-yourself radio repair book for antique radio collectors titled "Don't Plug It In Just Yet!". Which always strikes me as the best possible advice.

[@fiddlix]

Smart little girl. You should be proud Terry.

[@vicdiciccio6637]

EMI at 13:14 is hilarious!! Based on my experience with my daughters, while you might not necessarily create a life long love of electronics, Terry, what I'm sure you will do is imbue EMI with the bias towards tackling her problems on her own, whether it's repairing a radio, or fixing a toilet, or adding an electrical outlet. And she'll be much more confident in talking with experts, like car mechanics. Nice chassis on that champ kit!

[@vannk73]

LOL. Attention span definitely running out.

[@jp040759]

Everyone has to start somewhere. Some vets say you learn more if a kit doesn't work the first time than if it works on the first power up. If you don't fail you are not doing anything. Great advise at the end sir. " If at first you don't succeed, keep on suckin.". Emi was great!!!!

[@dwightjt]

Tube amp emi girl With a pout and the victory sign behind your head when your not looking caught on camera funny haha. Good work on the amps. Terry and emmy.

[@worldwarwe]

I was sitting in my room last night frustrated, yelling at my non-functioning 5f1 diy kit I bought a few months ago with a very similar story. I've searched through plenty of forums and documents for similar kits and have yet to find sufficient help for my errors, from the quality of videos on this channel, I have faith this video will help though!

[@d-labelectronics]

Hello, Yes, I hope it helps with the repair. I have another unit on the way with similar problems. Will be shooting another video of whats required. If you totally get fed up, ship it to D-lab. TD

[@jimtalltheislandbrothers6639]

She has the best teacher in the world. Very lucky girl and also lucky grandad. Exactly what my dad would have been like with my kids. Except he was called very early on and never got to see them. :(

[@justinprince222]

I appreciate your closing statements in this video. I just got this kit as my first amp kit attempt and after probably 30 hours of work I just blew a fuse. Felt like a failure and that I have money in the hole now, but gotta keep trying.

[@michaelsorenson3887]

It's only money in the hole if you walk away and never learn something for next time. Everyone wants to be a rockstar the first time, or else just give up forever. Most of the things we have in life came from someone who kept trying and never settled. You can take a break, but never give up

[@MrAllanwinks]

Great effort there Terry, and of course your co-host Emi. What a team!

[@stuarthossack7906]

This is such a lovely video, I can understand why you want to teach Emi this sort of stuff, problem solving in general is a great and essential skill and tends to be transferrable - the London Underground map was intentionally drawn as an electrical circuit diagram, other systems and organisations can mostly be distilled to block diagrams as can amp circuits (I know you know all of this). She seems a bright young lady. Respect from the U.K.

[@jimgiordano8218]

Great job Emi, I believe you could have done a better job building this amp then the owner did. High 5!

[@torchandhammer]

Showing others how to do things at my gig, I realize the only reason I know how to not screw things up is because I've screwed pretty much everything up sometime in the past. I hope your friend's not discouraged. It gets better. I always thought electricity was impossibly mysterious but you've got me imagining I might understand it someday. Soon I'll get brave enough to solder some stuff together. Hopefully I won't let too much of the smoke out of it!

[@whatsstefon]

I remember the first build I made, it was a little 5W thing from AX84. I didn't know about kits then, so I built the amp on a lamington tray I flipped upside down. Did it work? Yeah. It didn't go up in smoke. But the volume was no louder than a pair of old earphones. I eventually got it working once I begun understanding how valve amps work. I troubleshooted it and eventually it cranked out the 5W it was intended to. I was lucky it just wasn't a catastrophic failure. I had no idea about bias. I had no idea about power supplies, filter caps, tone caps, AC and DC, etc.

[@mfowler8808]

Fender tweed amps didn't use stand-offs but I like to use them myself. I put the OT mounting bolts through from the bottom with nut on top of chassis to gain clearance for the bottom of the circus board. Naturally I use a isolation board underneath the circus board as you have shown. Nice job shortening the leads and it sure looked good on the scope. Mark

[@74dartman13]

Great repair! I can't agree more with you! You'll never accomplish anything if you never try. I wish I had a dollar for every time I failed on the first try! I broke things, fried em, and some things went to the trash! Didn't stop me at all! Once ya get old, you make it look easy. You have a great helper there too! She had me lol a couple times! Great video!👍😎🎸🎶

[@roncarter2188]

Great job Terry!

[@d-labelectronics]

Thank you my friend

[@JammyCrackcorn]

She is so cute,,, Good job little lady!!

[@bryanfreisinger2304]

Laughed my %^%$ off during this video. Not because of the build, mind you, but your granddaughter is hilarious! If I had a nickel for every time I've messed up a project, I'd be well on my way to buying an HP Spectrum Analyzer, LOL! Your words at the end are very inspirational. Thanks!

[@martyyoung598]

Maybe you could have the builder over and do a tutorial with them like you did with Em. They obviously are interested, and looking at a positives, the soldering didn’t look terrible from what I could see. Keep up the good work, Terry.

[@jasonkirkham550]

yep. my first amp project failed. and since then , I've built others. most had a new problem for me to learn about. which is good.. only because I understand more now.

[@SwanseaTitanFan]

Once again another great video.

[@RobertKohut]

Nice!! Great teacher!

[@ryanwestenbarger2121]

Soo cool ya get to do this with your granddaughter!

[@tomk1tl]

I think Emi is stealing the show on this one ;-))

[@goodun6081]

Some test leads with Pomona or similar "E-Z-Hook" probes on them would be a lot safer than alligator clips, which have an annoying and dangerous tendency to pop off, or simply not make a good reliable contact, which can lead to false conclusions during troubleshooting. We use them at work, and you will also see the Guitologist using them as well. And those probe tips you use are crap. You need something with a hard steel tip that can really be sharpened to a point with a file or Dremel tool. "Extend-A-Probes" are particularly handy, because the thin, insulated steel probe in the center of the handle can extend about 3 inches out from the handle, and they have collets to finger tighten so that the tip can be set to and held at a particular extended length. The actual exposed metal tip length is minimal, reducing the chance of short circuits when taking measurements in tight spots.

[@brich2929]

Lol.

[@BrewerShettles]

Great Video!!

[@ragearne]

Cozy vid. Funny granddaughter :)

[@jameswallace5967]

Another great video! Thank you! I'm about to build the same amp but I will be designing my own chassis. Hope I won't need to call you!

[@Bigjoedo66]

Another GReat Video Terry!!!

[@JohnRaschedian]

She's very smart! :)

[@jpomorgan9818]

Apple didn't fall far from the family tree there.

[@billdyke9745]

Two Champs in one video. Cool...

[@goldenboy5500]

my first build was a small amp for a record changer I had I think I toasted 3 or 4 resistors starting with the 125 ohm dropping resistor the tube configuration 12AX7 35W4 & 50C5 and opon rebuilding the amp in my 45EY2 I connected the input to the wrong lead and that first was more than 50 years ago

[@ferraridinoman]

Sweet cheeky little girl being bored to death by silly old Grandpa!! hee hee!" Bless her! x

[@faultlessguitarsandamps1116]

Nice one . Wise words .

[@ordinaryaverageguy76]

Best parts of video: 13:14 16:51 17:08 About failing... Emi will surely be familiar with this quote. “Dude, suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.” ― Jake the Dog.

[@dwightbehm4747]

Ok emmy we know He's crazy haha. Crazy professor has alot of good diagnostic experiences excellence At its best

[@LordQuath]

Does it matter if I use a digital scope rather than an analog scope?

[@richclayton5785]

I see you like to use shielded cable for input connections and have seen where they should be used for internal reverb connections as well...what cable do you recommend? I have search and there's a plethora of shielded cable available it's confusing. One guy suggested buying RCA connector cable and cutting off the plugs...that seems rather wasteful and expensive to me. Thanks,

[@olegguselnikov5293]

Да, удержать внимание ребенка - это целая наука. Называется педагогика. )

[@dembydish]

14.45 Emi pulling her teeth out!

[@mikoschannel6413]

Very intelligent girl. Thanks for all your vids.

[@PLINKER]

Terry, do the Amp kits have good tube sockets and Caps and resistors for a good Kit? Being new at tis I would not know the proper quality. Thank Tom

[@mojekh]

Very cool, thanks ;-)

[@coldfinger459sub0]

That’s how I talked my son to fix computers in simple electrical within few years he started taking apart MacBooks and building his own computers and getting better than me.

[@jeanlawson9133]

Awesome 😎

[@billyeast6819]

Great!

[@mrbigg7255]

Terry in your opinion, who makes the best 5F1 kit?

[@cclol8786]

Interesting how the rectum-fire turns into a more politically correct rectifier in Terry's teacher mode... 😊 Great video, very inspiring. I really should repair stuff with my own shortwave kid!

[@d-labelectronics]

You are correct my friend! haha

[@dimebagtribute]

She's pretty smart...

[@preiter20]

I need a helper as astute as Emi! I feel for the person who assembled the amp initially. I am struggling to chase down some gremlins in a Heathkit frequency generator I am refurbishing. The learning curve is steep but that's what makes it fun. I have been searching far and wide for a Temna 72-1095 isolation transformer/variac like yours but they are more scarce than hens teeth. Great troubleshooting video Terry!

[@d-labelectronics]

Thank you Paul, I will keep an eye peeled for another Tenma unit. Will let you know. TD

[@geemac7267]

Don't take a lot to bore a kid, does it? LOL. Nice work as always, Terry.

[@d-labelectronics]

Yep, I may have taken that to the extreme with her. She did get me with those crazy guy references!

[@matthewf1979]

I........I....was gonna comment....but the rats nest has me hypnotized....

[@christianboddum8783]

Hey D-lab ;-) remember to give Tubeamp-girl a break every 15 minutes or so. That's the normal attention span for her age. maybe you do already ;-)

[@d-labelectronics]

Yep, I noticed her fading away at times. Will try to do better

[@jahbay]

Agreed. It's a lot of concept for young person to absorb. It also helps if they get to get their hands dirty. She looks like she wants to build a Hello Kitty amp or something. I think Emmy needs a Heathkit inspired project. With the proper d-lab supervision of course.

[@garyeggleton1142]

Terry, your granddaughter is adorable....do you use isolation transformer with oscilloscope on amp stuff?

[@thomasakins5211]

EMI- ElectroMagnetic Interference? Great video

[@thomjmoore]

Are you prior Air Force? Where did you get your technical training?

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes, 12 yrs active duty. Also have been in industrial controls for approx 30 yrs

[@tomt6726]

Maybe someday Emi will start doing repairs on her own

[@ross3818]

Get a glass of grape juice for Emmy!

[@goodun6081]

Emi should find a guitar under the Xmas tree. Perhaps an Epiphone, modified to say EMI-Phone on the headstock!

[@d-labelectronics]

I agree, If someone would like to send the guitar, I will wrap it & feature her opening via KZbin vid!

[@jimhough6233]

Your granddaughter takes after you in everyday except she's a lot cuter!

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes Sir, Plan is, she takes the helm of D-Lab in the future.

[@SDS-1]

Lolololol she said D lab is crazy😂

[@alexanders562]

13:13

[@Andymonza66]

I follow you with interest for some years, I am Italian. Emy is quickly learning a good job, that usually does not appeal to women

[@aaronson2540]

Lol.... Great Video!!

[@DeadKoby]

This looks lots like a Weber Kit. I will be building a kit in real time on my channel in a few weeks. Prepare for BORING long work videos!

[@DeadKoby]

Well, I built my Weber kit, and it worked 100% right the first time. I guess that's the difference between experience, and lack thereof. My first amp kit didn't work, and with a local tech, we found my boo-boos. (not horrible thank goodness). Second kit had one small boo boo I found myself. Third and fourth kits worked 100% right out of the gate.

[@gbowne1]

127.5

[@johnmirabile3535]

YOU CAN TELL EMMY IS AS SHAP AS A TAC!

[@daveanderson5680]

I bought a (very poorly) completed kit Fender 5f10 Harvard clone attempt on eBay.....it’s much worse than this champ.....It’s not close to any circuit.....like the OPT primary is connected directly to the rectifier....and all the connections couldn’t be connected worse and still be connected.

[@d-labelectronics]

Ship it to me, I'd be glad to feature it! Sounds like fun. : )

[@roberthurless4615]

I haven't finished watching it yet. lol

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes Sir, it was a great experience for Emi, even though she did show her loss of interest. ; )

[@roberthurless4615]

No wonder it's dead. That looks awful!

[@d-labelectronics]

Looks good now + performs perfect

[@78awhite]

Robert Hurless Yep, the owner needs to purchase future amps. That lead dress was rough.

[@erikmaki8642]

I am sorry to say this, but grandpapa seems to be loosing it. You don't bring your 7 years old granddaughter even near to a desk with open wires and 350V.