Minty Fresh '67 Bassman | Owner Restoration - How Did He Do?

[@travismccartney]

Hidden Bob Ross in the dog house cover

[@goodun2974]

Yeah I saw something there but it went by so quick I couldn't tell what it was.

[@recklesstoboggan]

Lyle is the Bob Ross of guitar amp repair, art, and engineering.

[@Torquemonster440]

​@@recklesstoboggan.. " Happy little filter caps".. 😅

[@recklesstoboggan]

@@Torquemonster440 🤣🤣🤣

[@Starcrunch72]

Yes Lyle, we are paying attention and you are teaching us very well. I've learned an immense amount of techniques from all of your videos. Thank you.

[@scottwilcox6313]

Thank you everyone

[@TheAxe4Ever]

Awesome job Scott Wilcox! A stamp of approval from Lyle is an awesome achievement!

[@goodun2974]

I second the motion. Very nicely done Scott!

[@scottwilcox6313]

Thank you all for the comments. Yes, I don't have large iron to solder the grounds. I do want to upgrade to the AA864 power section. It's not a museum amp. It's a player.

[@goodun2974]

@@scottwilcox6313 , the *only* thing I ever use an old Weller 8200 gun for (yes, gun) is chassis grounds, and it works okay for that despite not having much thermal mass to the tip. My old Ungar and Weller soldering iron stations are sized for PCB work as well as eyelets, turrets etc. The only higher-wattage soldering iron I have is for sheetmetal work, it's the size of a fireworks rocket!

[@mikewithers299]

​@scottwilcox6313 awesome job Scott, and congratulations on a job well done! You have Lyles seal of approval and that's a big deal. That Bassman is in good hands with you as it's owner. 🎸🎸

[@xsonicassassinx]

man, the stones on Scott to send this in for us to watch. could have gone terribly. well done, bud.

[@PsionicAudio]

Sorry, the comments were turned off by accident. Fixed, comment away.

[@goodun2974]

There's just one slight addition or codicil I would like to make concerning tightening all fasteners and input/output jacks and so on: I like to loosen them a quarter turn or eighth turn first before I tighten them again, because that imparts a little more wiping action for removing oxidation and makes it less likely that one might strip a thread. Be advised that this can occasionally cause a problem if the jack or pot or switch you wish to tighten can spin a little bit if the nut is loose and you don't want to have it twist inside the chassie and break a wire off. Tightening the nuts that hold the pots and switches on from the outside of the unit without first removing the chassis so you can hold the parts in place if they want to twist can of course cause problems. They're all supposed to have toothwashers on the backside but unless you inspect it first you have no way of knowing, especially if somebody else worked on it and unbolted parts off the chassie and then reinstalled or replaced them.

[@goodun2974]

PS Lyle, when I wrote" you" I didn't mean you specifically! Of course not......

[@rupe53]

The guy did a sweet job! BTW, soldering tip for attaching those grounds to chassis... use a very sharp drill bit to make a slight depression in the chassis steel. This will expose some fresh metal for a great joint. Make sure to gather up any metal shavings when done. I use a magnet.

[@goodun2974]

I cleaned the chassis prior to soldering a ground with a fiberglass bristle scratch brush. It removes oxidation and grunge without removing plating or creating metal shavings.

[@rupe53]

@@goodun2974 you have the same idea, but the drill makes a smaller clean spot that the solder will cover. Just another way to skin this cat if the chassis is too bad to get clean.

[@picksalot1]

Beautiful work! Congrats to both of you.

[@michaelcorvin4330]

That's quite the apple for the teacher! Great job, Scott!

[@jaronensley]

Nice job Scott. Lyle graded my first amp years ago, i was so pleased to have only made one mistake.

[@Bluesky5553]

That is a very nice, clean Bassman and Scott did a wonderful job in the restoration.

[@RaxFx]

nice work Scott!

[@fiddlix]

Beautiful work Scott. A major kudos to you.

[@pauldavis6356]

This is like the teacher grading the students term paper. Nice work.

[@victorbeebe8372]

Good job Scott!

[@halhawkins7641]

Cool Bassman. And cool watch.

[@jerryking2418]

Very well done indeed. Thanks for sharing.

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

My god man, it's gorgeous! Onya, Scotty!

[@colbyjack7074]

Mr. Wilcox. VERY impressive!

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Well done. Minty fresh is very nice.

[@ColeWheeler4Lyfe]

Nice job! Love the amp. ❤

[@ruffryder13]

Ballsy!!! :) And I was starting to think i was the only one who new about stress relief in part leads...

[@baabaabaa-yp2jh]

Great job Scott!! Cant get over the condition (what we cd see) of the amp... lucky bloke!! And Lyle it is a bit different to the ressurected Bassman you gave open heart surgery to!!🎉

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

Man, he did 1000% better than a lot of the techs out here!

[@aharkness5657]

I see someone else likes to hide stickers inide lids, too :-D That's a beaut.

[@richardlynch5632]

Highest compliment indeed😎👍👍 😎✌👍❤🖖

[@daguitarman808]

Can you please open up a pop up shop on Maui.....I'm begging you lol. We need someone like you here.....I have two tube amps with problems that I know you can fix. I would send my amps to you but the shipping costs would kill me and I might as well buy a new amp. So I'm just running a dream 64 pedal and it's working ok but I do miss the real thing. The cost of living in paradise I guess. So the next time you come to Maui make sure you bring your tools 🤣 love your channel and keep on rocking. Aloha from Maui 🤘😎🤙

[@PsionicAudio]

Seems like an enterprising young tech could have a nice couch-surfing Hawaiian vacation and come home with a little profit. I get so many questions from Hawaiians in need of a tech. The chances of me willingly going to any tropical beach paradise are nil - no museums. ;) But I hope you and yours were not affected by the fires on Maui. That was awful.

[@martynrandall7652]

Been watching quite a few of your video's on old amps, and find it fascinating what a wealth of knowledge you have. I have an old Traynor guitar mate needs a bit of work to freshen things up. Anyway do you come across Naylor speakers over there in the US. I have anither lovely hand made Torres amplifier which has 2 x Naylor 12" 50w speakers which a really like the sound. But cant find out any info on them, are they very popular over there? Cheers Martyn UK.

[@Tonetwisters]

Input and output jacks also need some sandpaper scratchin' so that they make good contact with 1/4" plugs.

[@charlesrussell6183]

thing of beauty

[@jutukka]

What a gem! 😮 I wonder what would be written on the price tag if it was on sale. 🤔

[@watkinscopicat]

Bob Ross in the doghouse!

[@chrisquinn9104]

Extra points for sure

[@goodun2974]

The eyelet boards looked very clean and I'm curious if they were originally lightl waxed and Scott removed it.

[@PsionicAudio]

No wax in ‘67.

[@scottwilcox6313]

Yes I did clean it but there was no wax. Not sure if I got all the DC off the board though. At the time it was good.

[@weschilton]

Way to go, Scott! Hey Lyle, would you recommend the artificial center tap for the AB763 as well? Also what iron would you recommend for chassis soldering? I've been using my Hakko FX888, but its a struggle to hold that much heat.

[@PsionicAudio]

Artificial filament CT for almost all amps is preferable. Weller SPG 80L is your friend.

[@cpizani]

HI Lyle, (;long time follower) I have a 66 ab763 tremolux and I suspect the bright switch caps have also drifted. I will check the caps with my LCR meter. At what percentage drift value do you recommend to replace? Where do you source these? What brand, value, and vendor do you recommend?

[@PsionicAudio]

+/- 30% or if you don’t like the sound. I use Vishay 562R 1KVs from Mouser.

[@cpizani]

Thank you!!!@@PsionicAudio

[@Robstafarian]

Come to think of it, is the Hakko FX-888D (65W iron, 120-899℉) I see all over electric-guitar-related factory tours suitable for soldering to a chassis (I was thinking with either a 3.2mm or a 5.2mm chisel tip)?

[@PsionicAudio]

No, get a Weller SPG 80L for chassis work.

[@Robstafarian]

@@PsionicAudio Thanks! Am I right in thinking about using a big, chisel tip for chassis soldering? I see there are 13mm and 16mm chisel tips for that iron.

[@nonemlinus]

Wonderful!! Gives me hope. Lyle…how do I get started? I’m an engineer but this type of stuff scares me…I’ve build tiny things with surface mount and thin pcbs… 😅🤷🏾‍♂️🧘🏾‍♂️🙏🏾

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks. Start by building fuzz pedals then a tube screamer. You can get good kits from the build your own pedals site (google it). Get your through hole soldering skills together on some of those (make beginner mistake at low voltage/current) then try a Fender tweed Champ kit from Mojotone (still simple but with higher voltage/current).

[@nonemlinus]

@@PsionicAudio ok will do. worried about higher currents and making a dumb mistake resulting in death (my own and the amps). Small, careful steps though, it seems.

[@jscotlandr]

On your live stream last weekend you mentioned a brand of soddering (sic) iron and price point of about $90+ for the model. I've tried to find that part of the video and I can't locate it. Could you please refer to that again in an upcoming video. The souldering (sic) iron i have now is a cheap and unsatisfactory Weller.

[@PsionicAudio]

Just about any Hakko temperature controlled station will make life better. They start @ $80 and go up.

[@YTPartyTonight]

I'll take one of those and Fender Bass VI--one of those new Vintera II will do--, please.

[@retread1083]

Whenever someone says that brand of caps, my brain hears F'in Tease.

[@deplinenoise]

Beautiful

[@knifeswitch5973]

Bob Ross is in the DOGHOUSE!

[@Abutado]

I like your lens focus points. Are you manual focusing? What lens do you use for your filming? Thanks for the great videos and the great quality video. Infact what camera are you using. I really like the color rendering.

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks! This is a subject I’ve become interested in/obsessed with over the past six months or so. And it’s only been in the past week that I’m really pleased with everything I’m getting. This is a Sony ZV-E10 with a Sigma f2.8 18-50mm (APS-C sensor so really 27-75mm). I’m recording 4K HLG3 and using a grey card to set the white balance (in standard picture profile to set that). Bench shots are almost always manual focus. I tend to go between f2.8 and f5 depending on the depth of field I need. I move the focus but don’t zoom very much in the live shots as I can do that in post. Over the bench I have a 150W 5600K COB light on a C stand with a large lantern diffuser. As a side fill (and key light for streams) I have a bicolor 150W COB set to 5600K with a parabolic diffuser and a grid. These lights are as important as the camera and lens. Then into Davinci Resolve with the Paul Leeming Sony LUTs (mostly HLG3 Athena) for correcting the Sony colors and getting the exposure/contrast right. Then I make very slight adjustments, usually just lights and darks, in the Davinci Wide Gamut color space before converting to Rec709. Then rendering as Rec709A due to Mac oddities (otherwise the contrast is different on different playback codecs).

[@Abutado]

@@PsionicAudio I must say, your filming is absolutely fantastic. I come from a photography background so a lot of the video stuff is outside of my realm. It's interesting, your lighting is a bit cooler than I normally go for but I might have to start rethinking my color temps because it's very flattering. Thanks for sharing.

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks so much. While the lights are set to 5600K when I take measurements for white balance it’s usually actually 5000K-51000K. The color scopes show the results as centered and skin tones are right on the vector line where they should be. For video I keep the shutter speed constant (50 for 24FPS) and just vary aperture, ISO, and the actual lighting in the room. So quite different from what I remember of film photography cameras.

[@jscotlandr]

Are there torque specs for the mechanical connectors or is it just a "snug by feel"?

[@PsionicAudio]

I’m sure there are but I don’t know where they’re published. Feel/experience. I can crank a CTS bushing but you have to sneak up on Alphas.

[@luigideluca2655]

will I ever find one of this for myself? 😢

[@recklesstoboggan]

This amp must have arrived in a DeLorean.

[@mikewithers299]

🤣🤣 back to the future reference

[@nolarocks]

Wow!!!

[@corknakovastein]

I want a sound test haha

[@T0mmyTune]

Point of clarity. You mention the mechanical connections of caps being important to not just be held with solder. And you're right on that as a proper way to go about things. Then you say his grounds to the mechanical bolt of the Transformer would be better soldered to the chassis itself. So essentially those grounds will now be held by solder instead of a bolt. To me this doesn't jibe with the aforementioned mechanical connections. For me, if I wanted to move them. I'd drill a hole to put a bolt thru and then bolt them right up to the chassis. Go or no go?

[@PsionicAudio]

I don’t drill vintage chassis if I can avoid it. Pre CBS Fender amps had certain solder connections directly to chassis and these hold up better than the ones to lugs held on by transformer hardware. Best yet is separately drilled hardware specially for ground lugs, which is what I do in a new build. But not in a vintage restoration.

[@T0mmyTune]

Makes perfect sense! Thanks for the clarity.@@PsionicAudio

[@aeynghus]

What wattage iron do you use for chassis grounding?

[@PsionicAudio]

80W.

[@joek81981]

Imagine if you watched some Bob Ross, then were like, "Eh, I can do that", and then actually YOU DID IT. That's what this seems like to me.

[@joek81981]

Holy shit, there's Bob. In the doghouse!

[@ikestoddard2458]

My now-stolen ‘71 Twin Reverb looked similar. 😭

[@none-d3c]

This we like to see

[@grega07656]

Can someone please tell me exactly what "snowman eights" knobs are?

[@PsionicAudio]

The eights on the old knobs look like snowmen. Repro knobs don’t.

[@grega07656]

@@PsionicAudio Thanks! I just checked my '66 or '67 Vibrolux and all the knobs are snowman eights, except for one that was replaced. I also see that the on the snowman eights, the fastening screw is by the 10, whereas with the later ones, it's by the 1.

[@GShockWatchFan.]

Minty, minty, minty

[@PsionicAudio]

Sorry, only the Casio Royale in this one. ;)

[@DrRussPhd]

This amp is more like a working vacation.

[@PsionicAudio]

Well, stay tuned for part two. That’s when I get to flex. ;)