Finally fixed a vintage amp that's been sitting on my bench for months

It was a 1972 Fender Twin Reverb that came in with a blown output transformer and a weird hum. I spent maybe 20 hours total on it over three months, waiting on parts and trying different fixes. This week I found a cold solder joint on the phase inverter tube socket that was the real culprit. Got it singing today and the customer was so happy he almost cried. Anyone else have a piece that just needed that one last look to come together?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowanharris1mo ago

Spent a whole Saturday once chasing a buzz in an old Silvertone... turned out to be a single cracked eyelet on the board that you could only see if you wiggled the wire. That feeling when you finally spot the one tiny thing after staring at it for hours is just the best. Makes all the frustration worth it.

joel_butler1mo ago

Those cold solder joints are sneaky little devils.

sandraflores1mo ago

Yeah, I used to think they were just a cosmetic thing, like a bad looking joint that still worked. Then I had this old radio that would cut out when it got warm. Took me forever to find it, but there was one joint on a resistor leg that looked okay, just a bit dull. Reflowed that one spot and the thing worked perfectly. Totally changed how I check my work now.