Repairs

Amplifiers Plus offers repairs to all makes of guitar and bass amplifiers. We offer the best repair warranty in Ontario. We have repaired many thousands of amplifiers over 15 + years in the business.

Fender Blackface

Includes most silverface amps as well.

These are the most common of older Fender amplifiers. They generally have had more rough use over the years. Typically we see bad connections and dirt causing most problems, usually due to neglect and improper maintenance. Poor repair techniques and wrong value parts contribute as well.

Each amplifier will get:

1. A full testing and assessment of the problems. Many amps will have multiple problems the customer was not aware of, and will require several areas to be addressed for proper performance.
2. Chassis, jack, controls and socket cleaning
3. All grounds resoldered and checked
4. Check of tubes; output tubes generally need to be replaced. Preamp tubes are checked for noise and ring.
5. Bias is set correctly, generally according to Dan Torres’ tube charts. However, if you have a different requirement, please advise us of this.
6. AC cable replaced with grounded type.
7. If other problems are discovered, we can advise you of their severity, and what is needed to repair them.
8. Cabinets and speakers are checked and tightened. It is common to find baffle mounting screws loose and stripped. We can correct this problem. It is important for tone that the baffle and speakers be tight.
9. Full cabinet cleaning, and loose coverings glued.

We have found that after proper repairs, these amps will perform beyond their previous abilities. Note that many silverfaced amplifiers will require some circuit modifications to bring their performance up to that of the blackface series. This generally opens up the tone and gives them a new life.

We offer a full 6-month warranty on our repairs, with 90 days for tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. Also see the notes on speaker reconing and replacement; there are many new speakers that will improve the sound of your blackface or silverface amp, allowing you to keep the originals undamaged for the future.

Fender Tweed

Fender tweed amps will get the utmost care in diagnosing and repairing, due to their age. They will typically have loose solder joints, and crackly tube sockets. If they have not had filter capacitors replaced recently, they will require them.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Chassis, jack, controls and socket cleaning
2. Full check of all components; signal capacitors from the 1950’s are prone to leakage, which causes poor tone
3. Replacement of defective parts with original spec, or closest available types
4. Replace AC cable with grounded type
5. Check of voltages to insure proper operation of amplifier
6. Correct biasing according to customer requirement of performance
7. Full check of speakers and cabinet to check integrity

I use Philips/BC metal film capacitors, which are constructed much the same way the original Astron signal capacitors were. Carbon comp resistors are used where necessary.

We offer a full 6- month warranty on repairs, with 90 days on tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. See also the notes on speaker reconing and transformer replacement.

Modern Fender Solid State

These are the most common amplifiers we see. As we are an Authorized Fender Warranty repair centre, we have access to all the resources at Fender Musical Instruments. We stock the common repair parts, and many new speakers.

Each amplifier will get:

1. A full assessment of the problem, and play test.
2. Circuit board check
3. Resoldering of power supplies, controls and jacks
4. Cleaning of the controls and cabinet
5. Speaker check and final play and performance test.

We occasionally see intermittent problems with these amps. We perform many tests to insure we have corrected the problem.

We offer a full 6-month warranty on our repairs. Please see the “Rates” section for details. Fender’s warranty on any amplifier still covered will supersede this.

Modern Fender Tube

The story has been repeated many times of the history of Fender tube amplifiers since the 1970s. Many musicians saw the tone changed, build quality decreased, and overall performance diminish. Fender reissued some of their most collectable amps in the 1990s. These are good amps, with much of the original tone and vibe. There are some inherent problems with the circuit board connections of these amps, which are easily corrected.

Fender has had many new tube amplifiers available since the 1990s. They are good
quality, well performing amps for many different music styles.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Full performance test, tube check and cleanup
2. Assessment of the problem
3. Resoldering of the power supply, controls, jacks and circuit board sockets
4. Cleaning of the controls, jacks and sockets
5. Replacement of any defective tubes
6. Speaker and cabinet check, tightening and cleaning
7. Bias reset
8. Full function test

We stock original Fender replacement parts.

We offer a full 6-month warranty on repairs, with 90 days for tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. Fender’s warranty on any amplifier still covered will supersede this.

Fender Brown and White

These amplifiers are more complicated than their tweed predecessors, but will generally only have loose connections. If the filter capacitors have not been changed, it will be required.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Chassis, jack, controls and socket cleaning
2. Full check of all components
3. Replacement of defective parts with original spec, or closest available types
4. Replace AC cable with grounded type
5. Check of voltages to insure proper operation of circuits
6. Correct biasing of the output tubes according to Dan Torres’ tube bias charts
7. Tolex covering cleaned and reglued if necessary
8. Full check of speakers and cabinets

We offer a full 6-month warranty on repairs, with 90 days for tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. See also the notes on speaker reconing and transformer replacement.

Vintage Marshall

All 1960s, 1970s and 1980s tube Marshall amplifiers have been well built, and will last a lifetime. We generally see problems related to poor maintenance, neglect and previous repair.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Play test, and full assessment of the problem
2. Tube check-up, circuit board and component check
3. Resolder of grounding, power supply and sockets
4. Chassis, jack, controls and socket cleaning
5. Replacement of output tubes and proper bias setting. We set bias according to Dan Torres’ bias charts.
6. Cabinet cleaning and check
7. Speaker test and tightening, if applicable
8. Full performance test

Many vintage Marshall amplifiers are collectable now, so we will original Marshall replacement parts where available.

Marshall cabinets will have speakers checked and repaired. We use a reconing service that has many English cone kits still available.

We offer a full 6-month warranty on our repairs, with 90 days for tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. Speaker recone warranty is offered at time of repair to speakers.

Modern Marshall Tube

Modern Marshall amps have generally been well built, but each series has tended to have its inherent problems. We have seen many newer Marshall amps, and know how to deal with these problems.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Full performance test, and problem assessment
2. A check of the areas which have been problematic for that model
3. Resolder of power supplies, controls and sockets
4. Cleaning of controls, jacks and sockets
5. Cabinet check and cleanup
6. Speaker check and test, if applicable

The DSL and TSL series have a design that runs the power amp section very hard. After warranty is up, we have a small modification that will improve the stability of the tubes, improve tube life and run the power amplifier section cooler.

Marshall offers a 3-year warranty on their UK made amplifiers. We are an authorized Marshall repair centre. For warranty repair, please provide a copy of your receipt. After Marshall warranty is up, we off a full 6-month warranty to repairs on a Marshall amp. Tubes are 90 days. Please see the “Rates” section for details.

VOX Tube

VOX amplifiers present their own set of problems. Many times we see simple bad connections and worn parts causing performance issues with these great English amplifiers.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Power cord, power supply and voltage check
2. Performance test
3. Resolder of power supplies, sockets and grounds
4. Tightening of grounds and hardware
5. Cleaning of chassis, sockets, controls and jacks
6. Replacement of tubes where necessary
7. Check of speakers
8. Cabinet cleanup and hardware tightening
9. Full performance test

VOX amps generally require more maintenance that other brands.

We offer a full 6-month warranty on repairs, with 90 days for tubes. Please see the “Rates” section for details. We are an authorized repair centre for new VOX tube amplifiers.

Other Tube Brands

We offer service to all brands of tube guitar amplifiers.

We are an authorized warranty repair centre for:

Mesa Boogie
Ampeg
Crate
Orange

All we require for warranty repair of your amplifier is a copy of your receipt of purchase, and you to get the amp to us. We take care of the rest.

We have repaired many other brands of older tube amplifiers. These include older Ampeg, Garnet, Traynor, Gibson, Pine, and Dumble. We also repair Koch, Laney, Hiwatt, Sound City and others.

We can get most non-standard tubes used in some of these brands.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Full testing and check of all functions
2. Diagnostics of the problem
3. Resolder and clean of power supplies, controls, jacks and sockets
4. Check and test of all tubes
5. Replacement of tubes and defective parts as necessary
6. Full testing upon completion of the repair

Please contact us with your questions and inquiries about an amp you don’t see listed. There are too many to list, and we have seen most, if not all of them.

See our “Rates” section for details on repairs.

Solid State Guitar and Bass

We repair many different brands of solid-state (transistor) amps every year. We will do our best to repair any brand, but there are some now that parts are not available for. Many schematics are available, but some do not exist. We cannot guarantee we can repair an obscure brand, but we will try.

Each amplifier will get:

1. Check of power supplies, preamps and power amps
2. Cleaning of controls and jacks
3. Troubleshooting of the problem, and parts replacement
4. Cleanup of the cabinet
5. Full testing upon completion of the repair.

As in vintage tube amps, failures of other parts of the amp can occur after the repair, due to the age of the amp. We do complete testing in our shop of amplifiers when they are completed, and every amp that is repaired goes out working to the best of its ability.

We offer a 6-month warranty on our repairs. Please see the “Rates” section for details. Please contact us if you are unsure whether your amplifier can be repaired.