Wednesday, April 04, 2012

"Something smells hot"

"Yup." eyeing the 70s solid state amp currently being punished by a Yamaha CS-01II - nope, it passed the sniff test just fine.

"Oh, shit." Don's Bassman 50, which was filling in for my Princeton in order to keep up with volume levels, was quietly blowing smoke.

Bassman 50 head chassis planted into a 1x12 combo amp case. I've seen uglier work, this thing could use a handle though.

Typical 1970s Fender gutshot, no surprises here.

The other end of the capacitor cover has a notch built into it to clear this screw, based on this I am under the impression someone has been inside this thing..

..they should have changed the caps while they were there. Early 73 & late 72 dated parts here; some smoky residue around those vent holes and olfactory evidence lends credence that these parts are done.

Either someone else has been inside this, or it was training day at the factory. I even briefly visualized a loose rodent chewing on the wires, but the markings are wrong & there is thankfully no further rodent call letters.

Looks like a simple fix just waiting out parts to arrive.

4 comments:

pearshapedhuman said...

That Fender wire melts if you even look at it wrong. Nasty stuff! Meaning- I've melted the shit out of that stuff too.

Might want to change out those white Mallory decoupling electros while you're in there.

Good luck with the old beast.

crochambeau said...

Yeah, I can't say I haven't melted a little wire too. Hahahaha.

Those 25-25 Mallorys are listed on the shopping list. Hopefully that will get this amp squared away.

Unknown said...

thanks for looking at the Bassman. Somebody certainly has jumped in there before.

crochambeau said...

No problem man! (I know who you are, Mr Unknown) has that parts order been cut yet?