[UPDATE] So I got a Fender De Ville for $150 ...but

ac88 · Post by **ac88** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:48 pm

Ok so I snagged a fender de ville off kijiji for next to nothing, but it has a few problems which I know nothing of.

So it powers up fine, sound is there ... very good, ehn the jewel light is not lighting up - oh well. Then I get this fuzzy wooly sounds under my playing sometimes when I hit a note, it comes out of nowhere. This noise is sometimes accompanied with a increase/decrease in volume suddenly. In addition, when I fiddle with some of the knobs (mainly volume/master/gain knobs) I get some pops and nasty noises.

So... is it just the tubes? The speakers? Or did someone spill beer on it or something?

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:40 am

Check the tubes first because that's an easy fix. The pops sound kinda scary. You may want to have it check out by a tech. Hopefully any repair costs don't negate the good deal you found.

foofoo982 · Post by **foofoo982** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:43 am

Try tubes.. but the Deville's are also famous for heat causing solder connections to go bad. I would check all of the caps and the board in the general to see if anything is melted/burnt.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:41 pm

I'd take it to somebody that knows what they're doing. Could be any number of things, including the transformer. Use the money you saved on getting it properly serviced. Try the valves first by all means, but don't go killing yourself.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:48 pm

my hot rod deluxe crackles and pops now and again, usually when powering up. and the jewel light rarely works. i just put it down to them not being very well made.

robrtnickerson · Post by **robrtnickerson** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:54 pm

My blues deville has the same problem with the light from time to time. That's probably no big deal. I would just take that thing to a good tech. I had a similar problem to what yours likely is and it only set me back $100 or $150, I can't remember for sure. Coulda been less. That was w/ some soldering work and power tube replacement. There is value in the peace of mind you get having known that a professional has checked out and ok'd the amp. If, at the end of the day, you have $300 wrapped up in it then you've still got a pretty decent deal on the amp.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:51 pm

foofoo982 wrote:Try tubes.. but the Deville's are also famous for heat causing solder connections to go bad. I would check all of the caps and the board in the general to see if anything is melted/burnt.

THIS.

take it to a fuckin amp guy and have him clean it out and re-joint all the pots in there. it will work fine for you after that. for a couple years anyway until they melt again

ac88 · Post by **ac88** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:00 pm

Yeah I agree. Getting this thing professionally serviced seems like a worthwhile investment.

Now that I have spent a little more time with the amp I am getting a better idea of what the problem might be. Pardon my amateur diagnosis.

The tubes are all glowing and they all are warm. I play some chords and get a nice clean sound, but that fuzzy undertone thing I mentioned before still pops up occasionally, especially noticeable at low volume. So I make a simple loop of me plucking the E string rather obnoxiously so I can get my ear right up to the cab to see if I can isolate where the noise is coming from. I can hear a "fwub fwub fwuub" with note that sounds almost like a loose screw rattling around in the cab, and its only coming from the bottom right and possibly top left speaker. Now this fwubbing isn't as noticeable at high volumes. Could the speaker be busted? Or is it really just a loose part?

As for the crackles and pops coming from the knobs, could be some preamp/plate resistor/phase inverter/etc. problem that I clearly will not be able to tackle myself.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:07 pm

ekwatts wrote: don't go killing yourself.

Right. This is the type of extreme action we reserve for high school breakups and the elimination of favorite football teams from playoff series'.

GreenKnee · Post by **GreenKnee** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:17 pm

I had a similar problem when I first got my 212 DeVille, so I sent it straight back, and they repaired saying that a 'choke cable' had broken, come off.
They repaired it for me and returned it, and it's been perfect ever since. I suppose I've been quite lucky with this amp, a lot of people seem to have constant problems with them, but mine's perfect for me

So get it repaired, and fall in love with it for how well it takes pedals!

If you take it to a tech, get him to change the volume and reverb pots for linear rather logarithmic pots, this will give you greater control on them, rather than them getting to full around 4.

I run mine at 12 all the time anyway though

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:53 pm

GreenKnee wrote:
If you take it to a tech, get him to change the volume and reverb pots for linear rather logarithmic pots, this will give you greater control on them, rather than them getting to full around 4.

I have a 1975 Musicmaster Bass Amp that I love but the I don't get a steady control with the knobs. The volume and tone don't do much until you hit about 3. The amp only has a Volume and tone control. Would linear pots fix this? I hate the sudden jump in volume or tone.

ac88 · Post by **ac88** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:02 pm

GreenKnee wrote: So get it repaired, and fall in love with it for how well it takes pedals!

If you take it to a tech, get him to change the volume and reverb pots for linear rather logarithmic pots, this will give you greater control on them, rather than them getting to full around 4.

It does take the fuzz factory quite nicely, not harsh at all. Very smooth. FF + transparent overdrive.

I tightened all the speaker screws, some of which were quite loose, but that still didn't solve the problem. I am noticing the volume dipping intermittently, the standby switch pops loudly every time it is switched. Now to find the right repair man. Thank you all for your help.

GreenKnee · Post by **GreenKnee** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:15 pm

taylornutt wrote:
GreenKnee wrote:
If you take it to a tech, get him to change the volume and reverb pots for linear rather logarithmic pots, this will give you greater control on them, rather than them getting to full around 4.

I have a 1975 Musicmaster Bass Amp that I love but the I don't get a steady control with the knobs. The volume and tone don't do much until you hit about 3. The amp only has a Volume and tone control. Would linear pots fix this? I hate the sudden jump in volume or tone.

Sounds like it might do. On the DeVille, between 0 and 1 is normal bedroom volume I'd say, then as it gets towards 3, its crazy loud, and 4 is pretty much the same as 12.

Hope this helps

Jack

ac88 · Post by **ac88** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:24 pm

Update: so I just dropped it off at some eccentric old man's TV/Tube Amp repair shop. His place was packed with chip boards, electronic do-dads, dusty machinery.

I do not know if this guy has any idea what he's doing, he is not a guitar player. He did charm the hell out of me with his tales of the olden days of electronic repairs, reverb boxes, old tube radios etc. At the very least he is gutting the thing and giving it a good cleaning. When he is invariably stuck at one of the problems I can always hock it off to somebody who actually knows what they're doing... I could not resist given how close this guy was to my place. I have no car.

annnnnd who cares.

DGW · Post by **DGW** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:14 pm

At that price,,fix it and play the crap out of it..

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:39 am

where are you located? if your US i might buy it if you dont fix it.

1. install fresh tubez
2. clean all jacks with contact cleaner
3. make positively sure it's not a physical problem - speaker etc..

http://www.geofex.com/ampdbug/distort.htm

DGW · Post by **DGW** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:54 am

Somthing else to consider is getting it modded...
http://www.omegaamps.com/mods2.html

24HRS2MDNT · Post by **24HRS2MDNT** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:57 am

ac88 wrote:Update: so I just dropped it off at some eccentric old man's TV/Tube Amp repair shop.

DGW · Post by **DGW** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:24 am

24HRS2MDNT wrote:
ac88 wrote:Update: so I just dropped it off at some eccentric old man's TV/Tube Amp repair shop.
Ohh you are going to have a story to tell...

plesiosaurus · Post by **plesiosaurus** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:57 am

taylornutt wrote:
GreenKnee wrote:
If you take it to a tech, get him to change the volume and reverb pots for linear rather logarithmic pots, this will give you greater control on them, rather than them getting to full around 4.

I have a 1975 Musicmaster Bass Amp that I love but the I don't get a steady control with the knobs. The volume and tone don't do much until you hit about 3. The amp only has a Volume and tone control. Would linear pots fix this? I hate the sudden jump in volume or tone.

I have one as well that I've been working on that displays the same behavior and my amp tech mentor says he thinks it might be because it uses a transformer as a phase inverter instead of a tube and thus has less gain.