VS100 head

Tavernor

Hi again folks, quick question which I touched upon in my first post regarding modding my cheap strat. The amp has been unused for about 10 years but kept clean and dry during that time. Everything works but when I'm not playing I get the off pop and crackle. Does this mean it needs a service and what would that entail? Also, as far as I'm aware it has a tube in the pre-amp; should this be replaced or upgraded for a better sound?

Browsing the internet it seems to have a mixed bag of reviews. As a beginner for all intents and purposes is this a decent enough amp to get me going again or would I be able to get something better for whatever the sale price of the head would be? It's currently running through a Marshall 4x12 with celestions.

ICBM

Ah, you answered my question from the other thread .

The VS100 is one of the best Valvestates. It might be worth having it checked over because there are a couple of minor issues which occasionally occur, but they're generally not serious and are easy to fix - cracked solder joints on some power resistors and a bad contact in the headphone jack (which should be permanently bypassed - it's a cause of reliability problems and if you ever want to use headphones, just unplug the speaker) are the most common. The valve is probably OK, but it also probably wouldn't hurt to replace it with a new one - and keep the old one as a spare since you know it's working. There's not a lot of difference in the sound of the valve in this amp, so a standard cheap modern type such as a JJ will do fine, and these are among the more reliable. You should be able to get one for around a tenner.

Most techs will charge a standard bench fee for a simple service like this - it should be under £50 including the valve, if you haven't bought one yourself. But to be honest, if all it's doing is occasionally crackling slightly (not loudly) and otherwise seems to be working OK, I might not even bother.

You will almost certainly not be able to sell it and buy a better amp for the low prices they fetch - if you're buying they're one of the best bargains around, but obviously that doesn't help if you're trying to sell one!

Tavernor

Good to know thanks! Just replied in the guitar thread, sorry for flitting between the two!