"Recently Serviced"?

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PhiltrePhiltre Frets: 4164
"Recently Serviced" says the ad for a second-hand amp. Yes, but what does that mean? New valves? Biased?

In my experience it means sprayed with Lynx aftershave or Febreze. What about you?
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  • Philtre said:
    "Recently Serviced" says the ad for a second-hand amp. Yes, but what does that mean? New valves? Biased?

    In my experience it means sprayed with Lynx aftershave or Febreze. What about you?
    Unless less it comes with a report detailing what was done by a qualified tech I always take that with a pinch of salt.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    edited January 2019
    Surely if someone was getting an amp serviced with a view to seling it they would ask for a detailed servce invoice?  Even if the vendor did not anticipate the sale at the "recent" service time I don't think any genuine tech would mind printing off a swift page?

    I was asked to do this now and again in the telly game for insurance claims and sometimes for ficticious  equipment and faults! I always declined such requests.

    Dave.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71951
    In theory it should mean that at the least it's been checked for electrical safety and full working order (including the footswitch and its cable if there is one), condition of the valves and any duff ones replaced, the pots and jacks cleaned, and the bias checked and adjusted if appropriate.

    In practice it means about the same as 'professionally set up' on a guitar which clearly has strings about a decade old on it...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • tekbowtekbow Frets: 1686

    to me a service is checking of bias and matching, if not new power tubes, and checking everything is in order electrically. I presume this means checking the drift on most of the amps components or at least inferring their drift from some measurement of a subsystem.

    My most recent Amp was checked over once i got it, and he changed out the screen resistors because they'd drifted marginally.

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  • horseheadhorsehead Frets: 219
    The best one I came across was "recently serviced" When I went to pick up the amp there was dust everywhere inside, I asked when the 'servicing' was done and he told me when the amp was made. He'd made sure that the amp basically turned up & down!
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  • simonksimonk Frets: 1467
    Shown a damp flannel... is what I’ve come to read that as. 
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9498
    I always find it amusing that sellers describe a run of the mill solid state amp as being recently serviced. Yes I know you can give scratchy pots a squirt of Servisol, but no way can you call that a service.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71951
    I always find it amusing that sellers describe a run of the mill solid state amp as being recently serviced. Yes I know you can give scratchy pots a squirt of Servisol, but no way can you call that a service.
    You can if the rest has been properly checked over as well. They don’t need much, but actually some of them are a lot more work to get into than a typical valve amp...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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