*UPDATE* NVOAD 1969/70 Fender Super Reverb 4X10

Travisthedog

@icbm

I totally agree mate - but I'm slightly cornered in that my amp tech who lives a 3 hour round trip away has been a bit tardy in sorting my supersonic. He's had it nearly 3 weeks and when I spoke to him today (the day I was supposed to be picking it up) he said he was still waiting on power valves (it seems next day delivery hasn't reached his neck of the woods yet.

I'm a bit stuck otherwise - it's only a 45 min set. I suppose I could borrow our bassists marshal (if I really have too!!!)

strat84

Well done Sir! CTS Alnico speakers aswell! I also have a 1970. Unfortunately there was a crack in my baffle so I replaced it with a birch ply baffle, sounded much better!..Can't beat a strat into those 4x10s

 Enjoy!!

jpfamps

Travisthedog said:

@icbm

I totally agree mate - but I'm slightly cornered in that my amp tech who lives a 3 hour round trip away has been a bit tardy in sorting my supersonic. He's had it nearly 3 weeks and when I spoke to him today (the day I was supposed to be picking it up) he said he was still waiting on power valves (it seems next day delivery hasn't reached his neck of the woods yet.

I'm a bit stuck otherwise - it's only a 45 min set. I suppose I could borrow our bassists marshal (if I really have too!!!)

The issue with the power valves is not so much next day delivery (there are plenty of retailers we will supply valves promptly), but that as a business you need to make money selling spares.

As buying something for £100 and selling it for £100 is not a great long term business strategy, as an amp repairer (which I am!) you can either buy at retail and add a mark up (thus exposing yourself to accusations of profiteering), or buy from someone who will give you a proper trade discount.

My guess is he's probably waiting for the valves from a trade supplier, and they may be on back order. This is a common occurrence in my experience.

I try to carry a stock of popular valves and retail these at a fair price, ie not massively out of kilter with the internet. For example I sell JJ EL84s for £11, which is slightly higher than the internet, but will be cheaper once postage is taken into account.

If I've got stock on back order and the customer is in a hurry, then it's usually easier to get the customer to buy the valves and pay me to fit them.

Surprisingly it's quite hard to find valves at a decent trade price from UK suppliers. I've approached the usual suspects and the most generous discount I've been offered is 10%, which with postage is marginal.

Another supplier offered 7% "as long as you use bank transfer and not Paypal". As Paypal charge 3.4%, this is a de facto 3.6% discount.

The least generous is "your a business so you can claim the VAT back, and that's you discount."

ICBM

jpfamps said:

The issue with the power valves is not so much next day delivery (there are plenty of retailers we will supply valves promptly), but that as a business you need to make money selling spares.

As buying something for £100 and selling it for £100 is not a great long term business strategy, as an amp repairer (which I am!) you can either buy at retail and add a mark up (thus exposing yourself to accusations of profiteering), or buy from someone who will give you a proper trade discount.

My guess is he's probably waiting for the valves from a trade supplier, and they may be on back order. This is a common occurrence in my experience.

I try to carry a stock of popular valves and retail these at a fair price, ie not massively out of kilter with the internet. For example I sell JJ EL84s for £11, which is slightly higher than the internet, but will be cheaper once postage is taken into account.

If I've got stock on back order and the customer is in a hurry, then it's usually easier to get the customer to buy the valves and pay me to fit them.

I also often do this because it means that the warranty on the valves is with the customer and not me. That means that in the event of a problem the customer should be able to get replacements directly rather than having to faff around bringing them back to me first - and for me then to not have to handle it without being able to charge anything for the time and trouble...

In some ways I don't like doing it because it looks "unprofessional" to ask the customer to supply their own parts, but it really makes a lot of sense both for cost and speed.

Travisthedog

That's a fair point well put mate.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

jpfamps said:

The issue with the power valves is not so much next day delivery (there are plenty of retailers we will supply valves promptly), but that as a business you need to make money selling spares.

As buying something for £100 and selling it for £100 is not a great long term business strategy, as an amp repairer (which I am!) you can either buy at retail and add a mark up (thus exposing yourself to accusations of profiteering), or buy from someone who will give you a proper trade discount.

My guess is he's probably waiting for the valves from a trade supplier, and they may be on back order. This is a common occurrence in my experience.

I try to carry a stock of popular valves and retail these at a fair price, ie not massively out of kilter with the internet. For example I sell JJ EL84s for £11, which is slightly higher than the internet, but will be cheaper once postage is taken into account.

If I've got stock on back order and the customer is in a hurry, then it's usually easier to get the customer to buy the valves and pay me to fit them.

I also often do this because it means that the warranty on the valves is with the customer and not me. That means that in the event of a problem the customer should be able to get replacements directly rather than having to faff around bringing them back to me first - and for me then to not have to handle it without being able to charge anything for the time and trouble...

In some ways I don't like doing it because it looks "unprofessional" to ask the customer to supply their own parts, but it really makes a lot of sense both for cost and speed.

That's a perfectly sensible position in my view.

Part of the reason I have to make some money on any valve I sell is that I have to absorb the cost of any failures.

ThePrettyDamned

The cost of valves is why I think lower cost solid state and modelling amps are much better value than low cost, poorly built valve amps.  

I say poorly built because that increases the cost of work done to them - stuff like Jet City is a bit different. 

I'm now waiting to save up for something that will be well built, very reliable and great sounding - where the cost of revalving makes it good value.  

Travisthedog

I'm struggling to find a UK supplier for the damn footswitch with the RCA plugs - anyone got any ideas or know of any uk builders?

ESchap

Thomann have them ....

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_footswitch.htm?sid=d9dd6874991c18064c0fdce68815a5de

koneguitarist

John , just get a Marshall foot switch off of Harmony and swap the plugs easy enough to do. Or give me a shout. I looked at that amp on Wednesday, I hope you got a good deal.

57Deluxe

Good decision... you will enjoy this amp - it has such dynamic qualities - every touch of a dial delivers...

PS - if you want to see how Fender promoted their goods (includung this amp!) in the user handbook for their Strats in 70s, see thread Old Fender Owner's Manual booklet...

Travisthedog

Crackle hum crackle pop

Travisthedog

Seriously

ICBM

Very likely to be either plate resistors or circuit board conduction. Both are well-known problems with old BF/SF Fenders.

Could also possibly be filter caps, although they tend to make varying hum and volume changes when they pop.

Or dirty valve sockets.

Or the mojo leaking out.

Travisthedog

Ha!

57Deluxe

All the Supers are extremely sensitive to a poor or low grade valve in the tremolo position which can give all sorts of noise in the open circuit. Try swapping that first.

bigfuzz

@travisthedog may i ask how much this lovely machine cost? I've always fancied a SR...

Travisthedog

It's complicated!!

I traded a whole load of bits and bobs for it

Travisthedog

It's resting with my tech now. It was fine when he tried it out

He nearly wet himself when I turned up with it!

bigfuzz

would be interested to hear this!