Hi,
I wonder if someone could make some recommendations regarding a Guild Thunder 1 amp I’m having problems with. (No reverb, just the tremolo)
Problem: after playing for about three hours I suddenly lose volume. The red power light goes out. If I wait a few minutes it’ll power up again. But generally if it’s gone down once, it will soon do a repeat.
History: I purchased the amp second hand in 1970. It’s gotten fairly regular basement band use since then: in other words about once a week for 4 hour sessions. I play it with the volume at about 1 o’clock. I’m using an old Hagstrom (pre Swede) played through an Ibanez Tube Screamer. I’ve used the same set up for years. I recently introduced a Dunlop volume pedal.
Service history: It’s had some tubes replaced over the years. I had it looked at a few years back for general servicing. The invoice states ‘Replaced cap in Cathode CCT’. Last fall the speaker (the original) blew. The shop replacing it with a Jenson JCH 12/70, 8 Ohm.
General comment: As you might be able to detect from my comments I am not greatly familiar with the inner workings of tube amps. What I’m hoping for are suggestions of basic detective work I might do before bringing it into my local shop. I don’t plan to pull anything apart (from the little reading I’ve done I’ve developed a healthy respect for capacitors) but just things I might try that could supply some diagnostic information. For example, I’ve turned it on and just let it run unplayed for 5 or 6 hours. There didn’t seem to be any problem.
I think it’s the intermittent aspect that’s got me worried. It probably makes it a lot harder for someone in a shop to replicate.
Any thought? Advice would be much appreciated. It’s a great little amp and I hope to get many more years of playing out of it: that is many more years without it cutting out right in the middle of my (substitute favourite song title here) solo.
Ted
I wonder if someone could make some recommendations regarding a Guild Thunder 1 amp I’m having problems with. (No reverb, just the tremolo)
Problem: after playing for about three hours I suddenly lose volume. The red power light goes out. If I wait a few minutes it’ll power up again. But generally if it’s gone down once, it will soon do a repeat.
History: I purchased the amp second hand in 1970. It’s gotten fairly regular basement band use since then: in other words about once a week for 4 hour sessions. I play it with the volume at about 1 o’clock. I’m using an old Hagstrom (pre Swede) played through an Ibanez Tube Screamer. I’ve used the same set up for years. I recently introduced a Dunlop volume pedal.
Service history: It’s had some tubes replaced over the years. I had it looked at a few years back for general servicing. The invoice states ‘Replaced cap in Cathode CCT’. Last fall the speaker (the original) blew. The shop replacing it with a Jenson JCH 12/70, 8 Ohm.
General comment: As you might be able to detect from my comments I am not greatly familiar with the inner workings of tube amps. What I’m hoping for are suggestions of basic detective work I might do before bringing it into my local shop. I don’t plan to pull anything apart (from the little reading I’ve done I’ve developed a healthy respect for capacitors) but just things I might try that could supply some diagnostic information. For example, I’ve turned it on and just let it run unplayed for 5 or 6 hours. There didn’t seem to be any problem.
I think it’s the intermittent aspect that’s got me worried. It probably makes it a lot harder for someone in a shop to replicate.
Any thought? Advice would be much appreciated. It’s a great little amp and I hope to get many more years of playing out of it: that is many more years without it cutting out right in the middle of my (substitute favourite song title here) solo.
Ted