It really is, they don't care anymore though.

We live in age of china. Bye bye good quality stuff.

@@smoochie3331 It's a few things, and I don't think we disagree. China is a country (where ethics and quality often. mean nothing), but there's an accompanying mindset that got US mfrs to go there - more profit for shareholders. And what that also drives is lower prices for consumers. Consumers too often choose on the basis of price alone. Could some US mfrs have resisted this? Maybe not. The high priced better quality stuff would lose out at retail. People what low price when they're buying, and high quality when it breaks down. That can't be easily resolved. It's the old story. We want fast, cheap and good, but we can never have all 3. Two at the most.

It's all about the money. They don't care about the customer

@@rickknowlan8949 True, I ended up bought Blues Jr USA after a mexican. I am selling the mexican now.

Standing up to crap practices at work got me the reputation that I was a good leader and 1 promotion. After that standing up got me ignored then fired. For basically the same issue. Just showed me the promotion was to shut me up and get me to drink the koolaid. Didn’t work and I learnt a valuable lesson

@@mknewlan67 I hope that someday you find a company who takes growth and continuous improvement seriously and treasures you as a result (if you haven’t found somewhere like that already)

A mid-90s Pontiac Bonneville broke down when the *plastic* fitting connecting the radiator to the bottom of the engine block broke. When I got it towed in to a dealer, they told me the Oldsmobile part for the identical engine was metal but refused to put the Oldsmobile part in my Bonneville. An elbow fitting with threads on one end. How much savings could there possibly have been? Clearly the bean counters didn’t pay any attention to its function. No water => no worky. 2001 BMW Z3 original water pump impeller was plastic. At least BMW’s replacement part acknowledged the problem and had a metal impeller. One point I’m trying to make is that plastic is wonderful stuff for many applications, just not these. Another is the insanity of saving pennies on parts that are vital to the basic function of the product. Like filter caps in an amplifier…

@@judgegroovyman ... look at McIntosh audio equipment. Still built like a big block V-8 these days. They even wind their own transformers and burn in each unit before shipment. OTOH, they are a few notches above consumer grade, and you pay for that.

rupe53, big block v8s are built better than a small block because big is inherintly better than small?

I think the owner of the DRRI just got lucky. ;) Which is good!

On a 777€, 15 W amp. 🤡🤡

Hey Ricky, thanks. The Blues Ds don't have bias pots. The Hot Rod Ds do.

@@xpander8140 I thought the formula used in caps was stolen and incorrectly used in the bad caps.

I used to work in a restaurant too. Whoever came up with that policy would have been dismissed instantly where I worked. That's such a stupid solution. The proper solution is to buy in proper quantities and to use the food up. Get rid of the people who are creating the waste. This makes absolutely no sense on any level.

thank you for your service!

I worked at a Frisch's for one day, and they did that with everything, including the bacon and scrambled eggs.

Lol, my dad used to work in a family owned grocery store. He said half rotten fruit NEVER got pitched. The good parts were salvaged to make fruit salad.

Thanks. Input jack,, filters, up the screen grids to 1K, cool the bias, reflow the solder joints on pots and tube sockets, replace the 1N4006s with 1N4007s, replace the molded plastic speaker cable, remove bright cap, enjoy amp. Roland Lumby is fantastic. I think he's in Manchester or Birmingham.

Marvellous!! Thank you, so much. I’ve found Roland on Facebook, he’s about 2.5hrs away from me, but will give him a call and try and plan a reason why I need to go to Manchester!

If the manufacturer spends for the good stuff, yes. Most amp manufacturers don't do that.

@@PsionicAudio They may not be using the top shelf stuff, but *nobody* wants to use that dreck from 2007 era. It’s not worth it because it’s just that bad.

They also need to use MUCH higher temperatures for lead free. If you use the same temperatures used for lead based solder you will not get good joints. Many through hope components were not designed for lead free specifically.

@@johnjoyce The melting point of lead-free solder isn't that much higher than that of lead based. Using much higher temperatures brings a whole lot of issues. First: You get a much steeper temperature gradient within the joint, which can result in your solder oxidizing to the point it won't flow before the entire joint has reached working temperature. If you rely on the flux in the solder, that can burn off before it reaches the contacts on the circuit board, leaving oxide layers in the joint. Much higher temperatures also increase the risk that the glue that keeps the metal on the circuit board disintigrates during the soldering process. In my experience the best way to work with lead free solder is to work at the same temperature you would use with leaded solder (how hot that is depends on the thermal mass of the joint relative to the thermal mass of the soldering tip), prep the joints with liquid flux (not relying on the flux in the solder allows for soldering technique that wouldn't work if you rely solely on the flux in the solder), and most importantly: slow down a bit. Taking your time is particularly important if your solder is not eutectic - which applies to most of the cheaper lead-free options. Non-eutectic solders don't go straight from solid to liquid (or vice versa), but pass through a stage in which it has "doughy" consistency. And going from liquid into that doughy consistency is what happens when you add too much solder too quickly to the joint. That's a pain to deal with, because you're looking at unpredictable temperature gradients within the joint, which can result in voids and bubbles in the joint, that take experience to recognize and skill to fix. I think a lot of the problems attributed to lead free solder are actually the result of people not knowing how to handle the stuff.

@@MrAranton The melting point difference is 30+°C. You don't think that's significant?

Did a Fromel on my BJ,sounds fantastic.Gave the amp to my cousins son on good faith,he pawned the goddamn thing,I didn’t know he had a drug problem.Been wishing for that amp for a while,I also installed a warehouse speaker,that was a one of a kind blues jr.Oh well.

But, the Engineers are obeying the new guidelines established by the Corporate Environmental Compliance team....

@@alanmarcum2044 Right! Your on to it. Its not just finance, its the entire corporation lol. The entire company will have different departments pulling the product in different oftentimes non-productive directions for various reasons. I work in big corporate America so I live this shit every day haha.

I would assume the 2000's would mean 2000-2009.

its best just to use the old style sockets and divorce the tube from the PCB if you must use a PCB. But in this case, there isn't much on the PCB....it all fly's on those crappy ribbon cables over to the main board. The cables are not socketed and its stupid to run the wires in parallel like that.......obviously designed by somebody that went to school where they taught low voltage digital technology and not the old school obsolete technology. GO design computers and stay away from designing vacuum tube audio amplifiers.......>>>>>>cracked circuit boards were the nemesis in the transition to solid state and the modern PCB's with traces back in the day......other than bad solder joints coming out of the factory assembly line. I go way back as my father was an RCA dealer and we did service as part of the business.

@@mikecamps7226 Exactly, and spot on with everything you stated here. Ribbon cables have no damn place whatsoever in a musical instrument amplifier, for one thing. The potential for "crosstalk" is raised that much more, which leads to a host of more headaches. It's not that I have "bias" (pardon the pun, LOL!) against a PC board amp, they can be built correctly and with quality components, workmanship, and PC boards along with them. It's why Soldano amps are known for their fantastic sound, ruggedness, and reliability. Yes, you pay for that, but you also pay to avoid all the headaches of cheap crap. Hell, I owned a Blackheart Little Giant 5 watt amp, and to me, it was built very well, when I saw the traces on the PC board ( yes, I know...copper plated, not 100% copper) and the well laid out components, I knew what made it so good sounding. And yes, sadly, I sold it. To me, that little guy was the best amp I ever had.

I don't disagree. If the amp has the controls on the bottom, like a Marshal, that's easy. But if it has the controls on the top, you end up having to do some contortions that result in a more expensive chassis if you try to make the tubes point up.

I always use lead free solder in my diy builds. Pedals mixers etc. You can buy a cheap verion with 0.4% silver, which is terrible and won't flow, needs more heat to flow and takes longer to set, causing issues with weak joints and component damage. You can also buy, which I do, 4%silver. This flows well, has a slightly higher melting point and takes very little time to adjust to using. It is well over 5 times the price though. I personally wouldn't use anything else. But then again I don't have share holders to pamper and I'm not trying to trade on my good name with slip shod construction.

@@russellhltn1396 You do the contortions as required for wiring. Mounting tubes inverted causes overheating of the sockets and stresses the internals of the tube. Very poor engineering.

Well… I would have moved out of Fender after 3 failures… good luck with your 6th amp 😀

They would work, but their ripple current rating is pretty average. My go-to electrolytic caps are F&T for larger values, or Panasonic FM/FC/FR for smaller

@@DanFlashes99 Would Peavey have used the same lead free solder on the Classic series (2009)? Supreme/Bandit 90’s series?

@@RasCuban33 RoHS was implemented in 2004. Before that I think lead-free solder was not typically used in amps. After that, maybe but not necessarily

@@DanFlashes99 you’re awesome, thank you for the knowledge 👍🏽.

Dj’s are why there aren’t as many live bands and opportunities to play live if you have a band. Less dj and more musicians.

Exactly. Management hires engineers specifically to find cheaper ways to make things. Sometimes this leads to a better, more efficient design, but more often than not it leads to poor quality that has very little margin to failure hidden where no one can see.

I use Kester 60/40 .031 and .062, but mostly the .031.

Absolutely! I'm an engineer and just yesterday I had a scream fight with an accountant that was trying to tell me how to work. These people are asshats and a plight in humanity. Jesus I'm still raging. What a short sighted imbecile. Such an asshole.

But Fender will gladly spend the money on marketing instead. I’ve been anti-Fender since 2015 because of unneeded price hikes. I bought a $600 Yamaha that blows $2000 Fenders away QC wise. At this point every other company builds better Teles and Strats than Fender does.

A pre-2000 HRD is just guaranteed to have a fully toasted board with bad pads/traces and the garbage jacks. There is no such thing as a "vintage" HRD.

@@PsionicAudio so there it is. AC15 decided. Thanks

I would suggest that the accountants will have insisted the designers design in a way to prevent that. Every so often a round plug becomes a square one or a 3 pin plug becomes a 4 pin plug.

Early US made HRDs had leaded solder. Current Mexican ones lead free. I don't know when the change was implemented. Both use the same cheap caps and overheated low voltage supply.

Fender's been doing that since @ 1961. Not the root cause here.

@@PsionicAudio It's a root cause for damaging the sockets.

@Luther Blissett Keep adding special caveats and creating special situations to justify this poor practice. Sheesh.

It’s not that IC caps are inherently bad, but cap manufacturers make all kinds of caps at different qualities and price points.

@@lordofthemound3890 ive heard from more than one tech that they were more likely to leak.

Unless you can take a backup valves are a pain for gigging. A mosfet amp sounds great. In bar situations with poor acoustics and background noise, the valvey goodness does not really shine through. I spent some time in a shop, we would sit in the back sipping tea and polishing frets. The game was guitar and amp being played out front. We would often get the right guitar, rarely the amp.

@@andrewfrancis3591 it's the old catch 22. A tube amp can be quickly fixed if a tube fails, a mosfet goes and you're boned. Of course the mosfet amp is far less likely to fail in the first instance.

@@slidey1788 Still got my Selmer Thunderbird twin 30. It goes to the occasional jam. When I can find some young herbert to lift it. I retired it from gigging back in the 80s. I love valves like a vintage car.

The cabinet on the Silvertone was quite flimsy.

You don't want lead solder. You want leaded solder. 60/40.

@@PsionicAudio Would the same advice apply for work on stereo tube amps, i.e. EL84 fishers etc.?

The US ones fail that way too. Both use 1N4006s there. Wrong penny saved.

I wasn't talking Korg/Vox. They tend to be much better built than the Blues Juniors. That said, I've encountered plenty of faulty lead-free solder joints in Korg products over the past 20 years. Not all problens get service bulletins.

@@PsionicAudio Well, my Vox stays in my studio.

Is it a mechanical rattle you hear from the amp itself or is it coming through the speaker?

Maybe a microphonic tube?

I've worked on several amps where I found loose screws and washers in the chassis which were dropped during manufacturing and not found.

Tube rattle

The caps come at different price points. Fender is opting for cheaper caps.

Because their hand wired custom shop amps are usually not very good. Notice they used Sprague Atoms in the EC tweed series. But they messed up the EC Tremolux circuit pretty drastically.

There was decades of experience working with tin/lead solder, learning how to deal with the problems it might have had. I imagine those problems will get sorted through with tin/silver in time.

I noticed that also. My cheapo second hand Blackheart and Peavey amps are way better made with better PCB's and components. All have been used and abused and still sound great.

Peaveys were always built like tanks. Ask any rehearsal center and they will tell you Peaveys can take a lot more abuse than other amps. Too bad they are downsizing, looks like they have too much competition from Line6, Boss Katana and other cheap amps.

You can't form a real opinion of circuit board amps from a Blues Junior. Like forming your opinion of fried chicken based on only ever having had mcnuggets. '70s-'83 Marshalls all use PCBs, are correctly viewed as fantastic amps, and are prone to none of the flaws of the Blues Junior. Suhr, Diezel, Metropoulos, Soldano, Bogner, even some Friedmans, etc. The list of great amps using well designed high quality PCBs is long.

@@PsionicAudio I definitely wish I had known about the "fried chicken" amps...would probably have been happier spending a little more money out the gate buying a higher quality amp. McNugget is a good description of the BJ. Good to know there are reliable PCB amps out there. I probably spent the same amount in mods and repairs versus buying a higher quality amp in the first place. I am tempted to look into a Vox AC15C1. I like your videos and how honest and informative they are. Thanks!

I still have the original 40 year old caps in my fender. Yes, theoretically they should be changed I know. But they still test ok and are in as new physical condition. Maybe it helps that the amp gets played every day in a stable temperature environment.