Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

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laurie
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Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:08 pm

An amp from 1970 picked up at the local pawn store for USD $90. I believe it is essentially a vintage Vox AC15 clone.

Needs re-cap plus clean-out of the pots etc. It should work just fine after some routine maintenance...

Let's get started!
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Last edited by laurie on Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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laurie
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:13 pm

Waiting for parts. Next installment should be in about 2 weeks.

These are the electrolytic caps that are being changed:
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Last edited by laurie on Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Franzoni
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by Franzoni » Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:51 pm

Chassis looks very clean for an amp nearly 50 years old...!

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laurie
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Thu Jan 03, 2019 1:16 pm

Franzoni wrote:
Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:51 pm
Chassis looks very clean for an amp nearly 50 years old...!
The joy of living in an extremely low humidity environment here on the prairies in Canada.

A few years ago I sold a 1966 Fender Super Reverb amp that came from here in Canada to a guy in Australia. About 2 days later I get a frantic call from the new owner claiming that I'd sold him a "fake"... he had pulled the chassis out and he was convinced there was no way the amp could be 50+ years old and not have corrosion/discoloration. I eventually settled things down by asking him to check online the historical weather here in Canada... low humidity equals no corrosion.

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Pepe
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by Pepe » Thu Jan 03, 2019 1:30 pm

Funny story! :)
Pepe at YouTube and Instagram

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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by Gasgano » Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:40 pm

:lol: You cannot understand how dry it is until you've been in -10°C temperatures in Saskatoon that feel like +5°C in the more humid Montreal.
"People who are late are usually in a better mood than the people waiting for them to show up."

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laurie
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Thu Jan 03, 2019 11:02 pm

This is the "smoking gun" ... why the amp ended up in the pawn store. It looks like this 5W resistor has been failing/arcing-over for years...
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by sclitheroe » Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:37 am

Gasgano wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:40 pm
:lol: You cannot understand how dry it is until you've been in -10°C temperatures in Saskatoon that feel like +5°C in the more humid Montreal.
Yeah, even -20 in Calgary is a far different experience than -5 in Toronto or Montreal

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laurie
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:09 am

Starting the re-cap. Old caps are definitely "dry".
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Re: Ace Tone Rockey tube amp rebuild in pictures

Post by laurie » Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:11 am

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