https://www.facebook.com/1979853302286287/

San Diego Guitar and Amp

Name: San Diego Guitar and Amp
Address: San Diego, CA, US
Telephone: (858) 952-6311

Home
United States
San Diego, CA
San Diego Guitar and Amp

San Diego Guitar and Amp is a small electronics repair shop catering to the local music scene.

We specialize in guitar wiring/modifications and tube amp repairs and renovations.

10/01/2022

The AKG BX-10 “portable” 2-channel spring reverb! 1970s technology, made in Germany. Known for having a very smooth sound, not ‘boingy’ like most spring reverb units. These reverbs are highly sought after and rarely for sale, so I was very intrigued to work on it and give it a try!

Features: 2 independent channels, 2-band eq (high/low shelf), 3 decay lengths, built-in limiter, adjustable input signal.

This unit wasn’t functioning when it was brought in. I replaced all electrolytic and tantalum caps, upgraded bridging diode, installed an IEC power jack, cleaned the pots and gave it 4 new rubber feet. Both channels are working fine now!

Swipe left for the guts and a sound demo

Audio sample: Roland TR-66 Rhythm Arranger

05/10/2022

Such a beautiful, versatile, and increasingly popular (💵💵💵) analog 8-track recording deck/mixer combo.

This Tascam 388 was in for some restorative work and basic maintenance. I rebuilt the power supply, replaced all meter bridge lamps, calibrated record and reproduce signals, minimized crosstalk, and biased for ATR tape.

Made in Japan, 1985

01/15/2022

Sometimes you have to get crafty to repair an old synth. I’m working on a Moog Prodigy that has a faulty 10KB ‘frequency cutoff’ pot. A new replacement part simply isn’t available so I had to repair the old pot with parts from a new pot. This is how you do it!

Background music: “Half Way There” by with keys from

10/07/2021

Hammond Porta B Organ. All tube electric organ from the 1970s made in the USA. The Porta B was supposed to be a “portable” organ for the gigging musician eventhough it weighs about 150 Lbs and definitely takes 2 people to lift! Though it isn’t as grand as a B3, it does have a full tone wheel, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th percussion, chorus and reverb which provides great organ tones. It has a port to accept and control a Leslie speaker too. It is more comparable to a Hammond L100.

This one came in with some busted black keys, a couple stuck notes, no reverb and in sore need of a recap, cleaning and lubrication. I also added a grounded power cord and safety fuse.

Sounds great now and all functions work again! My pal and owner of the organ, Tim Conroy gives a nice demo of the Porta B sound in the video.

10/01/2021

Sears Silvertone model 1485. The biggest, baddest amp in the Silvertone lineup! Made in the USA by Danelectro in the 1960s. 120 watts of tube power! 2 channels - one clean and the other has tremolo and reverb.

This particular amp was barely working when it was brought in and needed a lot of work to make it play well, safely and reliably. All electrolytic caps were replaced, adjusted high voltage power supply, replaced the input jacks, and fixed a speaker cable. Only thing I couldn’t fix was the reverb tank which has a busted transducer.

09/10/2021

RCA Type 77-DX ribbon microphone & Ampex 600 preamp. Early 1950s design. Complementary aesthetics, function and sound.

The RCA mic came to my shop for some basic modifications. I couldn’t resist the chance to “test” it out and record some drum kit and guitar sounds on it. An incredible piece of recording history and still a relevant and top quality sound.

07/21/2021

Bringing this TEAC A-2340 back from a deep slumber. Cleaned the motors, cleaned the heads, changed the belts, got the pinch roller and counter working. Now the basic functions work and I’ll start with the electrical calibration.

-2340

07/15/2021

Rhythm Ace FR-2L from the 1960s. Made in Japan. Has some sweet tones and rhythm. After all, it is the Rhythm Ace!

It came into the shop making unwanted tones. It requires a little cleaning and tweaking. Sounds great now!

05/11/2021

A Fender Blues Jr III - A modern classic amp! - The basic setup I do includes the modifications made popular by (RIP Bill):

-tone stack modification (improved eq values and caps)
-increased power supply capacitance
- Switchcraft input jack
- Un-sparkle mod
- improved coupling capacitors
- add trimpot for bias adjustment

01/05/2021

The mighty Realistic Concertmate MG-1 made by Moog and sold by Radio Shack! (Only from 1981-1983)

This unit was not producing any sounds and was very grimey in the faders, pots, and switches. When I opened it up I found many cracked solder joints and a fried capacitor. It’s all cleaned and fixed up now - sounds so nice and fat with endless tone and soundscape possibilities!

-1

Address

San Diego, CA

Telephone

(858) 952-6311

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when San Diego Guitar and Amp posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.