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Post by walshb 🦒 on Apr 26, 2020 13:47:52 GMT -5
I have a Fuchs Four Aces combo that developed an intermittent problem. Initially, it quit working after playing a couple of songs at a church practice. No sound, and the lights on the foot switch wouldn't light any more. After bringing it home, it would usually work for about 10 or 15 seconds after turning it on, and then quit again.
To make a long story short, after several failed attempts, I finally found a capacitor on the circuit board that felt loose. None of the other caps felt loose. I unsoldered it from the board and found one straight pin, and one bent at a 90 degree angle with a little solder on it. I was able to bend the pin straight and get it soldered properly back onto the board, and everything started working great again! This morning I tested it for a couple of hours with no issues.
Lucky?! Yes! I sure didn't find that on the first try! I was persistent because I was convinced it was just a bad connection somewhere. It saved me the cost of round trip shipping to Fuchs and paying for a repair, because they don't give out schematics and there's nobody that I know of locally that works on them.
I've said it many times, I'd rather be lucky than good!
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Post by Leftee on Apr 26, 2020 16:06:40 GMT -5
It’s like being dealt 4 aces!!!
See what I did there?
Great job!
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Post by stratmanx on Apr 26, 2020 17:19:52 GMT -5
Your awfully lucky it wasn't a filter cap you were yankin' on, or else you would be Fuch-ed up for sure !
<LOL>
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Post by LTB on Apr 26, 2020 17:28:44 GMT -5
Congratulations, Glad you got it fixed and not shocked in the process
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Post by walshb 🦒 on Apr 26, 2020 17:39:34 GMT -5
Thanks for the congrats and concerns, guys! I'm aware of the dangers of working on amps. At the same time, I'm obviously not trained or very experienced in working on them. Therefore, I'm careful and any time I'm unsure of anything, I make sure I'm using rubber handled tools. I also did troubleshooting for much of my career, just not on amplifiers.
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Post by LTB on Apr 26, 2020 22:43:25 GMT -5
Thanks for the congrats and concerns, guys! I'm aware of the dangers of working on amps. At the same time, I'm obviously not trained or very experienced in working on them. Therefore, I'm careful and any time I'm unsure of anything, I make sure I'm using rubber handled tools. I also did troubleshooting for much of my career, just not on amplifiers. Awesome! Great job
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 558
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Post by pdf64 on Apr 27, 2020 3:45:52 GMT -5
Well done! Sounds like you were thorough and meticulous, as well as lucky; luck usually only takes you so far :-)
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Post by bluzcat on May 5, 2020 8:02:30 GMT -5
Great job! It is rewarding to get something working again.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on May 5, 2020 12:36:17 GMT -5
Nice work!
Oftentimes a skid mark on a cap or resistor or on a board near the blown component is a good clue that the part has released the magic smoke.
But poor/cracked solder joints are often difficult to find on visual inspection; you have to trace the signal to find them. You can also sometimes find them without a signal tracer by very gently moving each component with a wooden chopstick while sending signal through. This is dangerous because the chassis is live.
Be careful *in* there! One hand in your pocket at all times.
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Post by LTB on May 5, 2020 20:15:09 GMT -5
So Peegoo, you would think 20 years into the 21st Century they would find a way to incorporated fail safe design to inhibit the release of Magic Smoke? What's with that
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on May 5, 2020 22:17:34 GMT -5
I dunno, LTB.
I've never been able to put the Magic Smoke back into a part, so how they do it in the first place at the factory is a big mystery to me!
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