Stripped pine cab on Peavey Deuce? And perhaps dodgy repair found? And Beer!

robgilmo · June 2019

Apparently my Deuce has a lovely pine cab under the tolex, finger jointed ends on the corners. Im pulling it apart today to sort a power amp socket, cant make up my mind if I should strip the cab and finish it in something nice, what do you guys reckon? http://www.smpartizan.com/?p=5243

robgilmo · June 2019

Its done! Tolex came off in one piece, so if I need to put some new tolex back I have a template. I did find this inside the amp, looks like an old repair where it let the smoke out, does that look like a proper repair? Or a bodge?

robgilmo · June 2019

Stripping the cab, the tolec came off fairly easily, it left a lot of glue behind but revealed some nice knarly pine with finger joints. Im off to screw fix to get some sanding sheets for the ROS to get the glue off and with a bit of luck I might get this finished today.

ICBM · June 2019

I was going to say don't strip it unless it's tatty, and that the pine would likely be rough and knotty, but too late now...

The repair is adequate. I would probably have scraped or drilled the board where the burn mark is to make absolutely certain there was no carbonisation left, or cut a lot more of the damaged trace away and jumpered over the gap with a long insulated wire, but if it hasn't arced by now it isn't likely to.

robgilmo · June 2019

It looks as though it has had some extra components soldered on there, but Im not great at this stuff, I fix broken cars for a living so anything other than car related electronics is beyond me. I dont mind knotty, I was kind of hoping for it, when I put a finish on it I will try not to let it look like it came from Ikea.

ICBM · June 2019

The component connected to the pad to the left of the burn mark is the grid stopper resistor, it's under the board under the PWR lettering, and goes to the pad with the white wire. The one for the other valve goes to the left from the far end of that pad, and then runs up to the second valve.

The solder patch on the trace to the right of the burn (HT supply to output transformer, red wire) is not associated with any component is probably the result of clumsy soldering when the bridging wire was put on - not a problem.

The thing that would concern me is that an arc here would put high voltage from the plate connection (brown wire) into the grid stopper, and back up via the white wire into the bias circuitry which can blow other things on the main PCB. I can't see any sign of damage though, so it looks like it got away with it.

robgilmo · June 2019

Is the voltage in the area that could ark a constant? Or could playing the amp at a good volume cause it to arc/fail?

The previous owner did say he gigged this amp in the past so Im sure it was used loud, but you never know.

ICBM · June 2019

Constantly high, but rises and falls with signal level as well. The arc could have been caused by a loose speaker connection, that tends to generate large flyback voltages on the primary side of the OT - or by a spot of damp getting onto the board. It's always most likely to arc there if other things are equal since the highest voltage in the amp - full positive HT to full negative bias voltage - is present across that gap.

robgilmo · June 2019

Do you think it will be safe to use like it is at high volumes? I dont play it loud but one day, you never know.

ICBM · June 2019

robgilmo said:

Do you think it will be safe to use like it is at high volumes? I dont play it loud but one day, you never know.

If it hasn't arced again it's unlikely to. Poor speaker connections are much more of a risk than high volume anyway, so make sure they're tight, or preferably soldered.

robgilmo · June 2019

The ROS made short work of the glue, I am a bit disappointed that Peavey didn't whittle and carve the cab out of a single piece of wood, but at least all the panels are one piece! Finger joints look good, the top piece looks like piranha pine so its basically red, it might look odd if I am not careful how I finish it.

So, what do I do? I have in my shed shellac, wax and varnish, various stains and some other bits and bobs that I used for repairing antique furniture.

French polishing Pine? It can look Ok but not for this I dont think, Wax always looks good and will tone the colour down a bit, it will also be a matt finish though, Oil? I dont like using oil, hard woods maybe but on Pine I'm not so sure. Varnish? Naaah.

So wax it is, wax will be a twat to remove if I ever want to put Tolex back on this and glue wont stick to it, but it can be removed with turps.

Or do I just put new Tolex on there? Bright Red might look Ok on this amp?

Any thoughts guys?

The hardware is all kind of rusted and aged, corners, handle, and the plates that hold the amp in place, so I am veering towards wax.

robgilmo · June 2019

ICBM said:

robgilmo said:

Do you think it will be safe to use like it is at high volumes? I dont play it loud but one day, you never know.

If it hasn't arced again it's unlikely to. Poor speaker connections are much more of a risk than high volume anyway, so make sure they're tight, or preferably soldered.

Thank you, I soldered the connections when we were trying to figure out why it had that problem that turned out to be the mains plug. Thanks again ICBM, your advice and help is always greatly appreciated,

normula1 · June 2019

Well I thought the pic you showed at the start was great, so (finished) bare wood it is for me

SimonC · June 2019

Stella? At 4pm??

robgilmo · June 2019

Starting early!

NPP · June 2019

SimonC said:

Stella? At 4pm??

you can't do DIY without beer surely?

Would oiling, waxing and polishing be too much of an effort? I finished my writing desk (as well as my Strat) with @WezV 's wet sending technique - oil, wet sand with fine grit paper and more oil, let dry, repeat, two coats of wax, polish. Gives a hard-wearing, glossy finish.