Help! Tele electronics question

Punchy

Punchy

Slacker Supreme
Well, I'm trying to get my shit together for when I have two arms again so I drug out the Valve Jr. head, the Peavey Backstage 50 I'm using as a cab, and the Tele. Cleaned up the surface of the amp and cab as best I could (is there a good way to scrub heavy Tolex?), plugged in the Tele, and turned it up. Well, the pots and switch in the Tele are noisy as hell, the cable wouldn't stay in the jack, and the volume knob on the Valve Jr. was static-riffic too. Is it worth getting some contact cleaner to blast everything, or would I be better off getting something like the standard wiring kit from StewMac to just start fresh for the guitar? I'm leaning toward refresh, the poor girl has been neglected too long.

As for the amp, I can't imagine replacing a volume pot would be brain surgery, these amps had all kinds of DIY mod kits back in the day, but I don't necessarily want to poke around in a tube amp if anybody thinks that's a bad idea for a noob. I have successfully changed the tubes previously, so I got that going for me.

If anybody's got advice one way or the other I'd much appreciate it. Otherwise I'll just wing it and hope for the best :grin:
 
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You may be able to bend back your jack to how it was when new. Everybody should have a can of Deoxit D5 BUT, use it on pots in the guitar and or the jack.

"I don't necessarily want to poke around in a tube amp if anybody thinks that's a bad idea for a noob."

Yes. I think it's a very bad idea. The capacitors in the amp need to be discharged, then checked to make sure none of them recharged. Maybe others smarter than me can confirm but, I don't think replacing a pot or, spraying one in the amp is a good idea unless you know voltage is zero.

Old Peavey tolex is very grain-y. Before you get it wet, ' yes, I know you already did, it's just going to be more stuborn' vacuum it. Then use a scrub brush, without water, then vacuum it again. Then start using the scrub brush wet, if you have a wet/dry vac, vacuum it, if not, use a bunch of thick terry cloth towels. Then repeat, repeat, repeat.
 
Bob411 said:
You may be able to bend back your jack to how it was when new. Everybody should have a can of Deoxit D5 BUT, use it on pots in the guitar and or the jack.

"I don't necessarily want to poke around in a tube amp if anybody thinks that's a bad idea for a noob."

Yes. I think it's a very bad idea. The capacitors in the amp need to be discharged, then checked to make sure none of them recharged. Maybe others smarter than me can confirm but, I don't think replacing a pot or, spraying one in the amp is a good idea unless you know voltage is zero.

Old Peavey tolex is very grain-y. Before you get it wet, ' yes, I know you already did, it's just going to be more stuborn' vacuum it. Then use a scrub brush, without water, then vacuum it again. Then start using the scrub brush wet, if you have a wet/dry vac, vacuum it, if not, use a bunch of thick terry cloth towels. Then repeat, repeat, repeat.
Click to expand...

As always while working with electricity, my default is to ♪have one hand in my pocket♫ just in case. But yeah, maybe I'll just turn the knob on the Valve Jr. a bunch and see if I can get the majority of the noise to go away for now. Think canned air from the front help, hurt, or waste canned air?

Re: the tolex, we do have a handi-vac with a brush attachment, so I'll try that then ramp it up. Highest priority is the sound, I'm less worried about the cosmetics :thu:
 
I had an Epi Valve Jr amp head, many long years ago. I had fun with it for about a year. Then, I plugged it into the wrong cabinet one day, cranked it up loud and smoked the output transformer.

I’m glad I learned the impedance mismatch lesson with that amp, rather than something more expensive. The experience saved many amp heads that followed.
 
Punchy said:
As always while working with electricity, my default is to ♪have one hand in my pocket♫ just in case. But yeah, maybe I'll just turn the knob on the Valve Jr. a bunch and see if I can get the majority of the noise to go away for now. Think canned air from the front help, hurt, or waste canned air?

Re: the tolex, we do have a handi-vac with a brush attachment, so I'll try that then ramp it up. Highest priority is the sound, I'm less worried about the cosmetics :thu:
Click to expand...
pot.jpg

No on the canned air. Maybe on just turning it back and forth. On the pot on the left, see the dent on the left side of it of it? at the top and bottom of that dent, it's open/no metal. That's where you would squirt the Deoxit. This link shows the straw attached to the nozzle to squirt into the hole.
www.walmart.com

DeoxIT D5S-6 Spray, More Than A Contact Cleaner, 142g, Integrated Straw - Walmart.com

Buy DeoxIT D5S-6 Spray, More Than A Contact Cleaner, 142g, Integrated Straw at Walmart.com
www.walmart.com
 
Bob411 said:
View attachment 124000
No on the canned air. Maybe on just turning it back and forth. On the pot on the left, see the dent on the left side of it of it? at the top and bottom of that dent, it's open/no metal. That's where you would squirt the Deoxit. This link shows the straw attached to the nozzle to squirt into the hole.
www.walmart.com

DeoxIT D5S-6 Spray, More Than A Contact Cleaner, 142g, Integrated Straw - Walmart.com

Buy DeoxIT D5S-6 Spray, More Than A Contact Cleaner, 142g, Integrated Straw at Walmart.com
www.walmart.com
Click to expand...

Right on. Found this in the meantime, pretty much same advice:

I did figure out the cord/jack issue. . . I was trying to plug a right angle plug into the recessed-cup jack and it just wasn't going in all the way. Switched to a straight plug and it worked fine :embarrassed:

Been way too long since I've done any guitar stuff, but it's coming back :grin:

edit: And after fiddling with both guitar and amp for a while most of the noise has been eliminated. I'll still probably hit it all with a little Deoxit when it arrives just to clear any remaining dust away, but I think I'm ready to re-start my journey once I'm out of the damn arm sling :thu:
 
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Punchy said:
Right on. Found this in the meantime, pretty much same advice:

I did figure out the cord/jack issue. . . I was trying to plug a right angle plug into the recessed-cup jack and it just wasn't going in all the way. Switched to a straight plug and it worked fine :embarrassed:

Been way too long since I've done any guitar stuff, but it's coming back :grin:

edit: And after fiddling with both guitar and amp for a while most of the noise has been eliminated. I'll still probably hit it all with a little Deoxit when it arrives just to clear any remaining dust away, but I think I'm ready to re-start my journey once I'm out of the damn arm sling :thu:
Click to expand...


Right angle plug thing sounds like something I would do. When there is too much shit going on, I tend to overlook the simple stuff.

"I'll still probably hit it all with a little Deoxit when it arrives just to clear any remaining dust away,"

The problem is oxidation. It's a chemical reaction between bare metal and oxygen that forms a film on the metal. They film acts as an insulator and needs to be removed. Either mechanically, or chemically. Oxygen is your enemy, not dust. That's why the canned air idea was especially bad. I'll give it more oxygen and see if that helps. :grin: Fun side fact- we need oxygen to live but, oxygen is what eventually kills us.
 
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