Vintage Radio and Amateur Ham Radio Tube Amplifier Repair

Minor Repair $38.50

This includes repair of cables, replacement of batteries, broken wires on battery powered equipment etc.

Major Repair $65.00 - $165 Per hour.

This is considered normal repair. Usually involves a complete tear down of the equipment, diagnosis, repair, calibration and check out of the device. This includes cleaning of chassis, controls and any adjustments that are required.

A SERVICE CALL TO YOUR LOCATION IN AUSTIN AND SURROUNDING AREAS IS $65.00 CASH NON-REFUNDABLE

My repair rate varies depending on nature of repair, (plus parts and shipping)

Estimates are $35.00 cash paid in advance, non refundable. When you commit to the repair, the $35.00 estimate fee will be applied the repair bill.

After repair, all equipment will receive a free 24 hour burn in period on the bench and retested.

My turn-around is typically 2-4 weeks after I receive your equipment, unless waiting on parts or manuals. There will be a nominal fee added if manuals need to be ordered.

I will send you a paypal invoice after repairs are made for easy and secure payment with your credit or debit card. Or you may pay when you pick up your equipment. You will still get a printed or handwritten copy of the repair ticket.

I will also accept cash or money orders if you prefer. NO PERSONAL CHECKS.

I will keep you up to date via e-mail or phone, your choice.

I guarantee my workmanship for 90 days.

Please send email and send pictures to introduce me to yourself and your sick equipment or call 512*662-5986. If you can take a few moments to describe the symptoms, it will allow me, within a couple of days, to respond with a reasonably accurate estimate of what it will cost to bring your set back to life.

Hopefully, this information will allow you to provide me with the information I need in one visit, so we do not have to spend days trading correspondence to accomplish the same end.

BROADCAST EQUIPMENT - TRANSMITTER

I service most popular brands of popular transmitters, radio and television.

HAM/CB EQUIPMENT

NOTE: CB radios WIIL NOT be tuned or modified out of FCC specs. Tuning or "peaking" you CB Radio is actually a disservice to your radio. It was designed for 4 watts output at no more than 100% modulation. Peaking the finals will put a strain on them an shorten their life. You radio will not "get out" better than it would if the carrier was increased, because the modulator will have a hard time trying to make 100% modulation on an increased carrier.

HAM AMPLIFIERS

I service most brands of amplifiers.

Tube amplifiers 10-160 Meters.

Solid state 2-Meter and 70cm

YOU MUST PROVIDE A COPY OF VALID FCC LICENCE, OR INCLUDE CALL SIGN, FIRST AND LAST NAME VIA EMAIL OR TELEPHONE.

ANTIQUE RADIO REPAIR (Also applies to tube guitar amps)

Antique radio repair is defined as follows:

(Much of this information also applies to Guitar Amplifiers)

Antique radio repair means doing only what is necessary to get an old radio playing. Typically, a repaired antique radio will stop playing again because another old part fails. Our focus is on complete restoration (see below), ensuring years of reliable service. We will repair sets that have had a previous restoration.

Antique radio restoration includes replacement of all paper and electrolytic capacitors, out of tolerance resistors, bad wiring and insulation, defective tubes, pilot lamps, transformers, switches and controls. Also includes replacement of the power cord, minor speaker repair, installation of a safety fuse, chassis cleaning and alignment of tuned circuits to ensure maximum output and sensitivity. We can also install new capacitors under the casing of old capacitors (when possible) for those collectors who like to keep the antique radio chassis looking as original as possible.

We use a speaker repair service for speaker cones that are beyond what we can repair in-house. Original parts are salvaged whenever possible.

Please do not attempt to power up an antique radio of unknown condition, shorts or fire could result!

Do you have an antique radio collecting dust in your basement, attic, or chicken coop? Want to bring that family heirloom back to life? First DO NOT PLUG IT IN. Second, DO NOT PLUG IT IN. Did I mention that you should NOT PLUG IT IN?

I can check out and repair your radio for you. I provide basic repair service of many table-top tube radios and small console radios. At this time, I only offer repair of your radio's electronics. For a more complete restoration of your radio I recommend For Your Listening Pleasure in Binghamton, NY.

Please note that I am located in the Austin, TX area. Set drop-offs and pick-ups are by appointment. I do not recommend shipping of any sets, due to the cost and fragile nature of an antique radio.

Also, because I do repairs part-time out of my home, I am only able to accommodate a few sets at a time. I'll let you know if I am able to accommodate your set, or if there may be a delay before I can accept your radio for repair.

Some probable symptoms of an off-specification cap would be:

muddy sound - lacking strong clear bass, muffled or lifeless response;

reduced dynamic range - lacking the ability to repeatedly give percussive passages without "squashing down" or "loosing it", the second shot is not as loud as the first;

early distortion - an amp may otherwise sound fine but become dirtier at lower volumes and or settings;

bad distortion - awful, broken sounding, non-musical distortion that gets worse as you turn it up;

no sustain - cutting out can also be caused by improper bias adjustment;

too much bass - swimming obnoxious low tones that cant be dialed out;

tinny sound - an uncharacteristic brightness pervades, while a loss of volume may be noticed.

loss of volume - caps have a lot to do with apparent and actual loudness.

Tube Amp Bias

Maximize tube life while providing a strong healthy tone quality, by proper adjustment to release the optimal tube operating characteristics. Tubes initially drift quite a bit from their correct bias point. For this reason, it is always suggested that you re tube with burned-in tubes. This means that a new tube will change its characteristics quite a bit, and that once a day or two of use is on the tube, that the characteristics will stabilize to a large extent. This is very important to understand and use. Over time your tubes will require a different correct bias voltage in order to run at optimum performance. Failure to keep tubes properly biased can reduce an otherwise fine tube's life span by years.

Amp Maintenance

Includes tube amp bias, cleaning potentiometers, cleaning and re-tensioning tube sockets, diagnose and advise on general operation, specifications, condition of all tubes, power supply and failed or missing components.

Due to the fact that these capacitors are under less stress, they generally outlive their rated life span of 10 years. Although we recommend replacing these caps no later than the 20 year mark, most players choose to perform this work during the ten year service for sonic and safety concerns.Since these caps are in the audio circuit, unlike the power supply caps, you can expect a difference in the tonality of the amp. Specifically, the amp will sound like it did when it was new. In general terms, capacitors will drift from their rated value until they are outside the stated tolerance or fail. When they fail it is usually due to leaking of the electrolyte in the case of power supply caps, or breakdown of the dielectric in the case of electrolytic caps in the audio circuit. Depending on where in the circuit the cap is, the effect on the way an amp sounds can be varied.

Some probable symptoms of an off-specification cap would be:

muddy sound - lacking strong clear bass, muffled or lifeless response;

reduced dynamic range - lacking the ability to repeatedly give percussive passages without "squashing down" or "loosing it", the second shot is not as loud as the first;

early distortion - an amp may otherwise sound fine but become dirtier at lower volumes and or settings;

bad distortion - awful, broken sounding, non-musical distortion that gets worse as you turn it up;

no sustain - cutting out can also be caused by improper bias adjustment;

too much bass - swimming obnoxious low tones that can't be dialed out;

tinny sound - an uncharacteristic brightness pervades, while a loss of volume may be noticed.

loss of volume - caps have a lot to do with apparent and actual loudness.