Recap Time For Tweed Champ?

[Shnook]

Looking for some advice here on my '59 Tweed Champ. I bought it last year and was told at the time it had had a recent cap job. However, I'm no expert, but the cap job looks pretty crappy to me. I took it to a tech when I got it and he said the work was sloppy, but as long as it was functional it was fine. Well, the amp sounds great till you turn it passed 3. And yes I know Champs break up early, but after 3 it's not a pleasant breakup. Bass notes fart out and high notes sounds as if they have a nasty harmonic counterpart. In short, I can't push the amp to get that classic Tweed Champ tone. The original speaker was replaced with a Weber after I bought the amp. The amp made the same sounds before and after the speaker change. I've swapped out tubes as well with the same result. Should I look into having the caps replaced next. It's an awesome amp, but I'd love to hear it passed 3.

Thanks for any advice on this.

[John Phillips]

If the cap job has been done poorly, have it done again. You have nothing to lose except a small amount of money since it's not original like that anyway.

FWIW, I had a '59 Champ once (don't remind me I should never have sold it :() which I got cheap because it was making awful farty/harsh noises when cranked. Another tech had changed a lot of stuff - including the speaker, luckily keeping the original - to no avail, so I bought it optimistically thinking I could do better... how complicated can a Champ be? It had me stumped though, until I was testing it into a dummy load - the OT was making a huge racket. The core had come loose in its frame and was buzzing about. I took it off, carefully re-crimped the frame, saturated it with new varnish and put it back... cured :).

That might not be the problem here, but it's worth mentioning.

Also check that the cathode resistor and cap for the 6V6 are OK.

[PRNDL]

>> the cap job looks pretty crappy to me.

In what way?
If the wires are bent, it doesn't matter.
If the solder joints look strange, redo them.

>> after 3 it's not a pleasant breakup. Bass notes fart out and high notes sounds as if they have a nasty harmonic counterpart.

This sounds more like a bad tube.
It may also be biased too hot, or one of the resistors has drifted.

If you have a meter, start by measuring voltages, and then measure all the resistors.
The best way is to lift one lead of the resistor off the board. There aren't that many in a Champ.

[Shnook]

Thanks for the advice on this. I'm gonna start looking one by one into each of these suggestions. I'll report back once I find the bug.