Welcome, all! This new blog is designed to address some of the many questions I receive regularly from musicians about technical issues. We’ll cover a variety of topics, and I welcome comments and questions.

First, a quick introduction. I’m Frank, and I am the founder, owner and president of Studio Sound Electronics.   I have nearly 50 years' experience in amp repair.   Although I no longer repair amplifiers myself, I want to share what knowledge I have gained along the way.   As a bit of background, I earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1970, did graduate course work following that, and  spent 35 years in the telecommunications industry as a senior engineer at BellSouth and AT&T.   During that time, I also began to repair guitar amplifiers for various music stores in the Louisville, Kentucky area.    I started Studio Sound Electronics in 1997 in order to provide an online source for technicians and do-it-yourselfers to find the parts they needed to repair their amps.   So, let's get started ...

To Mod or Not to Mod Fender Amps?

Modifications (or “mods”) is one of the most common requests we hear about.  As musicians search for that elusive tone, many seem to be willing to tweak the features and tone of the instruments and amplifiers they already own.

Now, there are two schools of thought on modifications.     The first philosophy seeks to … well, leave things alone.    If the amp or guitar you currently have doesn’t offer the features or tone that you are looking for, then you need to look for a replacement guitar or amp that does.

Certainly, this is a valid approach.    However, it can be a bit self-defeating unless you have deep pockets and a lot of time on your hands for testing amplifiers in music stores.    And … you may never find the stock instrument or amplifier that satisfies all of your needs.

Probably a more popular concept among most musicians is to locate the gear that suits you best, and then consider modding it (if you are so inclined) or having it modded to fill any additional requirements.

If I talked about all of the guitar amplifier mods that are commonly requested, I could build a library.   So, I’ll touch on the most common.    One of the most requested modifications that I have is the “blackface” mod for silverface Fenders.    When CBS bought Fender Musical Instruments from Leo Fender in 1965, they continued the product line pretty much unchanged for two or three years.   But then they started to tinker with the designs as well as the cosmetics.  By the time they brought out the silverface versions in the late 60’s and 70’s, they had made some changes to the amplifier designs which most musicians today believe were not in the best interest of tone quality.    So, the blackface mod is designed to take a silverface Fender and change the electronics back to the Leo Fender design.     In a nutshell, this changes the tube balance control back to a true bias control, beefs up the bias supply filtering, changes the resistance network around the phase inverter tube, cleans up the dressing of the wires, and removes the snubber capacitors on the output tubes.     The result is an amplifier that sounds fuller, more sparkling, has a more pleasing breakup when driven, and can now be biased properly when new matched pairs or quads of power tubes are installed.

The Fender Blues Junior is also frequently modified with the power supply stiffening and the Twin Tone Stack mod.    Another mod for the Blues Junior involves adding an internal bias control.    The fixed bias on the Blues Junior generally runs the bias much too hot.    It sounds pretty good, but your EL84 power tubes are being roasted.     The bias control allows them to run cooler while still maintaining a good tone – and they will last considerably longer.

For Fender mod kits, see our Mod Page.

As I said, covering all of the amplifier mods would take a complete library.   But if you desire it, in many cases there is a solution for your amplifier issue.  Until next time, I’m Frank the Tech Guy.