Everything I read point to that the problem is a cap(s). I think I'm just going to change all the caps in the od channel starting with the B+

BTW: does anyone know how to get the switches off? I can't really pull out the boards as the switches are mounted to the chassis and they have very short wires to the boards. I might just unsolder them though

edit: these should be ok right?

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Vis ... OFtC0ic%3d

Here is some more information I found that might help....

http://archive.ampage.org/threads/6/gar ... C50-1.html

I would use jumpers to a good solid ground point on all suspicious ground points to see if that helps at all.


If you lived on Long Island you could bring it to my house and I would torture that VC50 until it did what I told it to do. And if that didn't work I would have my dog spot breath on it until it melted....

If only we all lived on Long Island.

'twould be one ridonkulous fucking mapsiparty

I've never banged a switch.

The schematic has the filter caps labeled as 15uf... I should be ok with 22uf right? 22uf electrolytic caps seem to be more readily available and about a dollar cheap

Yarp, 22uF should be fine.

Yep thats totally fine. Buy 105C rated ones at 450V and they'll last an eternity. 22u is cheap enough for such extravagance.
The slight increase in capacitance will tighten the low end a little. The valve wizard as always has a nifty article on filtering:
http://www.freewebs.com/valvewizard1/smoothing.html

Is it working yet?

Well, I don't know about it working, but he has not managed to burn down Puerto Rico yet. So that's something.

Everytime I enter my room it looks as me and says... "BUY THE DAMN CAPS ALREADY!!!!! "

Fuck fixing that shit. If it has already developed speech while it is broken, it is only a matter of time after you repair it that it will develop self-awareness.

ok lets do this... the cheapest(but decent) I have found are these:

http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/TAD/T ... minal.html

which I read are relabeled F&Ts which in turn I read that F&T are prtty decent caps....

F&T are indeed pretty good caps. Back before there were more options, folks used to recommend them as a higher end choice over stuff like the Illinois and Xicon stuff. I usually went Xicon myself, as they tended to be proper inexpensive, while the F&T tended to run a bit more pricey.

I have used a lot of cheap shit caps also. I bought a few totally offbrand low ESR chinese ones from Apex Jr. that were about as cheap as cheap comes: http://www.apexjr.com/capacitorA.html (just note what the voltage rating is. i got some of the 450v/47u ones that IIRC are still in my amp.) [As an aside also: Apex Jr is a pretty great place. Run by a dood who used to(maybe still does) poast on 18watt.com builder forums, he often has lots of random surplus-y inexpensive bits. Also: teflon/PFTE wire for map-building. Very quick shipper too.]

Anyhoo, the only caps that i would not really ever use are the Illinois ones, because they are the only ones that i have personally seen actually fail, multiple times in multiple amps.

If i am prototyping or building something for myself, i will just use whatever cheapass(non-Illinois) caps i can find. If i was building something for someone else, or to sell, i wouldn't use anything but known solid stuff: a minimum of Xicon, more likely: F&T, Mallory, Tech-Cap.

Also: The VC50 uses axial caps?

Guessing from the looks of all the other laneys I've seen inside of it'll probably use a mixture of both with axials used for the big boy filter caps.
For now I'd bang any old crap in there to see if it brings it back to life and then worry about putting nice ones in later. The preamp at least only uses pretty small caps anyway.

The big boy caps are all axial in the vc50

what if... R18 on the OD channel is infinity(as in open circuit)? It is located on the cathode of the last preamp tube, just before the tone stack.

what would the amp do?




This just might be my culprit

If that resistor is open circuit, then i am surprised the amp passes sound at all on the dirt channel. There is a very good chance that replacing that 100K will cure what ails you, or much of it at least.

Yeah if its open then surely the cathode and any signal on it is shunted to ground? If it is that then you have scored an amp for the cheapest fix ever
If its much like the vh100r its a sweet ass amp!

1/2 watt should do right? or should I go with 1 watt just in case?