2001 Fender Super Reverb

This is from the popular ‘65 Reissue series, made in the early aughts - it came in sounding like a monophonic synthesizer gone haywire.

The amp had been modified to try to reduce bass frequencies in the reverb signal but was done incorrectly and with terribly sloppy execution - the reverb did not sound right and was very weak. That was only part of the problem though, as there were leaking/open electrolytic filter capacitors in the power supply that was causing full blown oscillation between the first 3 gain stages. It allowed no guitar audio to be heard and was actually sending voltage through the volume pot causing electrical “zap” type sounds to come through the speakers.

Over time I am seeing more and more amps made by Fender and Peavey that were made between 1999 and 2009 that have failed electrolytics. These amps need full or partial cap jobs a decade or two prematurely. The problem is the fault of the IC (Illinois Capacitor) brand electrolytic filter caps found in the power supply. Something about the way they manufactured this brand/production line during that decade was off - I know this because it is the sole brand/line of caps I have seen do this (different brand caps in the same amp will be fine) and specifically the 22uf 500v type seems to be the worst offender - why, I don’t know… although it may have to do with “Capacitor Plague” - look it up on wikipedia. If you have one of these amps just consider that this could be an issue.

I took the reverb circuit back to stock (cathode bias resistor and bypass cap) and took out all the sub-par wiring. 3 new preamp tubes (2 EHX 12AT7’s, and 1 JJ 12AX7) and a new JJ GZ34 rectifier were installed replacing the worn out ones. A cap job was done on all IC brand filter caps (Mod brand caps used - my new go-to) and upgraded 3 watt cement screen resistors were put in as the old ones were burnt.