Mikey Dee

Mikey Dee working with amps, music and technology for a long time.

Park

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Here is a rare old Park 50 that was entrusted to me recently by a discerning collector. Great build quality on these hard to find marshall plexi style amps.

Amp Restoration

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This section is about some techniques and ideas for restoring old equipment. First section is on Cap restuffing. On vintage amps and radios we often want to retain the amps capacitors since they such a part of the look. Particularly true when they are visible like on Ampeg flip tops. In the above case of … Read more

Fender Jack Socket Upgrade Mod

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Most of Fenders popular mid range amps like Twin 65, Hot Rod, Blues Deluxe and Junior are fitted with cheap plastic Jack sockets.   They are really prone to breaking if gigged regularly. A simple upgrade is to upgrade them with the vintage style metal chassis jack made by switchcraft as used on most guitars and … Read more

HiFi

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I don’t really work on HiFi, why you ask?  It’s a fair question and the reason is that there are just so many different makes, manufacturers that it is difficult to gather any experience on them all.  So there are a few makes that I like or have success with and I will accept them … Read more

Marantz Hifi

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I really love the sound of the old Marantz HiFi amps from the 1970s.   Walnut veneer chip board surrounds, glowing lights what a joy.  I don’t usually work on HiFi but here I make an exception. These amps are made to the highest standards and feature great transformers and parts top to bottom. A couple … Read more

Fender Princeton Reissue

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Cabinet resonance problems with the great little amps is a major nuisance. The cause is the chipboard baffle. This would have been ply in the old days but in Fenders reissue they have gone for a more affordable design choice. You may be able to fix yours just by tightening the securing screws up a … Read more

Matchless

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They really are… Great build quality start to finish. Carpeted capacitor bed. Though red tape is a bit of surprise. Sealed pots Paper wound transformers All screws locked with sealant Anti vibration valve sockets Valve clamps Ventilated pre amp tube shields Neat wiring and point to point layout Very low noise. Anti vibration pad lined … Read more

Mesa Boogie MK IV

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Too many controls on a Boogie’s front panel for me to be a fan but people seem to love them. This one below was cursed with a strange fault of bias instability which would lead to humming as the bias drifted off and ultimately to red plating after 30 mins or so. The cause of … Read more

Amploft