Did He Devalue This Black Flag?

[Torren61]

I was watching this YouTube video of a guy fixing a Black Flag Marshall and there is a point where he replaces the power socket and cord with a different socket that required the hole in the chassis to be widened and I thought "Why would you do that to a vintage amp?" Are replacement sockets no longer available?

There were a few other things that made me cringe a bit. Like, why not check the fuse values before even turning on the amp? Why leave the Brimars and Gold Lion tubes in there when you're troubleshooting the amp? Those are high dollar tubes.

He's probably a really nice guy but I don't think I'd want him working on my stuff.

 

[Tatzmann]

Vintage Marshalls have no business
at guitolomaniac or ol' uncle dougie, or
ampmodders. Id rather see the old amps
destroyed than f'cked with for getting
more stupid ugly preamp distortion out
of them.

Well of course the bulgin socket could
have been repaired/replaced with an original
part, but you heard him say its not always
available and expensive.

Well, vintage means not always available
and expensive...thats why you dont bring
the good stuff to these guys.

 

[South Park]

This is the problem with vintage anything you can’t always get the parts . Ether you change things so it works or you make a door stop out of it . I don’t think people just bring in amps like that to be repaired like that the whole thing could have Ben staged

 

[Ned B]

They have modern sockets that are oriented vertically and fit without chassis modification though the socket itself will require a little shaving to fit.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Brad has no business getting into a vintage Marshall. Truth is he's a mediocre tech.

 

[danfrank]

Uncle Doug actually goes above and beyond to keep amps original. He goes so far as to hollow out the original filter caps that have gone bad and replaces the insides with good fresh caps so they look original.
Can't have it both ways, guys.
And thumbs up to Ned for mentioning the IEC sockets that with VERY Little modification will fit in the chassis Bulgin hole.
Admittedly, there are a lot of mediocre or worse techs out there but there are also a few on YT that are very good.

 

[TAZIN]

That Drake 1202-133 PT has some high secondary voltage.

 

[Torren61]

He seemed pretty lost when he first started working on the amp. When I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing, I get help or pass on the job. That video gave me anxiety while watching it and I was just going "Aw man, no! C'mon...", lol

 

[tomsvintage]

I was watching this YouTube video of a guy fixing a Black Flag Marshall and there is a point where he replaces the power socket and cord with a different socket that required the hole in the chassis to be widened and I thought "Why would you do that to a vintage amp?" Are replacement sockets no longer available?

There were a few other things that made me cringe a bit. Like, why not check the fuse values before even turning on the amp? Why leave the Brimars and Gold Lion tubes in there when you're troubleshooting the amp? Those are high dollar tubes.

He's probably a really nice guy but I don't think I'd want him working on my stuff.

Yes, he did devalue the amp by drilling out the back panel and replacing the socket. NOS and used Bulgin sockets and plugs are readily available. Unsympathetic repair is what we would call that.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

that amp sounds like total crap.
i use to watch this guy but his cry baby attitude made me unsubscribe

 

[Ivan H]

Yes, Bulgin sockets are quite readily available (though I did have to look a little to find a solder lug type rather than the more common screw terminal type to reverse this exact type IEC installation on my '68 JMP50) & they're not prohibitably expensive either.
Even if one is not familiar with a particular amp's PT, being in situ like this was makes figuring primary & secondary connections a cinch, not sure how he could struggle with that.
Note that he was running the amp, & running signal through it etc while the power tubes were extremely hot biased. As the amp came to him as an unknown entity, you'd think he'd have first adjusted the bias supply to the coolest bias setting before powering it up with the power tubes installed. Cheers

 

[Matthews Guitars]

I recall that there is an IEC socket that drops right into the Bulgin socket mounting hole with no modifications required. Screw holes match up, too. Not sure what the brand and part number is for that, but I know it exists and if I verify what part it is,
I'll lay in a stash of them for possible future needs.

 

[Gene Ballzz]

While I love Uncle Doug to pieces, he appears rather unsympathetic when it comes to Marshall products! When it comes to old Fenders, Gibsons, etc, he treats them as sacred, like a church. Marshalls, not so much! This "guitologist" guy ought to stick to his obviously other trade of cutting meat!
Just Noticin'
Gene

 

[AtomicRob]

I recall that there is an IEC socket that drops right into the Bulgin socket mounting hole with no modifications required.

Like this one? https://amprepairparts.com/bcr579.htm

 

[Torren61]

Yeah, or this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274706096888

Or this one:

https://www.cricklewoodelectronics....n-old-Vox-Fender-and-Marshall-Amplifiers.html

Or this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274706096888?hash=item3ff5c262f8:g:-00AAOSwxPRgQBHb

Just don't ream out the hole in the chassis.

 

[tomsvintage]

Yeah, or this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274706096888

Or this one:

https://www.cricklewoodelectronics....n-old-Vox-Fender-and-Marshall-Amplifiers.html

Or this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274706096888?hash=item3ff5c262f8:g:-00AAOSwxPRgQBHb

Just don't ream out the hole in the chassis.

A little research and digging goes a long way !!

 

[Seanxk]

Why on earth don't people like that just come here???, Uncle Doug too, we're a fountain of info and apart from that they'd probably enjoy the chat......

 

[StingRay85]

IEC socket is a fair upgrade on this amp, there's no good reason to put in a Bulgin unless this is another investors amp not meant to be played anymore. Where to draw the line.

 

[neikeel]

IEC socket is a fair upgrade on this amp, there's no good reason to put in a Bulgin unless this is another investors amp not meant to be played anymore. Where to draw the line.

Of course, but when you can easily get the smaller versions that use the original mounting holes and you shave the socket not the chassis. Most of the amps I restore the owner wants a Bulgin put back.
The reason that bulgins fail PAT tests is not because of the amp part. It is because the straight pull plugs end up exposing the internal wires which is a straight PAT test fail. The right angle versions clamp the cable out insulation securely and are not a fail.

 

[william vogel]

I was watching this YouTube video of a guy fixing a Black Flag Marshall and there is a point where he replaces the power socket and cord with a different socket that required the hole in the chassis to be widened and I thought "Why would you do that to a vintage amp?" Are replacement sockets no longer available?

There were a few other things that made me cringe a bit. Like, why not check the fuse values before even turning on the amp? Why leave the Brimars and Gold Lion tubes in there when you're troubleshooting the amp? Those are high dollar tubes.

He's probably a really nice guy but I don't think I'd want him working on my stuff.

He also has no idea what a good Marshall waveform looks like either. That waveform in the video looks horrible.