Fender "The Twin"???

[toyL]

I own a Fender "The Twin" amplifier that recently became even more mysterious than it's "red-knobs" would already indicate. I finally found the time to disassemble it in order to discover the cause of the consistent hiss and hum it had been making over the past few years. Surprisingly, I found an oval shaped hole (.7"x .5") in the power-supply board--right where R302 and R303 should have been located. About 80% of the edge of this hole is badly "burned". The 20% that showed no burning appears to have been "cut", or perhaps somehow cleanly "snapped" off from considerable pressure. I have not yet removed the board for further examination because the hole clearly shows undamaged wires on the solder-side of the board. These undamaged wires run parallel to the board and are less than 1/16th" from the surface, which would seem to indicate that they were installed well after the hole was "created". In other words, at some point "during" production it appears that Fender purposefully added this hole through the board as an "authorized deviation" (this must surely be the case because the amp "works", right?). The wreckless workmanship that dominates the entire elec. assembly of this amp would seem to support my little theory. Furthermore, I have found a bad cap that would explain the noise problem. I could be wrong, but it doesn't make sense that two 1/2-watt resistors could go up in smoke without shutting the amp down. So, who else has found this hole in the power-supply board on their red-knob monster? Please, someone tell me that the hole in the board and the two missing resistors are simply Fender's idea of ingenuity. Thanks.

 

[grinder]

Let me start out by saying, I know squat about electronics. That said, why would Fender burn a hole in the curcuit board? It sounds to me like something burnt up and it was cobbed back together to bypass the damaged parts. Try searching for a Fender forum on the net.

 

[mixsit]

"The wreckless workmanship that dominates the entire elec. assembly of this amp would seem to support my little theory. Furthermore..."
Makes you wonder, when did fender stop being a Fender?

Wayne

 

[toyL]

ok, I'm convinced--after replacing that one cap, installing a matched-quad of Russian-made 6l6s, bias and balance adjustments, and touching up a few wires here and there, the amp ultimately likes the "big hole in the board" approach to eliminate those two 1/2 watt resistors...the hiss is barely noticeable now...too nice
I'm still waiting to run into another "the twin" owner who has encountered this same "stain" on Fender engineering, workmanship, and quality control...I think they'd do better in the long run to adopt and adhere to certain MILstds (or at least take ISO 9000 more seriously), which would logically require them to hire more highly-skilled technicians, builders, inspectors, processes specialists...problem is--these types of employees already have well-paying jobs with companies such as McDonnell-Douglas, Hughes Aircraft, Raytheon, and with 100s of DOD facilities--less commonly known as Naval Air-Warfare Centers, Naval Avionics Center, and the like...from a strictly business $$$ perspective though I guess it does make sense for fender to just "wing it" with a lesser skilled (and lesser paid) workforce...this approach cost much less from the beginning, ensures plenty of repair work for years to come, and clinches the opportunity for more than a handful of do-little/say-much"ties" to buy new corvettes with their bonus checks...actually, the defense industry is probably "worse" in this last regard--with their hidden agendas and hidden funds...but I digress...its late, sorry for rambling.