Accutronics reverb tanks

[Phil Allison]

** Hi,

do any people here regularly attempt to fix these things or just replace
them ?

I get a lot of dead and bad sounding units - used to be only very old ones
but now most are in new looking condition.

Accutronics ( now Accutronics / Belton) have made a couple of major blunders
in recent years - first they added little white plugs to the drive and
pickup coils and then they added a foam plastic impact pad under the
springs.

The white plugs were a disaster since they impacted at the ends of the metal
box and caused the hair fine wire on the pick up coils to break. The foam
plastic pad was a time bomb - eventually it perished and turned into fine,
sticky particles that coated the springs and damped the torsional vibrations
so much there was no more reverb.

I have found good fixes for the white plug ones and ones with broken feed
wires and even ones that have the tiny magnets resting in contact with the
laminations of the drive and pickup coils.

Cleaning springs coated with sticky foam particles with solvent ( even
Acetone ) has not proved a complete success - the resulting sound is still
sub standard.

Guitarists love these things but I wish they would treat them with more care
as many I see have been subjected to massive impacts - over and over. I know
this for sure when I see lose and missing steel pins that are intended to
limit movement of the sub frame !!

The fix or this last one is to drill out the holes and fit 4x30mm size bolts
in place.

Bloody heck !!



..... Phil

 

[Phil Allison]

"Gareth Magennis"

I have a box of around 12 of these in the boot of my car, which is going
to the local dump this morning.
They all have O/C coils.

** 90% of those can be fixed, long as they are the kind with white plugs.

Normally, the hair fine wire breaks just were it is soldered to the pin -
mostly only one but I have seen both. You need strong light, close up
glasses, a fine tipped iron and a steady hand - plus a strand of tin
plated hook up wire.

Want more ?

I've kept them over the last 5 years or so, in the vain hope I will get
round to mending them, but have now decided enough is enough and they are
going, along with another ten tons of broken power amps, powered speakers,
all kinds of shite that I am never going to get round to fixing, or I
would have done it long ago.

** I seem to collect modules from powered speakers that defy all attempt at
repair.

BTW:

If you can get the magnets off the back of 12 inch speakers, the fames make
dandy pot plant stands.


..... Phil

 

[Phil Allison]

"Gareth Magennis"

BTW:

If you can get the magnets off the back of 12 inch speakers, the fames
make
dandy pot plant stands.

I've also a whole load of blown valve amp transformers that I have kept
for, er, I have no f**king idea why, apart from the fact that new ones
cost lots of money.

Any use for these in the home or garden?

** Errr - holding doors etc open on windy days is one.

I use any available tranny or SLA battery as dead weight when gluing wood
with Aquadhere.

So, am I the only Accutronics tank fixer out there ?


.... Phil

 

[Phil Allison]

"dave"

I fix them. The stranded wires break or get cut by the Chinese strain
relief tabs.

** The vast majority of Accutronics reverb unit have this written on them:

" ACCUTRONICS
CARY IL.
MADE IN USA "

Very recent ones are branded:

" Accutronics & Belton Seoul Korea "

I've never had an open coil proper.

** I don't think you have seen many Accutronics ones then.



..... Phil

 

[N_Cook]

No. I've repaired quite a few open circuit ones as well.

Arfa

Order of filures I find, all repairable
corrossion of phone/RCA sockets
tails vibrate and break at sockets, resolder and swathe in hot melt
failure of spring anchor, get into the anchor area and if magnet is
missing break up a rare earth magnet and glue the pieces around the wire
like a cylinder
brak in the coil of fine wire end - scrape an exposed piece of enamel to
establish if at the tightly wired solder point , solder in a jumper,
if inside the coil rewind with the finest wire you can find , random
scatter wound on a hand drill is fine, as many turns as you can get on
there and remount , or 200 ohms or so if very fine wire
all repaired in jobs taking les than an hour

 

[Phil Allison]

"Nutcase Kook"

Order of filures I find, all repairable corrossion of phone/RCA
sockets tails vibrate and break at sockets, resolder and swathe in hot
melt failure of spring anchor, get into the anchor area and if magnet is
missing break up a rare earth magnet and glue the pieces around the wire
like a cylinder
brak in the coil of fine wire end - scrape an exposed piece of enamel to
establish if at the tightly wired solder point , solder in a jumper, if
inside the coil rewind with the finest wire you can find , random scatter
wound on a hand drill is fine, as many turns as you can get on there and
remount , or
200 ohms or so if very fine wire all repaired in jobs taking
les than an hour

** Is this dude a fanatic or what ??



.... Phil

 

[Phil Allison]

"dave"

"dave"
I see them a lot. I fix amps for gamblin' money. Change "Chinese" to
"Asian".

** The problem you mention occurs with USA made units, but only when they
are quite old and the feed PVC wire coating gets brittle.



..... Phil