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Repairing a Fender Frontman 15g


DJayhawk

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I have an opportunity to pick up a Fender Frontman 15G Amp for pretty cheap, the only problem is it doesn't power up. I'm a electrician by trade but not exactly a electronics repairman, so my question is how easy are these to work on and is it even worth the trouble? I don't know if these amp are pretty much disposable now or worthy of being repaired.

 

Thanks for any help and information.

 

-Dennis

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Well I only paid $15 dollars for it, and thought that if it didn't take much to fix it would be worth it.

 

Any ideas on what could be wrong with it? Perhaps the transformer? When this amp is plugged in and the toggle is in the on position there is no red light indicating power. I'm pretty sure the power cord is ok and everything looks to be connected tightly.

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Well I only paid $15 dollars for it, and thought that if it didn't take much to fix it would be worth it.


Any ideas on what could be wrong with it? Perhaps the transformer? When this amp is plugged in and the toggle is in the on position there is no red light indicating power. I'm pretty sure the power cord is ok and everything looks to be connected tightly.

 

 

Check any and all fuses first. I've never seen the inside of one of those, Try and find a schematic for it off the 'net, and have a look. BTW a fuse could be in alot of places, such as the power cord input on the amp inside. For 15 bucks, I'd use the chassis and cabinet, gut it, and build it into a tube amp.

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Check any and all fuses first. I've never seen the inside of one of those, Try and find a schematic for it off the 'net, and have a look. BTW a fuse could be in alot of places, such as the power cord input on the amp inside. For 15 bucks, I'd use the chassis and cabinet, gut it, and build it into a tube amp.

 

 

Are there any forums or links to the steps of building it into a tube amp? Where do I get the parts etc.? This is an interesting idea for sure.

 

Thanks

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Are there any forums or links to the steps of building it into a tube amp? Where do I get the parts etc.? This is an interesting idea for sure.


Thanks

 

 

Yeah, here's some forums that are popular.

 

http://www.18watt.com

http://www.sewatt.com

http://www.ppwatt.com

 

They're pretty strict about staying on topic in these three. Push pull at ppwatt, single ended at sewatt, and Marshall 18 watters, guess where. Another really good one is,

 

http://www.el34world.com/Forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl

 

Doug Hoffman that runs that one sells a range of parts too, he's a really helpful dude. Alot of Fender type parts too. Real quality stuff there.

Checkout the following ones too. Aikenamps has a storehouse of great technical info.

 

http://ax84.com

http://www.diycustomamps.com/rem_champ.htm

http://www.tubeampparts.com/

http://www.aikenamps.com

http://www.webervst.com

http://www.ceriatone.com/

 

There are other resources too, but those should get you started. Good luck and have fun!

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Thanks for the info, I may try that route if I can't get it fixed.

 

I had a break through of sorts last night, when I changed the fuse and powered it back on. It came on but immediately blew the fuse. Any ideas what the problem could be now?

 

Thanks again.

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Thanks for the info, I may try that route if I can't get it fixed.


I had a break through of sorts last night, when I changed the fuse and powered it back on. It came on but immediately blew the fuse. Any ideas what the problem could be now?


Thanks again.

 

 

Check and see if something has shorted out the speaker, or if it's the original speaker at all, and check the resistance on the speaker. SS amps do not like shorted speaker leads, it can even destroy the circuit. If that's not it, open it up and see if there are any burnt or charred resistors, blown caps, any kind of evidence of something burnt. Check the traces also. Hopefully you just have a bad resistor. Definitely have a multimeter handy, Take a good look at the transistors too, there should be some small preamp ones and some larger power transistors.

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