Most useful amp tools on your bench...

[TubeGeek]

How about we start a chat about the various tools you are using to work on amps...

There are a few new tools to me that I really find helpful:

1.  Hakko de-soldering vacuuum gun.  Just got this yesterday and I KNOW I am going to find this very very handy.  I even have a nice soldering iron imprint on my arm from forgetting about it on my bench as I reached across to grab some pliers. Ouch.

2.  Magnetizer/de-magnetizer.  Just plain handy for obvious reasons.

3.  Looper pedal.  I have been using a loop pedal to playback recordings of various riffs I find useful when troubleshooting or voicing a circuit.  This allows me to be "hands free" when tweaking around with component values.  This particular one is overkill but I recently acquired this pedal because I can set it up to play a bass guitar loop through a bass amp and then record another loop that goes to another output which I send to a guitar amp of my choice.  Then I can have both those playing simultaneously while I sit down on the drumset and play music until I am pooped out. Fun stuff :)


What do you have to add to the list?

[Geezer]

This right here.....Halsted serrated straight forceps. Also have curved, but the straights get used 99% of the time.
You can get them on eBay or amazon or at the drugstore for a couple bucks. I couldn't work on an amp without'em

G

[kagliostro]

This right here.....Halsted serrated straight forceps. Also have curved, but the straights get used 99% of the time.
You can get them on eBay or amazon or at the drugstore for a couple bucks. I couldn't work on an amp without'em

Please Geezer can you explain when you use those forceps ?

Thanks

K

[birt]

a dentists mirror with a plastic handle (for obvious reasons). i have one with a metal handle too and insulated it with heat shrink.

[TubeGeek]

a dentists mirror with a plastic handle (for obvious reasons). i have one with a metal handle too and insulated it with heat shrink.

For looking under boards I'm assuming?

[TubeGeek]

This right here.....Halsted serrated straight forceps. Also have curved, but the straights get used 99% of the time.
You can get them on eBay or amazon or at the drugstore for a couple bucks. I couldn't work on an amp without'em

Please Geezer can you explain when you use those forceps ?

Thanks

K

Ditto, I use long needle nose pliers for most my work but maybe there is a benefit to these that I'm not aware of.

[Geezer]

This right here.....Halsted serrated straight forceps. Also have curved, but the straights get used 99% of the time.
You can get them on eBay or amazon or at the drugstore for a couple bucks. I couldn't work on an amp without'em

Please Geezer can you explain when you use those forceps ?

Thanks

K

Ditto, I use long needle nose pliers for most my work but maybe there is a benefit to these that I'm not aware of.

They have a locking feature...you simply squeeze them shut and they automatically lock onto the cap/resistor lead, wire....whatever you are soldering, and firmly hold it in place. Another squeeze and they release the work.
The long length allows you to reach down into just about any area in the chassis with ease.

Not worried about them being metal with no insulation, as I never use them in a live amp

[labb]

A Walkman with a output lead that has been modified such that I can inject a signal anyplace in the amp.(To cheap to buy a signal generator)

[PRR]

> forceps

+1++.

Not just for amps. Drop a points-clip behind the truck distributor? No space to get hand and needle-nose close enough? Forceps!

Actually, for losing screws/clips around engines or under decks, I love a magnet on a pocket-radio extending "antenna" rod. (This was actually made for the purpose and gifted to me.)

[alerich]

This right here.....Halsted serrated straight forceps. Also have curved, but the straights get used 99% of the time.

This is the most useful and most used tool I have. I cannot imagine building or repairing amps or soldering on guitars without my forceps. Mine are curved.

[kagliostro]

you simply squeeze them shut and they automatically lock onto the cap/resistor lead, wire....whatever you are soldering, and firmly hold it in place.

Thanks Geezer

I'll take one

K

[birt]

a dentists mirror with a plastic handle (for obvious reasons). i have one with a metal handle too and insulated it with heat shrink.

For looking under boards I'm assuming?

yes. you can see the soldering and wire connections under boards without lifting them from the amp.

[Glennjeff]

Locking Forceps (I call them artery clamps). Unpossible without them.

[Geezer]

Locking Forceps (I call them artery clamps). Unpossible without them.

Yep, Hemostats....for clamping off arteries during surgical procedures

I became familiar with them during my years in the medical industry

The best are German made, but the low priced Pakistani models work just as well

[Geezer]

I replaced the treble bleed cap in my Tele today for a slightly lower value.
The leads had to be very short, so I used the forceps to hold the cap in place while I soldered.
If I had tried to hold it with my fingers, I would have been burnt to a blister

G

[Meat_And_Beer]

These are almost identical to the ones I use constantly! Weaving a wire through a tight spot, grab and pull the other end, tighten up a bend.. When you cant get your "pre-made" wire into place unscathed. Nice touch up work.

Oh, and of course picking up that resistor you dropped behind a board, or even tiny plop of solder. It's also a heat sink!

+1 On the looper!!! I've have the Boss RC-20 for years now.. I can make rhythm parts, play em back, and with a volume pedal, cut off signal to the playback cabinet and come up with lead and harmony stuff through another cabinet without them fighting each other. (Dual amp'd of course) Man I love that thing.

And I use it a lot when poking around in an amp troubleshooting. Sure beats a 1k tone. Yuck.

...And about a dozen of these all over the bench to hold stuff out of the way, hold for soldering, etc. etc. in varying sizes:

[img width= height=]http://pics.towerhobbies.com/image/b/bukm2040.jpg[/img]

[jojokeo]

A good solder sucker, magnifying glasses, dental pics, step bits, etc. are all must-haves, but I'd struggle w/out my helping hands. I actually keep two on my bench. They are used all the time. For tweaking there's nothing like decade boxes and for troubleshooting there's nothing like a signal generator. But even after all this, the single most important thing you need is a good multimeter as the foundation for everything. I always test resistors, caps, voltages, continuity, etc. every step along the way to minimize possible unwanted surprises but Murphy's Law bit my ass just the other day. I found a 47k resistor w/ short leads that I could re-use or so I thought! This one time I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't measure first. So I put it in a recent circuit. This caused me an hour of troubleshooting and testing and more testing and troubleshooting before I found the reason & source for incorrect voltages and why. The resistor actually measured  ~132K even though it was marked yellow purple orange! My 5 or 10 second "short cut" in not measuring cost me an entire hour of sweat and frustration.

[eleventeen]

Was gonna say....multimeter. I will admit that 75% of the time I am simply using the continuity-beep feature and it would be worth it for that and that alone. I also really like the looper idea. Being too cheap for that....I will probably end up recording something or other in Audacity, looping it there, and burning it to a CD. The most boring recording of all time, LOL. Hemostats, absolutely.

How about "clip leads"? The ability to clip onto a terminal or lead is certainly important. Yeah, alligator clips do it fairly OK, but clip-leads are better, though more expensive, fragile and they eventually DO break. But for small stuff, alligators aren't very good. And of course...you gotta have a spring-clip type deal on your scope probe.

[SILVERGUN]

For me,,,useful,,,,a cap decade box
I had never heard of one until after I did most of the tweaking in my amp, and now I wouldn't want to tweak without one...

[jojokeo]

I have only found I need one resistor box but I've got three cap boxes. :)

Also, the ones I have don't use so many caps as they add when in parallel so you can get away with a lot less when planned/designed accordingly.

Nobody mentioned an amp cradle, current limiter lamp, capacitor tester, capacitor outside foil tester, audio probe, high power speaker load, multi drawer parts cabinets/bins, dremel & cordless drill mounted on wall, and so on but they're all rather obligatory I suppose? Don't forget a ventilation fan as you shouldn't be inhaling those solder fumes! A solid piece of rubber mat to stand on for comfort but more importantly to provide isolation from ground is smart. And lastly, my two creature comfort "tools" is a safe but close place to set my beer or wine glass and a good shop radio is definitely a must have too!

[Ed_Chambley]

For me,,,useful,,,,a cap decade box
I had never heard of one until after I did most of the tweaking in my amp, and now I wouldn't want to tweak without one...

Very cool.  Schematic?

[TubeGeek]

The vice clamp in the front of this pic is super handy.

I was lazy and bought my resistor and cap decade boxes.

- various multi-meters, analog and digital

- small shop-vac

- head lamp

- speaker cable with female 1/4" end

- little parts cups.  I use the little dole fruit cups!

- small sweeper and pan

- bias current tools

- solder tip cleaner accessory

- desktop sheet music stand or iPad for viewing layouts and schematics.  Ipad is extra handy for zooming in on sections

- very handy T wrench for tightening pot nuts without slipping and scratching the faceplate

[SILVERGUN]

Very cool.  Schematic?

It was based off of an Elenco CS-440 that is made for low voltage only
I used caps that I would actually put in an amp 

[Ed_Chambley]

Very cool.  Schematic?

It was based off of an Elenco CS-440 that is made for low voltage only
I used caps that I would actually put in an amp 

Where did you get the switches?  I need one of these.  Next thing I build as I am getting ready to build and tweak a very unusual design.  How do you use it.  Do you actually solder your leads or use clips?  Do you get much additional noise?  What watt resistors, they look like 2 watt metal film.  Is that a standard single size pedal box?

[SILVERGUN]

Where did you get the switches?  I need one of these.  Next thing I build as I am getting ready to build and tweak a very unusual design.  How do you use it.  Do you actually solder your leads or use clips?  Do you get much additional noise?  What watt resistors, they look like 2 watt metal film.  Is that a standard single size pedal box?

Switches- http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=06M4603
Enclosure- http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=97F9586
The switches are pretty cheap feeling, and I don't love them for that reason,,,but hey, they were cheap
The enclosure is bigger than I needed (8" wide), but I built it without much of a plan, so I wanted to leave myself enough room....I did
I put spade terminals on the end of the leads because I will mostly be using it with the breadboard and i'll just screw them down....but in my current amp I use short clip leads (which are very useful ALL of the time)............there are no resistors in my box
There is some additional noise (more in some spots), but it doesn't bother me because I know I'm just trying to zero in on a value

Here we are in full tweak mode with the short clip leads...solid wire works best because they stand up so much better:

[Madison]

JK, but have felt the urge more than once!
You guys have it covered.

[Geezer]

JK, but have felt the urge more than once!

Ha Ha! Me too, Madi   

[sluckey]

This roll of tools was required equipment for every student in radio/tv course at my old tech school. I've had mine since '68. Cost $27 back then. I've actually had to replace the canvas roll twice. Mine still has all the original tools. The 1/2" reamer shaft is broken but it will chuck up in a drill motor.  If I lost it, it would be a must replace item. I've added several tools to the stock kit, 4" needle nose, 4" flush cutters, Klein wire stripper, more screwdriver blades, small slip joint pliers, hemostats.

Xcelite 99SM 23-piece Series 99 Service Roll Kit with Canvas Case

http://www.amazon.com/Xcelite-99SM-23-piece-Series-Service/dp/B000ITYL4O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372167883&sr=8-1&keywords=xcelite+sm99

[eleventeen]

Nice, Steve.

However...while nutdrivers are very nice (and let's be clear, this isn't an either/or proposition) I prefer a set of 1/4" deep sockets. Older nutdrivers did not have hollow shafts and could not handle tightening/loosening a nut if the threaded part of the screw/bolt protruded too much. The reason I am not so hot on those sets with the handle with the interchangeable shafts...screwdriver, nutdriver...is that you have to change shafts (if you have only a single handle) if you have to flip between diff sizes of phillips screws. Tools have gotten pretty cheap. I am not as organized as many. I like to have several #1 phillips lying around because if I need one and the only one I have can't be found I go bananas.

Of course, this leads to the Sears 99 cents screwdriver phenomenon. This starts during Xmastime, when you can buy Sears screwdrivers for a buck each. So, you figure, OK, lifetime supply, I will buy one for the kitchen drawer, two for the toolbox, one for the glove compartment, one for the garage, one for the bicycle, one for the backyard shed, and one to open paint cans with.

Eight months later, one of two things happens. Either 1: YOU CANNOT FIND A SINGLE ONE OF THEM, no matter where you look, or 2: Every flat bladed one has changed to a phillips or vice versa. This phenom has been well documented and is almost unavoidable.

[sluckey]

I prefer a set of 1/4" deep sockets. Older nutdrivers did not have hollow shafts

Xcelite are the exception. Very hollow, even the small sizes.

[dude]

A good solder sucker, magnifying glasses, dental pics, step bits, etc. are all must-haves, but I'd struggle w/out my helping hands. I actually keep two on my bench. They are used all the time. For tweaking there's nothing like decade boxes and for troubleshooting there's nothing like a signal generator. But even after all this, the single most important thing you need is a good multimeter as the foundation for everything. I always test resistors, caps, voltages, continuity, etc. every step along the way to minimize possible unwanted surprises but Murphy's Law bit my ass just the other day. I found a 47k resistor w/ short leads that I could re-use or so I thought! This one time I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't measure first. So I put it in a recent circuit. This caused me an hour of troubleshooting and testing and more testing and troubleshooting before I found the reason & source for incorrect voltages and why. The resistor actually measured  ~132K even though it was marked yellow purple orange! My 5 or 10 second "short cut" in not measuring cost me an entire hour of sweat and frustration.

Not to change the subject too much but why do those carbon comp resistors drift so much more then film?   They always seem to read high right off the reel..?

My favorite tool is this site  , Doug has put a lot of time in helping everyone, he should be mentioned...  

al

[John]

I believe the carbon particles expand over time, or with heat. Some guys prefer them on plates for that reason, as you suck  more current, they heat up a bit, expand more, increase gain. On my last little build I used them on the plates and in the signal path (not best practice if you're looking for low noise) and I *think* they add some sweetness. But we all hear what we want to hear, so until I ever do a blind a/b test, I ain't provin' nuthin'.

[Ed_Chambley]

The best tool and the hardest to find for me.

I made a version of Lucifers amp cradle.  What a great design.  I did make it a little deeper, just over 8" and 20" wide.  I did shorten the height 2 inches.  I also have a preference in Marine Grade shrink tubing.

Gorilla glue is very handy to use as loctite when using plastic bias probe tips.  I would have to say the best thing I have are a set of greenlee punches.  I love my drill press and table saw as well and a sheet metal break and tig welder are very handy for chassis.

Learning to use a borrowed scope which is the shiznit.

[Bluemeany]

Nail clippers, for making all those little cuts and trims other tools can't reach!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tweezerman-Hands-Stainless-Fingernail-Clipper/dp/B0054ZFYC0/ref=pd_sim_beauty_3

[mrr3000gt]

Oscilloscope, iPad (Internet, schematics, signal generator app), fluke 87, my Hoffman kit socket bias tool, calculator, complete fleet of electronics hand tools, snap on multi ratcheted screw driver, and a few guys I know who know more than me when I get stumped!