Questions about Rehabilitating a 65 Super Reverb

[SEL49]

Get the entire book...

     https://trinityamps.com/ForumGallery/trinity/resources/Jack_Darr_Handbook.pdf

[Lectroid]

Get the entire book...

https://trinityamps.com/ForumGallery/trinity/resources/Jack_Darr_Handbook.pdf

^^^  What he said.  Jack Darr Handbook is a treasure of tips and tricks for the new builder.

[Dumbmonkey]

Hi all!
I'm gonna bet that anyone following this thread is getting pretty sick of my postings.
Tubeswell, thank you for the info, it was really enlightening and will be a good guide for me moving forward.  I had checked that .022 coupling cap before (it's a ceramic disc) and tried replacing it with an Orange Drop, but that didn't change anything.  I checked the 500pf in series with that and got a few milivolts of DC so I replaced that with a SM that I had here.  Still no changes. 
Could the issue possibly be someplace in the pots?  I cleaned them all out with Deoxit, but I didn't pull them and clean the brass plate.  I'm going to try that and see if that does anything.  I have some new shunting jacks, resistors and bright switch on the way, should I try redoing the inputs as well?
I have to keep reminding myself that the amp is 60 years old, and was in a shed, so I shouldn't be surprised with all the issues.

[Dumbmonkey]

Get the entire book...

     https://trinityamps.com/ForumGallery/trinity/resources/Jack_Darr_Handbook.pdf

Wow! Great!  Thank you!!!

[stratomaster]

Hi all!
I'm gonna bet that anyone following this thread is getting pretty sick of my postings.
Tubeswell, thank you for the info, it was really enlightening and will be a good guide for me moving forward.  I had checked that .022 coupling cap before (it's a ceramic disc) and tried replacing it with an Orange Drop, but that didn't change anything.  I checked the 500pf in series with that and got a few milivolts of DC so I replaced that with a SM that I had here.  Still no changes. 
Could the issue possibly be someplace in the pots?  I cleaned them all out with Deoxit, but I didn't pull them and clean the brass plate.  I'm going to try that and see if that does anything.  I have some new shunting jacks, resistors and bright switch on the way, should I try redoing the inputs as well?
I have to keep reminding myself that the amp is 60 years old, and was in a shed, so I shouldn't be surprised with all the issues.

It could be a lot of things. Guessing and replacing parts is like playing Battleship.

If you stuck with the systematic signal tracing I suggested you'd have zeroed in on at least the problematic section of the circuit by now.

I'm imploring you to resume signal tracing.

[Dumbmonkey]

Stratomaster
I totally understand, and I don't want to keep piecemealing it like I have been; it makes me feel like a total hack.  I'll definitely give the signal tracing another try.
A couple questions about signal tracing:
wouldn't it be easier with an oscilloscope?
how hard is it to do basic signal tracing with an oscilliscope (ie, for a newbie)?
what affordable oscilloscope would anyone recommend for a complete beginner?
As always, thanks for all your time!

[stratomaster]

wouldn't it be easier with an oscilloscope?

Not easier, but definitely more thorough and better for your skillset long term. I recommended the multimeter because the mechanics of taking AC voltage measurements are identical to the DC ones you're already taking.

how hard is it to do basic signal tracing with an oscilliscope (ie, for a newbie)?

getting familiar with the scope would be the challenge. It's worth the effort in my opinion, but as a beginner who might not take it much further that fixing an amp or two or a kit build, it may not be worth it. There are concepts like triggering, DC vs AC coupling, peak to peak vs RMS, having to keep track of probe multipliers, etc that can trip people up until they get used to them.  If you're wanting to learn, then there were several good instructionals and explainers on YouTube.  And with the flood of inexpensive and feature rich scopes on the market the barrier to entry has never been lower.

what affordable oscilloscope would anyone recommend for a complete beginner?

Any scope you can afford will be able to do amp work. Our frequencies are so low that any single channel scope with a 10x probe will to most anything you would need. It's nice to have a second channel, and newer digital scopes have the ability to do much of the math for you on the waveforms, so if you're not used to working with a calculator by your side, that's a plus.  I recently bought a $35 FNISRI (or something like that) scope on Amazon just out of curiosity.  It would easily do the signal tracing we're discussing, but the UI is a but clumsy for someone like me used to knobs and switches.