gwedo1971 Messages: 9 Registered: February 2013 Location: Taylorville, IL.
Junior Member
First off i would like to say hi to everyone. im new here and thanks for having me, well i just got my hands on a very super clean almost mint kustom challenger combo (black) with cover and footswitch its been hiding in a closet since 1973 (he thinks anyhow) i got it home tryed it out and it works sorta typical rca jack corrosion and so on any way tor it down new switch, grounded power cord, cleaned pots and jacks, and all works great other than the volume does not turn down all the way, pulled the pot hand cleaned it put it back and same thing puled it again got a new cts 250k had to swap the d shaft into it tests good re-installed and same thing volume just dont go to zero is this common for these amps or do i have somthing else wrong.
thanks
eric
Kustom_Bart Messages: 601 Registered: October 2010 Location: Greenville, MichiGUN
Senior Member
YES! They got the name correct on them, they are a challenge to keep going. I have owned a bunch of these, I love them, but I hate them too. They are one of the best sounding small amps made by Kustom, but they are not reliable.
They have a funny way of letting you down when you need them. Mine would work for 5-6 months and then go to crap. I would get it repaired and then something else. then some thing else. and then and then and then and then. I would get it fixed and sold it. I had 4 at one time and found the most reliable one and kept it and the rest went. I saved the mint condition one.
gwedo1971 Messages: 9 Registered: February 2013 Location: Taylorville, IL.
Junior Member
it works great and sounds awesome its just odd that it wont turn all the way down i found a schematic so ill be pulling the poor thing apart again to do some testing also i see people saying its 25 watts but this schematic says its 50
Kustom_Bart Messages: 601 Registered: October 2010 Location: Greenville, MichiGUN
Senior Member
I have schematics if you need them as well. It is 50 watts RMS 25 watts actual. 25 watts that will tear your head off for sure. You can gig any where with one or a K50 for sure.
gwedo1971 Messages: 9 Registered: February 2013 Location: Taylorville, IL.
Junior Member
well my diodes came got them put in added the one to the output driver ic and guess what now the amp dont work at all no hum no crackle no sound nothing took the extra diode out still nothing
I must have an older schematic, there's nothing about a diode between pins 8 and 9. In fact pins 8 and 9 are connected together on mine.
Well, the amp was working before, so it's something that happened when you did the work. Go back and double check everything that you did and hope that the 540 chip is still okay.
Carefully take voltage readings and compare them to the schematic.
gwedo1971 Messages: 9 Registered: February 2013 Location: Taylorville, IL.
Junior Member
no bill the 540 is dead, i got nice clean signal all the way to it and nothing after, i got a schematic from bart and don that has updates on it my voltage is about a volt high but i think thats the building i live in it runs a little hot right out of the wall, dug the net for some time last night working on a replacement option just have to research it a little more