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New Guy [message #313] Wed, 31 January 2001 16:19 GaryH Messages: 19 Registered: January 2001 Junior Member Howdy to you all! I just stumbled across this site yesterday after browsing the web for a while looking for Kustom info. I've recently been thinking about trying to find a nice Kustom rig, and have been looking for a 200-4 head and a cabinet (or cabinets) of some sort. I'm hoping to put together a system in Cascade or Blue Sparkle, but I'm not sure just how feasible that's going to be. I'm now an engineer for an electronic music company in Santa Cruz California, but started my career 30+ years ago at a music store in Columbus Ohio repairing (among lots of other stuff) Kustom 100/200/400/ series rigs, and got very familiar with them. Never bought a system for myself, but lately I've been getting nostalgic for some of that tuck n' roll magic. Searching around here has been really disappointing, a few black 200 bass heads, and that's about it. I'm hoping to scour the pawnshops over in San Jose, and would love to hear from any of you more fortunate enthusiasts that might be able to help me in my quest. From reading the back posts, I've noticed that some of you have really incredible collections…very cool! I still do a lot of analog design and troubleshooting, and would be glad to be a sounding board for anyone here with electronic questions and/or problems. I have a lot of resources for electronic parts as well, and will probably be refurbishing my own rig (once I find one). As I remember, I never saw many serious failures, like blown power amps in these guys, but I saw LOTS of blown channels, usually the first stage input transistors that I replaced quite often. Kustom used lots of tantalum capacitors in their plexi series, and my past experience has been that these (and other capacitors as well) have a lifespan of between 15-30 years before they begin to deteriorate (and sometimes short circuit). So, I'm planning on probably replacing most of this stuff to preclude having a more serious failure down the road, and would be happy to share my findings and parts sources with any of you in need. To all of you that have contributed to this amazing site, THANKS! It brought back a bunch of memories looking over the Kustom Kats Katalogue and checking out all of those serious 4-cabinet rigs. I'm looking forward to some serious Kustom magic in the future…. Gary Hull Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #314 is a reply to message #313] Wed, 31 January 2001 19:44 Anonymous Hey Gary...welcome to the aboslute best bunch of guys you will ever meet in cyberdom...sounds like mid life is about to set down on your head...welcome to it...there are a number of guys on your side of the country..sorry i'm not one of them...over in NC myself...as for clean cascade and blue rigs.. i think they are all gathered up and on this site...the only thing left on the street are black 200 heads...and by the way...what's wrong with black 200 heads....ahem...you'll learn quickly I am the black amp nut around here...in fact that's about all i have cause EVERYONE ELSE seems to have gotten all the good color stuff...but thats ok.. i'm not mad...no sir...its alright...seriously there's a ton of kustom to be found and the hunt is as much fun as anything...check out your local church basement...you keep in touch and play loud...ET! Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #316 is a reply to message #314] Fri, 02 February 2001 04:41 BC Messages: 583 Registered: March 2000 Location: Kentucky Senior Member Welcome Gary.....I have found ET to be right about most things Kustom....especially the people. There are a couple of Kustom guys we know in the SF area.....and Jimm is in OR....and if you ever journey south, Fuzzy T is the So Cal guy! I am in KY so all I can offer is internet help. Sounds like you are already a great addition to the group with your knowledge of the channel failures....I lost one at an outdoor gig last fall. We have also had a couple of power amps to become ill when the RCA trans went out. A common problem is getting the hiss to go away....my dream is a super quiet Kustom! Some of us are purists...some of us modify. We all enjoy the tuck and roll...you should have seen us in Nashville! Welcome to the greatest bunch of people I know! BC Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #317 is a reply to message #316] Fri, 02 February 2001 06:01 Anonymous Welcome Gary, I see I'm not the first to say hi, but agree with ET and Brad, we do have the nicest guys in the world in our group of kustom collectors. Better late than never to start collecting the tuck and roll. I got the bug a year and a half ago, and like any kid in a candy store, always looking for more. I know that I could keep you busy fixing three of my rigs. Brad, Dan and I, have between us every schematic for the kustoms. Iam in Michigan and like Brad said, will do what we can, but hey it's great to see another guy infected with the naughee bug.They say kids will keep you young, I say the hunt for kustoms, will keep you younger. ET puts it best, Play loud. Don Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #319 is a reply to message #317] Fri, 02 February 2001 10:40 Anonymous speaking of hissers... I have some that are worse than others... a couple rigs while they are in great shape, can only be used on stage as live backline rigs cause they breath harder than I do after a flight of stairs...my local amp tech Al, who does miracles..says it ain't even worth the time and bother to chase down the hiss..although he will ...for a price...so being frugal. (frugel..?...cheap) I let em hiss...is there typically a single component that is the real culprit behind all the air?...I don't mind taking a soldering iron to a rig if I know what I'm looking for...your first challenge new guy... Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #321 is a reply to message #319] Fri, 02 February 2001 13:18 GaryH Messages: 19 Registered: January 2001 Junior Member Hi Everyone: Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement! This does seem like a pretty cool buncha guys. JC was kind enough to send me links to some various pictures of different people and their collections, as well as some pictures of the Nashville show, which just about had my eyes poppin' out! What an incredible sight, to see all that tuck n' roll in one place, and so many minty pieces as well… wish I could've been there to see it in person. I would certainly be happy to jump in and tackle the "hiss" issue that you've mentioned, but I'll have to get back up to speed on these amps first. I'm still on the search for a 200-4 energizer, and I'm hoping to use that as my unit to benchmark the performance, and get an idea of just where things stand currently. I'm in need of schematics. If any of you can send me copies, I'd be grateful (and better armed to help). I'd be happy to cover any costs; email me at gary@tranceaudio.com so we can arrange things. As I told Dan, I believe that I still have a few of the schematics in my file for some of the 250 series, but even those are hiding from me right now after a recent move. I'll be heading to my storage space this weekend to hunt for them, and would be happy to make them available if you don't already have them. As a quick answer to ET's question, there is usually no one part that will be a guaranteed fix for hiss. A majority of the time it is a failing transistor somewhere in the signal path, and sometimes there are several signal paths all heading to the power amp in tandem. There are often ways that you can track it down with a minimum of test gear; as I gather information, I'll be glad to share my discoveries and techniques with you. On our side is the fact that Kustoms were very well made for their day; they used the best quality components available, including metal film resistors, computer-grade filter capacitors, and other goodies that allowed them to make their lifetime guarantee to their customers (well, until more recently, I guess). This stuff will probably have held up much better in the long run, and be less likely to be a culprit for severe problems. Many of the transistors used were standard RCA (and other) devices that were "house marked" especially for Kustom. This was a standard practice back then; a fairly common part is specially selected to meet certain criteria for a manufacturer, and then marked with a special number in place of its common, well-known number. The manufacturer uses this as his part number for service centers and other repair guys. The upside of this is that you get a part that is known to meet the necessary specifications, like the matched output transistors used in the 100/200/400 series energizers. The downside is that often these "house numbers" won't appear in most transistor replacement catalogs, and the actual identity can become lost with time. It may take some time and detective work to uncover modern sources for some of these parts. Technology has also marched ahead quite a bit in 30 years, and there are better parts out there, which may improve the noise performance as well. I know that some people are squeamish about making any sort of modifications to a vintage piece of gear, and I respect that. There are plenty of ways to deal with problems without affecting the vintage aspect in most cases, and there are also ways to expand and improve the functionality for those who are looking for more out of their rigs. I can probably be of help to both of those camps. The hunt continues… Gary Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #324 is a reply to message #321] Sat, 03 February 2001 10:23 KustomDan Messages: 42 Registered: January 2000 Member Gary, Gald to have you thinking about this issue. To jump-start the refamiliarization process I will send you copies of the 100/200 schematics and we can fill in what you need from there. Send me an e-mail with your address (olenik@delanet.com) ---Owner, VintageKustom.com Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #326 is a reply to message #324] Sun, 04 February 2001 23:36 Anonymous aint this fun ?! Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #357 is a reply to message #326] Thu, 15 February 2001 23:14 Anonymous Welcome Gary!! Hey,not all the people who kollect Kustoms are guys!!! I am a new Kollector myself, and a chick! This a very good group of people, and I'm sure you fit right in! I hope that you find some nice pieces too. I also look forward to emailing you with technical questions when they arise. Good luck in your chase!! Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3017 is a reply to message #316] Thu, 28 August 2003 07:55 SamG Messages: 3 Registered: August 2003 Junior Member Also new to the Kustom world; you'll are a wealth of info. I've wanted a Kustom since 1968 when the Magic Mushrooms (local high school band)used them during a school assembly. I have a 200A-5 that a fairly lould hiss. This hiss is not affected by volume level. I've ran the line output into a Bassman, and it's still there. Reading thru many of the post, it seems I'm stuck with this, right? Regards, Sam Regards, Sam Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3018 is a reply to message #3017] Thu, 28 August 2003 09:14 ET Messages: 146 Registered: October 2000 Location: Charlotte NC Senior Member hey Sam...there are many more knowledgeable folks on this site who will likely help you, but here's what I've found from my local amp tech...a hissing kustom is not a "broke" kustom...so it takes him a bit to find the specific little dojiggy that is breathing so heavily...on most rigs, which are stage amps anyway..the hiss is not so bad that it's worth the money to pay someone to find it and make it better...I have a little k100 head that is beyond reasonable and if I Iever actually used it I'd have to have it "fixed"..as it is, the amp is virtually new and unplayed in mint condition and I got it as part of the collection..not really intending to play it...most of my work is done on the SC combos and while they all tend to sound like my ceiling fan, none of them are doing a jet engine routine nor are they any louder than the constant ringing in my ears!! so I've left well enough alone...but in answer (long one)...a good amp tech can make it better...but it might take a couple dollars and replacing perfectly good components...somebody smarter than me help this boy out...I gotta go answer that doorbell, or phone or whatever that is that keeps ringing in my ears!!!!...hey, ya'll Play Loud! ET Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3020 is a reply to message #3018] Thu, 28 August 2003 10:06 C4ster Messages: 686 Registered: June 2001 Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee... Senior Member The hiss is a result of the very odd arrangement for the preamp stages. The transistors are running wide open and Bud Ross used what is refered to as negative feedback to control the volume. That is why you can never get the volume all the way down. Some signal is needed to be sent back to reduce the output. But the wide open nature of the stage allows the minute leakage current to be amplified many times over. That hiss you hear are the electrons running around in your transistors that cannot be controlled. That is a simplified version of the Kustom sound. Conrad Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3023 is a reply to message #313] Fri, 29 August 2003 12:20 Brian Messages: 4 Registered: August 2003 Junior Member There's a black 200 head for sale right now at South Austin music 512-448-4992 because I bought the 2-15 cabinet part of the rig recently. Hissing? My Kustom charger is metal all around and thus shielded and no hiss but my Peavy standard head is a metal front and back and the wood in between doesn't shield and it hisses. Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3026 is a reply to message #3020] Mon, 01 September 2003 11:12 ET Messages: 146 Registered: October 2000 Location: Charlotte NC Senior Member Conrad's the man!! Report message to a moderator

Re: New Guy [message #3032 is a reply to message #313] Wed, 03 September 2003 07:47   stevem Messages: 4733 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY Senior Member Hi, wellcome! For some reason It seems alot more kustom amps made it to the east coast. Log onto Daddys music.com. They always have kustom stuff for sale on their used gear listing, Ive got alot of mine from them. shipping may not be cheap, but its worth it to own one. I rebuild and mod tube guitar amps and two weeks ago finshed changing out all the tantal caps in a kustom 100.change in tone and hiss and responce was fantastic! Report message to a moderator

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