VintageKustom.com: Repairing Kustom Amps

Mon, 22 October 2012 14:19

fullblare
Messages: 5
Registered: October 2012
Location: Sioux City

Junior Member

Picked up a '72 Kustom K250-4 and matching 2 x 15 cabinet on Craiglist a few months ago while my Bassman Head was in the shop getting recapped. My plan was to gig with this amp as a bass rig and relist once the Fender was out of the shop. The only problem being that I fell in love with it as both a Bass & Guitar amp, escpecially after playing with the built in effects and Wah pedal. After a few months I've noticed some issues that I would like to fix:

1) Boost Pedal no longer works. There are 3 wires connected to the poteniometer inside the pedal, 1 white, 1 black and a braided sheild, that run from the pedal to a 1/4" Stereo plug that connects to a jack in the back of the amp. I metered the stereo plug and noticed that the ground and one of the other wires are connected. Is this normal, or should all three wires have separate electrical paths? Is so I can wire up a new cord and jack and go from there.

2) I do not have the original light effects pedal. I can build one with some foot switches and indicators but thought someone might have a schematic of one to get me started. The 6 pin XLR connector on the back of the head has been removed and replaced with a square connector but I plan to take that out and put the XLR back in. I have read some posts that detailing what the different colored wires control, Fuzz, Tremelo, reverb, Boost. One post said the Red wire was 12V but I'm measuring 41VDC. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

3) Reverb is weak. I pulled the reverb tank and noticed one of the springs was broken and could not be re-attached. I just happened to have an extra tank from a Twin Reverb in my shop and they appear to be identical. So I installed the new tank but Reverb is only noticable when you crank the intensity and pull "HI". Has anyone else experienced this?

Other than that it's a great amp. The Fuzz is killer and the Tremelo/Vibrate are great too. I love the fact that I can just plug in without bringing a bunch of effects.

Thanks for help and suggestions.

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