Frequently Asked Questions

(many with answers!)

• What are your business hours?
  No set hours for the shop, but the phone is pretty much 24/7. Call first if you're planning to drop by.
   
• Do you perform warranty work?
  Wakarusa Amplification does not perform warranty service on equipment from other manufacturers at this time. If your gear is still under warranty I highly recommend contacting the manufacturer or an authorized service center for repairs.
   
• What brands of amplifiers do you service?
  All of 'em. If there's a schematic available and the replacement parts can be found we can fix your gear. Solid state stuff, PA gear, and effects pedals too.
   
• What's a cap job? Do I need one?
  Your amplifier has capacitors, or "caps", in it. These are passive electrical components and they can wear out. More to the point, electrolytic capacitors have a service life of about 10 years. Electrolytics are usually used in power supply filters and to bypass cathode resistors. When these go bad the result can be anything from a degradation of tone to an oozing mess inside the amp. A good rule of thumb is if the amp is more than 10 years old you should replace the electrolytics.
   
• What about the other caps?
  While we're at it, there are other caps in there too. They can be ceramic, silver-mica, polyester, polystyrene, polypropylene, etc. You'll find these used in the tone controls and to couple the various stages of the amplifier together (pre-amp to mixer, mixer to power-amp, etc.). Typically, these don't wear out in quite the same way that electrolytics do. However, these are (generally) all directly in the signal path inside your amp. Said another way, the music goes through these. As you might suspect, different materials sound different. While replacement of aging electrolytics is a matter of maintenance, changing tone and coupling caps is usually a matter of taste. That said, don't let the tech decide what does and doesn't sound good. More importantly, don't do wholesale replacement of tone/coupling caps if there's nothing wrong with them and you like the way the amp sounds. Finally, tone and coupling capacitors can and do go bad. Age, vibration, and heat are all working against them. Over time these capacitors can become "leaky" -- they'll start to allow DC voltage through -- with fairly nasty tonal results. Caps that leak DC should be replaced.
   
• What's the absolute cheapest way to fix my very old very dead amp?
  Replace the guts with a circuit board from a solid-state no-name amp from E-Bay. Leaving the filament circuit connected (so the tubes will still glow) would cost extra and you did say "cheapest". The point is that bringing basket cases back to life can be very difficult and expensive, particularly if the transformers are dead, the parts are obscure, the schematic is unavailable, and/or the tubes required are unobtainium. If the amp is broken to the point where the fix exceeds the value of the amp, sometimes you just have to accept it and move on. Unless it is particularly valuable as a collector piece or already working, that garage sale amp is very likely to be a false bargain. If cost is your primary concern, go buy something inexpensive that comes with a warranty.
   
• Can I try different tubes before I buy them?
  Yup. I keep a selection of both new production and NOS tubes on hand for just this purpose. There's enough variety that we can either find something you'll like, or learn enough about what you're after to get you the right gear.
   
• About that trying tubes thing... If I find something I like, do I have to buy it from you?
  Nope. I'd certainly prefer that you did, but you don't have to. Since all of our tubes are fully tested and burned in there's probably less risk buying them here than on, say, E-Bay, but the choice is wholly yours.
   
• More on those tubes. Can I borrow a set for a gig? I mean if we're REALLY going to see how they sound...
  Nope.
   
• What's a Wakarusa?
  It's a Native American word meaning "knee deep in mud". I'm not kidding.