mid 60's Fender Bassman - input jacks

[jaysg]

Just got this in. From the looks of it, the amp has never been opened before. I think it lives in a garage, based on the rust level. The input jacks are intermittent and it needs some caps. With an amp this old, should I just replace all four 12A's or clean them and hope for the best? (the tube chart think it's an AA165)

[David Root]

I'd try cleaning them first. They're way better quality than current regular 12As (regular as opposed to the current mil-spec 12AX which is still good).

Watch out for the pots, they can test good but go intermittent on you without warning. So can the jacks for that matter. This was all with items from an AB165, so I would think you could well have similar issues. Clean everything.

[billyz]

You should be to clean them up. I roll some 600 grit paper and clean the inside barrel, then fold a piece and pull it thru the shorting contact. If they are not shorting then insert a jack to pull back the tip contact, use a small fine needle nose plier to gently bend the contact toward the tip, does not need to move much. Remove the jack to check function. Also loosen the mounting nut and use some deoxit between the jack and chassis.