What should I do with my re-issue Deluxe Reverb?

[CapnCrunch]

I haven't played this amp in about 6 or 7 years. I plugged it in the other day and it doesn't sound right. It has some distortion (non musical and at low volumes) behind the played notes that gradually gets louder then the notes themselves as the notes decay.

I was thinking of selling this amp and a THD Univalve that I never play anymore, to fund a D-lite. Now I don't know if I can get anything out of it. Anybody have any idea what could cause this problem?

That brings me to the real question. Does it make any sense to build a Dumble style amp in the Deluxe chassis? I am thinking I'd be further ahead if I sell the deluxe, and start new. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Andy Le Blanc]

gut it and reuse the tranny, and box, then sell it if you can.

[CapnCrunch]

Hey Andy,

I know you do a lot of amp repair. Have you ever worked on these re-issues? Have you ever run into a problem like this?

[FYL]

I haven't played this amp in about 6 or 7 years. I plugged it in the other day and it doesn't sound right. It has some distortion (non musical and at low volumes) behind the played notes that gradually gets louder then the notes themselves as the notes decay.

Check the filtering and cathode caps. What you describe is typical of elcos in dire need of reforming (or dead elcos).

[Andy Le Blanc]

fender got a bad bunch of resistors a while back, they show up in the plate circuit
of any given stage. the distortion can be soft to pretty raunchy.

The last one I saw last week was a 93 concert and it was PI plate resistor.
8 to 10 years old, if a tube swap doesn't fix it get after the plate resistors.
Another trouble is how the filter caps are mounted, they tend to loosen
up they're solder joins with rough handling.