Important! New lead free Solder causing failures in amps!

[EXPcustom]

IMPORTANT!

This is just some info I have collected and am passing along since it is important for anyone buying a new amp or one that has been made in the last few years. If you have lead free solder your amp can prematurely fail.

Make sure if you are having a old amp repaired that they are using lead based solder.

The article discuss the PS3 and Xbox but it is applicable to amps as well just read the quotes.

"I just think that with all of these machines, the power and the heat they produce have long-term effects on the units," says Thickbroom, referring to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. "It's also down to the solder being used on the units: it's a lead-free based solder. The consistency and quality of the joints with lead-free isn't as good as a proper lead-based solder. It's the law now, huge companies manufacturing these machines need to use lead-free, so the long-term reliability of the connections isn't so good."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... cle?page=2

This is what someone else I know had to say about this new lead free solder:

Eurotards came out with legislation called Reduction of Hazardous Substances which mandated no lead in solder. So great, low-temperature eutectic 63/37 Sn/Pb has been outlawed for the most part in anything sold in Europe. And that means most electronics here are also RoHS approved.

It is the leading cause of CFL failure. Even NASA has had problems as some types of lead free cause whiskers to form. And the solution is to add copper which increases the melting point. Because most electronics are assembled using solder wave or thermal reflow operations, this higher heat causes thermal stress on the components, drastically reducing life. So even if solder joints don't fail or whiskers form, the components don't last as long.

The lead danger could be AVOIDED by simple RECYCLING. And in the case of CFLs, they MUST be recycled because even though they have no lead, they have far more dangerous mercury. Yet they cannot be made with 63/37 solder? That is proof of the insanity of environmentalists. And Eurotards.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

That stuff is the worst, I'll buy a stockpile of the real thing before the idiots on this side of the pond ban it here too. It is inevitable. Next they'll be after our tubes.

 

[EXPcustom]

That stuff is the worst, I'll buy a stockpile of the real thing before the idiots on this side of the pond ban it here too. It is inevitable. Next they'll be after our tubes.

Most amp companies here already use it. All the Bogner Fish reissues have the lead free solder. I am pretty sure most other amp makers here are using it.

I will find out if Mesa is using it next week when I take my MkII C+ in for its caps to be done. I will personally bring Mike B a roll of lead solder if I have to.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Any company that is shipping amps to the EU is probably using it. They better be unless they want their ass handed to them in fines. However there are a great many small builders and techs that don't have such concerns so they still use the good stuff, myself included.

 

[Juggernaut]

I have a friend who works for a pedal company and says that stuff just SUCKS....

I have 6 large-ish rolls of the good stuff, after the horror stories I've heard about the lead free, I'll be stock piling solder for a while...

 

[MrDan666]

The Lead-Free solder that i had tried before, was pure crap. Had bad joints too often and it was becoming a total pain in the ass to use.

I just stick to Lead solder from Kester and i get great results. I use the 60/40 rosin core stuff

 

[guitarslinger]

I guess I'll just throw my Bogner Fish into the trash. It's obviously a piece of shit now.

 

[MrDan666]

I guess I'll just throw my Bogner Fish into the trash. It's obviously a piece of shit now.

Or just throw it into the mail to my address

 

[Greazygeo]

I guess I'll just throw my Bogner Fish into the trash. It's obviously a piece of shit now.

No it makes the originals far more valuable.

 

[ejecta]

Not to mention the lead helps give the amp better tone.

 

[Anonymous]

Lead Soldered Marshalls VS Lead-Free Soldered Marshalls! DISCUSS!!1!!1

 

[glpg80]

Lead Soldered Marshalls VS Lead-Free Soldered Marshalls! DISCUSS!!1!!1

WTB: feeler SLP reissue with lead rosin solder

 

[MrDan666]

Lead Soldered Marshalls VS Lead-Free Soldered Marshalls! DISCUSS!!1!!1

WTB: feeler SLP reissue with lead rosin solder

you just know that it will get to that point someday!!

 

[Digital Jams]

I had to re-do a 5 wat switch in a Schecter, bad connections everywhere It was easier than to go through the mess of sending it out to be fixed.

 

[Gainiac]

Lead adds weight, makes things heavy, heavy metal amp.... its obvious how important this is....

 

[tweed]

Oh crap, countdown till some idiot on TGP starts a "lead solder" effects the tone thread.

 

[duesentrieb]

lol

 

[Jordon]

I warned people about this 2 1/2 years ago. Nobody thought much of it then. They're working on conformal coatings that would keep the whiskers to a minimum, but you cannot get rid of them. It's the tin and silver used instead of the lead. Also, I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk in general about the EU starting to ban incandescent lightbulbs...this will also be coming to the US. The good part is that the last time I checked, there is no official RoHS to Environmental Compliance law in the US (aside from California, who has had it for years), meaning if you build a product in the US and do not export it to Europe, Japan, China, Korea, South America or Australia, then you can still used leaded solder. The flip side is, if a product is built in China and has lead in it above standards, they cannot sell it within their borders, but they can export it...to us....one of the last countries without law regarding this. Hence the leaded products coming from China recently.

My job used to be RoHS Research and Part Replacement Technician. I used to be able to recite that piece of legislature by rote.

 

[Jordon]

That stuff is the worst, I'll buy a stockpile of the real thing before the idiots on this side of the pond ban it here too. It is inevitable. Next they'll be after our tubes.

Most amp companies here already use it. All the Bogner Fish reissues have the lead free solder. I am pretty sure most other amp makers here are using it.

I will find out if Mesa is using it next week when I take my MkII C+ in for its caps to be done. I will personally bring Mike B a roll of lead solder if I have to.

They must use it per California environmental compliance law, and since they export to other countries.

 

[Krinkle]

The military and medical industry don't have to use the silver (Rohs) solder. That alone speaks volumes on how crappy the new solder is.

The biggest telltale sign is that the aerospace industry is not required to used it either. Why? I'll bet it has something to do with planes falling out of the sky....
We do work for all 3, military and aerospace mostly, and some medical. While everybody else was scrambling to make sure everything was lead free, we were business as usual. I just got trained to be trainer at my company for IPCA-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, and found out that another big problem is that the parts that are now lead free may not play well with lead. This is definitely going to be a problem.

As for the banning of incandescent light bulbs, I believe that there was a discussion about that here in Canada until someone pointed out the mercury content in the replacement bulbs that the government was going to subsidize, if you believe what you read!