Tube Amp Maintenance After 7 years in storage

[OldSkoolNJ]

Hello I am new here, After lurking around and reading some posts it looks like I have found the right place for the questions I have..

I am coming out of a 6-7 year Music Hiatus so please excuse my Fuzzy memory...
I have Two Lee Jackson heads One XLS-500 2-Channel 50 Watt and One XLS-1000 2-Channel 100 Watt head,
With a matching pair of Lee Jackson 4x12 Cabinets one loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's the other is a 300 watt cabinet with Lee Jackson speakers...
I am the original Owner of the Amps since the Mid 1990's and always kept the heads in ATA flight cases, I stored the heads and cabinets in my walk in closet for the last 6-7 years..

So far I have only been messing with one of the heads and the Vintage 30 cabinet.
Prior to firing up the head I cleaned all of the input/out put jacks with contact cleaner and Q-tips.
Removed the rear grill dusted and cleaned everything along with the tubes and sockets ect,ect..

I completely forgot about Spraying the volume and tone pots with contact cleaner while I had it apart..

The Amp works perfectly but I noticed a few of the knobs are scratchy and this is where my memory fades...

1. Prior to taking the amp apart again I remember something like Leaving the Amp on standby with the speaker cab plugged in then unplugging the power cord in an attempt to drain any power is my memory correct with this procedure??

2. Spraying the Volume/Tone pots, prior to spraying you turn the knobs up and down a few times to break free any debry then spray the contact cleaner directly inside the pots and turn the knobs again, then spray contact cleaner a 2nd time to flush them out.


Am I remembering all of this correctly???
Any one have any other helpful tips and or recommendations??

 

[MARK1970]

Sounds good, but unplugging your power cord does not drain the power. The amp you need to bleed the caps. If your just cleaning the pots, keep both hands out of the amp.

Do you have any pics on them amps?

 

[scottosan]

Typically, on most amps you can short pin 1 of V1 to ground for several seconds and that should drain the caps. I would suggest check with a multimeter though

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

Yeh I thought I remembered that unplugging the amp while in standby would slightly decrease the amount stored in the amp compared to just shutting it down, could have been a myth back in the day or just my lack of memory of this stuff in the past 7 years..
I have been doing race cars during the time since then so it is completely on the opposite side of things..

Thanks for the help and clarification..

I also think that maybe this cabinet isn't my vintage 30 cabinet one has a white logo the other has a gold logo..
And the one with the metal jack plate on the back being the one with the Celestions if I remember correctly,
This one is has the plastic plate..

Excuse the picture size the room I am messing with this in is a very small room..

 

[bravedude2]

i'm on a quest to get a xls 500, but until my wallet says i can do my search will start.

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

i'm on a quest to get a xls 500, but until my wallet says i can do my search will start.

Yeh the XLS 1000 always sounded better running at 50 watts on 2 power tubes IMO anyways..
I usually alternated between between both heads night after night but always brought both to the show with one as back up in case something happened during the period of 4 sets a night..
I think I only needed the back up once during those days..

 

[MARK1970]

That thing is cosmetically in A+ condition. WOW!

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

That thing is cosmetically in A+ condition. WOW!

Thanks
The Road cases certainly didn't hurt them..

The foot switches for both amps have seen better days though..

I have more questions now I looked over on Lee's site what is the deal with the Heater Mod for these amps and its purpose??
I haven't ever had any problems with these amps, Was there a defect with them or something??
I just emailed him but I doubt I will get a Quick response..
And it looks like I should replace the Power cord jack on this particular head I noticed it has broken from the tabs that the screws go through that hold it to the chassis I remember Marshall's using the same type of plug think one of those will work??

 

[stephen sawall]

I have not seen one of them for years ..... and as said it looks in great shape.

A lot of people do not know this but it is a very good idea to turn on the amp turn up the volume a bit so you can hear the hum for a few minutes with out the guitar plugged in. ..... the reason you do this is the coils in the speaker have not moved in some time. This well warm them up and loosen them before you hit them with the guitar. It is easy to blow a speaker that has not been used for a bit. This almost always stop this from happening. Not a bad idea to do this all the time.

..... and welcome to the forum.

 

[blackba]

Very cool looking amps. I have heard of them, but never seen or heard one.

Just as an FYI, if you are not playing the amps for a long period of time, its a good idea to get a variac and bring them up to voltage slowly. It helps 'form' the electrolytic caps.

As a general rule, its a good idea to power things up every month or two to keep the caps charged and ready to go. Kind of similar to keeping a car battery charged.

For your power cord, is it one like you would find on a computer, if so those are plentiful....

 

[bravedude2]

the heater problems were on the VL's. i sent mine too lee and he fixed the problems and re-tubed with e/h 6550's and the sucker sounds great!

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

Thanks for the welcome, tips, recommendations and info on the heater mod..

Friday when my g/f gets back in town with the real camera I will get better pictures of the Power cord plug-in on the the back of the head with some internal pictures so that I can get your help on which plug I need and where I can get it..