Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:17 pm

FYI - we've talked in the past about Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000's having problems.

This pic is of my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe from 1998. The board is burned beyond repair - I'd done a temporary fix a few years ago, but now need to fix it again because the heat has done more damage to the traces. The solution is to run wires off the board (you can see I've started that) and mount the overheating components on a heatsink outside the chassis. Messy, timeconsuming, and expensive (labour).
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: 20260722_081203.jpg (167.86 KiB) Viewed 687 times

Pepe · Post by **Pepe** » Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:39 pm

Terrible boards! Who came up with this really bad solution of placing components that get hot directly on the pcb? This is even worse than the leaking memory batteries on vintage KORG analogue synthesizers like the Polysix and Poly-61, that are placed next to the most important big ICs.

Old_Iron · Post by **Old_Iron** » Wed Jul 22, 2026 7:43 pm

I remember that some DIY Fender kits, with pcb, use to suggest in the assembly instructions to solder the big resistors far (not touching) from the pcb.

I did that and it works. More than a decade later and no sign of burning on the pcb.

A pic from my 5E1/5F1 board just after assembly:

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Wed Jul 22, 2026 8:16 pm

Yes. That's the answer. Unfortunately for my amp the damage happened over the 25 years before I bought it.

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Thu Jul 23, 2026 2:09 am

Pepe wrote: ↑
Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:39 pm
Terrible boards! Who came up with this really bad solution of placing components that get hot directly on the pcb? This is even worse than the leaking memory batteries on vintage KORG analogue synthesizers like the Polysix and Poly-61, that are placed next to the most important big ICs.

Yes. Very much like that.

I used to own an old pinball machine. The pinballs from the 80's have the same problem. This pic below isn't of my machine, but it shows what happens. Just awful.
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: Pinball1.jpg (251.06 KiB) Viewed 593 times

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Thu Jul 23, 2026 2:10 am

And don't forget this one:

http://www.bossareaforum.com/Forum/view ... ?f=6&t=748

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Fri Jul 24, 2026 1:09 pm

This is the fix. Mount those components off the board on a heatsink.
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Pepe · Post by **Pepe** » Fri Jul 24, 2026 1:12 pm

Nice! How is the insulation ensured on the legs of those parts?

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Fri Jul 24, 2026 3:22 pm

The air gaps are sufficient. It is low voltage.

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Sat Jul 25, 2026 2:00 am

Couple more pics.

This is the heatsink with the wires connected.
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: Hotrod heatsink.jpg (280.68 KiB) Viewed 202 times

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And mounted on the back of the chassis just above the exit point of the reverb leads. It gets warm, but not hot. I'd estimate a rise of about 20C. Problem solved.
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: Hotrod heatsink2.jpg (363.96 KiB) Viewed 202 times

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Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

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Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.

Re: Fender tube amps from the 1990s and 2000s.