Local Guitar Amplifier Repair & Service Essex, London & Hertfordshire.

Sickamps see many more guitar amplifier repairs than any other form of electronics stage equipment. Naturally, as our name suggests it has become a specialism for us and somewhat of an origin.

Guitar amps are not necessarily more problematic or fail more but they are more popular and are generally multi-functional and often used as bass amps, piano amps and so on. At the end of the day all electronics passing high voltages and currents mixed in with a harsh stage environment of beer sweat and often tears it’s no wonder stage electronics occasionally have hiccups.

The most common form of Guitar amplifier fault & repair:

–Crackling pots

-Damaged jacks

-Hums & Crackles (caused by dry joints, leaking capacitors)

-Blown Elements

-Played too loud and let out some smoke

-Incorrect Biasing

-Reading wrong information on forums and DIY attempted repairs

-Rarely it’s human error – We try to understand how you use the kit and offer suggestions for best results

Main technologies we repair in guitar amplifiers - solid state, and valve.

Solid State

The term solid state means no moving parts and all ‘solid’ refers to is the Silicone Transistors and MOSFETS used to amplify and deliver the current to the speaker. Solid state amplifier repairs can refer to a solid state preamp circuit which uses Jfet and opamp devices, as well as referring to solid state output stages which rely on often big heatsinks with large transistors or Mosfets to dissipate the heat.

Valve

Valve amps use electrons travelling through a vacuum to amplify the current. The blue glow tinge you see on power tubes is plasma and is as close as you can come to seeing electrons moving. Like solid state valve amplifiers, valve amplifiers can have a valve preamp section as well as a valve output stages. Because of the high voltages and low currents used to run valve output stages, output transformers are used as devices which in simple terms lower the voltage and increase the current making to match the load of a speaker.

Amps are dangerous inside!!!!

Both amplifiers technologies contain dangerous voltages and users are not recommended to start prodding around inside. We have had many amps in over the years where a video clip on ‘repairing amps’ is used and often creates many more faults. For many people their guitar amp is their tool to earning money, and needs to be carefully repaired and looked after. If you are unsure, do not touch it and call us!

We’re authorised by some of the biggest brands in musical electronics and amplifiers. Please see our extensive list at [link to Brands]

Past customer reviews from Google & Facebook

Guitar Amplifier Service and Repair Costs

We have created a basic guide to the cost of servicing and repairs for guitar and bass amplifiers. We like to be as transparent as possible in our pricing structure, and rather than quoting on an hourly basis alone we prefer to give you a rough overall cost. It is important to understand this is based on a straight forward repair.

We have lots of experience and may decline work that we think is going to be uneconomical or where we don’t think that we would provide the best value service.

Please note that these are our minimum charged costs and will apply once equipment is brought to the workshop and booked into the system as “received at workshop”. This simply means that this charge applies if we look at the equipment and either it is totally wrecked and or beyond economical repair, it also applies if we are unable to find a fault as it is out time spent investigating and proving by measurements and testing to electronic specifications. In most instances for straight forward repairs the hour is the most you’ll pay but this entirely depends on the fault and equipment.

This cost covers our time to manage the ticket and goes towards the diagnostics and attempt to repair. Around 80% of a repair is first in the diagnostics, the remainder 20% is the remedial or repair work and in about 90% of standard amps with standard faults the issue can be identified and resolved within the hour.

£ 100

From

Visual Inspection inside
Cleaning of all controls with DeOxit Cleaner
Airline cleaning of internal dust Fan & Heatsink
Thermographic check for temperature instabilities
Visual check for Solder Joints
Load testing to at least 50% saturation for 1/2 hour

£ 120

From

Checking of storage capacitors
Checking coupling capacitors
Internal visual check
Thermographic check for overheating
Visual check of Solder joints where accessible
Preamp Valve check
Power Amp Valve check
Cleaning of cracking Pots & Controls with DEoxit cleaner

Popular Parts replaced during an amp service:

Below is a list of popular items we regularly get asked for cost. This will allow you to add the service cost(above) and the below parts to give you a very rough estimate.

We have limits that we will repair upto without further authorisation from you and can be found in our terms and conditions however we do always try to remain economical. If we think it’s going to be unrealistic then we will let you know before you get an incredibly unrealistic bill. Please ensure you’ve understood this and the rates. Any item brought to us for repair will automatically charged the minimum of an hour to cover our inspection and bench fees. Should you not wish to proceed with a repair we will still charge.