A to Z on Music Gear Reviews and Guitar Amp Repair Tips
This site is the result of many years of playing music and fixing music gear. On these pages to the right you will discover videos I've made or collected. Also discussions with site visitors on how to fix their music equipment.
Whether shopping amps or other musical gear sometimes knowing what's inside can make a difference before your purchase.
If you're a roadie, aspiring tech, beginning hacker or just want to make an informed buying decision you can find something on these pages.
Over and over I’ve seen there are simple steps musicians can take to keep their gear in top shape and out of the shop. For instance, just learning how to use a volt/ohm meter and learning how to solder can enable you to do a lot of repairs that otherwise would require a tech to perform.
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Let me know if you have questions and I will answer in the most timely manner possible.
Please read my disclaimer tab at the top before proceeding to use anything from this site as information to work on your gear.
gary@aztechmusic.com
How to use a Multimeter
After a lot of questions I've decided to have posts and comments on how to use a multimeter for musicians. Armed with a good digital multimeter and a little knowledge a musician can figure out a lot of times what's going on with his/her equipment. If it's working correctly or how to improve a project.
When you know how to use a volt ohm meter you can pinpoint problems in those crucial moments before gigs or just have fun at home figuring out your gear.
Test equipment like music gear comes in different qualities. The more you spend the better you get. There are some lower priced models I'm sure are good but if you want quality that lasts for years, Fluke is always a good choice. They can take a beating either from the elements, shock or misuse and keep on ticking, accurately.
And that is what you want, you want an accurate reading at all times or you're quickly on the wrong road to figuring out a problem. A good example is the first time you accidentally leave your meter on a sensitive ohm setting and try to take a voltage reading of high DC current, the cheaper meters don't seem to recover. A Fluke 99% of the time will recover instantly.
There are other good brands and sometimes it's what you can afford to get started is fine, just get started!
Here's a good example of using an ohm meter to find a problem quickly : Blown Diaphram