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Van Alstine Ultra Double 550 Repair

S

StreamFisher

New Member
Hello I inherited a nice pair of somewhat vintage pieces of van alstine gear, Transcendence 8 pre and the 550 ultra double amplifier. The pre just needed a little cleaning but I want to get the amp into working condition. It currently powers on. No power to the tubes and no sound. I have repeatedly tried to get in touch with Van Alstine for repair and none of my local guys seem confident or able to tackle it. Looking to see if anyone around here might have experience with that amp might be willing to work on it. Thanks in advance.
 

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AFAIK the schematics for these units cannot be found in the wild. Have you tried phoning Audio by Van Alstine? 651-330-9871.

How comfy are you with repairs? Do you have basic equipment? Tubes not getting power points to either all the tubes dying (unlikely) or a power supply problem. There are a few easy initial steps you can do to help us give you better answers but whether you can get those done will depend on the above.

This is well regarded gear and absolutely worth your time!
 
Thanks for your reply!

I have called over the past few months about 10 times. I’m not comfortable making my own repairs unfortunately. I do have a multimeter but that’s about it. Tubes are good, they have been tested.

I agree I love his stuff I’ve had in the past and the pre sounds wonderful. I’m sentimental about this gear because it was my uncle’s and I want to get it going. I’m basically reaching out here as someone who doesn’t see a lot of options for getting it fixed. Thanks in advance.
 
Tube amps are very simple with minimal parts. Try TV repairmen in your locale if they'd look at it.
 
This is a solid state amp with two 12at7’s in the the driver stage. I would agree and I have a tube guy but he doesn’t work on solid state equipment.
 
Here's a resource for you, a nationwide analog tech directory. Fair number of folks in TX but none specifically in San Antonio. Probably worth the drive to Austin though! TX Technicians. This entry stood out to me:

Name - Pyramid Audio
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Contact Info - Click to Email / Phone = 512-458‐8292 Email Preferred
Service Area - Austin, TX
Repairs Accepted - In Person ☑️ | Mail In's ☑️
Website - https://www.pyramid-audio.com
FB Page - Pyramid Audio | Austin TX

Skillset - Home audio repairs ranging from the early 70's to current. We also build the discrete STK replacements for vintage audio equipment.

Misc Notes / About Us -

Our technicians have nearly a combined 130 years of experience in electrical engineering and repairing home audio equipment. Our head technician/engineer graduated from Texas A&M University in 1978 with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, along with graduate work in analog circuit design. He then went on to be the technical editor of Autosound and Security Magazine from 1995-2000, contributing two articles a month of in-depth technical analysis of amplifiers and radios. He was a consulting engineer for NHT Audio, Lanzar Pro, and Jade Labs, and was a recipeint of the Consumer Electronic Show Innovation Award for the Lanzar dynamic range expanders G2M and G2S. He is also the designer of our STK+ and TA+ series of replacement output ICs for Kenwood and other brands.

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= Comes in highly recommended by the community.
 
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That amp has a lot of electrolytic caps that may need replacing. Before you try unsoldering and soldering things, check those circuit boards with a lighted magnifying glass. There appear to be many heavy things sitting on them. That, plus heat, plus years of use, can lead to damaged tracings and warped boards. Those would be difficult to replace.

Also, check that toroidal transformer for continuity in the leads. I'm not sure where you would find a replacement either.

You want to rule out damage to any proprietary parts that may be next to impossible to find before sinking any money or time into it.

Good luck! I hope it's not too difficult or $$$ to get running.
 
Appreciate the insights! Thanks so much I’ll look into the semi-local shops and try to see if it appears proprietary parts would cause this to be a lot cause. Thanks!
 
StreamFisher said:
Appreciate the insights! Thanks so much I’ll look into the semi-local shops and try to see if it appears proprietary parts would cause this to be a lot cause. Thanks!
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Good luck! That is a behemoth! So be careful, prolly passes a lot of current.
 
OP has said he's not comfortable with repairs. Given that I would NOT recommend messing about given the likely amount of current flying around. I'm going to venture to say that not being repair minded OP also doesn't have desoldering equipment.

So I say download a good audiobook, drive to Austin, and get it checked out by a pro. Worth the evaluation fee IMHO.

Now if it were me? Open it, poke around, read everything I could find, desolder some parts, put them where I just know I'll easily find them again, put it on the shelf until I get back to it on the weekend, come back to it seven months later with zero memory of anything I read or did before, rinse, repeat.

THAT'S how you repair vintage gear at home!
 
StreamFisher said:
Hello I inherited a nice pair of somewhat vintage pieces of van alstine gear, Transcendence 8 pre and the 550 ultra double amplifier. The pre just needed a little cleaning but I want to get the amp into working condition. It currently powers on. No power to the tubes and no sound. I have repeatedly tried to get in touch with Van Alstine for repair and none of my local guys seem confident or able to tackle it. Looking to see if anyone around here might have experience with that amp might be willing to work on it. Thanks in advance.
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Good chatting with you yesterday. As discussed, happy to assess if it's something I can help you with. Keep in touch.
 
StreamFisher said:
Hello I inherited a nice pair of somewhat vintage pieces of van alstine gear, Transcendence 8 pre and the 550 ultra double amplifier. The pre just needed a little cleaning but I want to get the amp into working condition. It currently powers on. No power to the tubes and no sound. I have repeatedly tried to get in touch with Van Alstine for repair and none of my local guys seem confident or able to tackle it. Looking to see if anyone around here might have experience with that amp might be willing to work on it. Thanks in advance.
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im sending you a message
 
StreamFisher said:
Thanks to everyone for your support. I love audio stuff but this particular item is of particular importance.
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glad to help, buddy.
StreamFisher said:
I’ll look into the semi-local shops and try to see if it appears proprietary parts would cause this to be a lot cause. Thanks!
Click to expand...

StreamFisher said:
I’m basically reaching out here as someone who doesn’t see a lot of options for getting it fixed. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

@avahifi folks are asking about you, @StreamFisher . they say they want to hear from you. see messages.
 
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I took the amp to a gentleman that reached out about the repair, he was located about an hour and a half away. The team at Van Alstine offered to give assistance to this gentleman if he ran into any problems getting it going. He had a few repairs ahead of mine so no news yet. I’m optimistic it will work out and appreciate the efforts of people who responded here and Van Alstine. Will update when I have it going.
 
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