Ann Arbor Amplifier — Local services in Ann Arbor

Nice enough guy but I would recommend against taking a high end (Friedman and the like) guitar amplifier here. Had it three days and told me he had to “look up the schematics online”. I halted the repair process there and told him I was taking it to Dean Zink. Dean had me in and out in an hour. It was a bad cap. Dean diagnosed it in 15 minutes and again, had me out while I waited. I was trying to save time and stay local as it’s hard for me to get out to Sylvan Lake to see Zink. Also, when I got the amp back from Frank, the chassis was not tight in the box. Screws were less than hand tight, and he had stuffed a piece of paper in between the box and chassis (unbeknownst to me) asking Dean to call him and let him know what he found to be the problem. An overall unprofessional operation. He was nice enough, but when it comes to a $3500 amp...

When my Bandmaster died, I saw that the filaments in all 6 tubes were no longer glowing, and of course no rock & roll was emanating out of the speakers either. I was convinced that the Power Transformer had bitten the dust instead of the two-bit fuse, so I ordered a nice Hammond Manufacturing 290EX transformer: I opened up the amp (taking care to drain the high voltage capacitors) but was a little nonplussed by the color coded wires on the new PT, vs. those on the old PT. :-(

So I asked Frank at Ann Arbor Amplifier about installing it for me. Instead, he told me it was likely a loose green wire - and SURE ENOUGH, I found a green wire terminating at an eyelet that had never been soldered. Frank REALLY knows his stuff! This was over the phone! Consequently, he didn't make any money - but he got a new...

I have a late 60's Fender Bassman amp that had never been serviced since I bought it in 1993. One of the channels wasn't working anymore and I was getting a hum that would come and go on one of the other channels. Frank got everything working again, new caps, new tubes, new power cord to replace the one that had bare wire showing at the plug, and all cleaned up (except where my buddy spilled a beer down the front during a jam session 😂). It's not always easy to find people who do quality work on amplifiers and it's a huge asset to have someone with his knowledge and ability in the A2 area. Frank did outstanding, timely work and I would...