This battery-powered portable amplifier is a novelty item seen in offices, bedrooms, and showrooms around the country. This little guy doesn’t work anymore. Could the Unbrokenstring Crew make it work again?
The pig’s nose is the on-off/volume control. The input jack is just below the nose.
Inside, we find a loudspeaker and battery box on the left, and the electronics and some cord storage on the right.
This nut is missing. Oh boy, this is Big Trouble in Little China.
The cover over the electronics shows signs of corrosion, probably from battery acid.
Good news! We found the missing nut.
This panel is on one side. Surprisingly, the power jack is ‘old technology’ and probably should be the same connector as seen on effect pedals. But, hey, they didn’t ask me.
This metal piece secures the battery boxes in place. Name, rank, and serial number please.
The original battery box was trash, so these units were procured. Six batteries give us nine volts. These x3 packs are necessary to fit into the space provided.
Caustic chemicals from the leaking batteries were conducted, via capillary action, over to the amplifier side of the box. A new pair of red and black wires were fished through the umbilical, replacing the corroded wires.
Here, the new battery boxes are wired into the unit’s harness.
The battery boxes rest on a metal bracket, which also serves as a noise shield over the volume control and input jack.
This grommet serves as a strain relief for this end of the umbilical cable.
This pic just shows how the leads are dressed. This unit is small, and the wires need to go into their correct places in order to close the unit up when we’re through.
These red and black wires can be pinched between the case and the metal plate, so they need to be pulled up and out of the way before the screws are tightened down.
We find the preamp and amp in the other side of the unit. The small assembly seen at the bottom is back side of the power jack and the ‘preamp out’ jack.
This assembly was covered with caustic chemicals from the leaked batteries. Miraculously, these transformers were not damaged. Everything cleaned up very well.
This cover shields the amp and jacks. We’re done here.
A fresh set of batteries and a twist of the knob puts this unit back on the air. Time to call the customer!
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
CONTACT – David Latchaw EE
281-636-8626