Stiletto Trident Stage 1 Woes...

A buddy of mine recently picked up a Stiletto Trident Stage 1 for $700... But here's the catch. There's a problem with it intermittently cutting out (it sounds like when you have a faulty cable). He spoke to his electrical engineer buddy and he said he'd take a look at it with the schematic, but that won't be for another couple of months. What he did tell him though was that it's possibly a corroded contact point somewhere or a cold solder joint...


I wanted a second opinion from those of you who are familiar with the Stiletto series. Thanks a bunch

Al:
No matter what brand of amp you have: where you store it, how you treat it, the presence of dust and/or moisture can make things intolerable. That long wait to see a tech is also a stretch as well, but that's up to you. Some things to check or sleuth out...
1. Take off the back protective plate (if there is one) and see if there's dust/corrosion/pitting on the chassis. If the amp was not in a road case or suitably covered. If any of the stuff I've mentioned is present, chances are that crept into/inside the head (let alone if it's been handled roughly or road-worn).
2. If you see the above stuff on the tubes & chassis, start wiping down and cleaning it all off.
3. Get some contact tuner cleaner/spray, extra long q-tips, and clean out each and every jack on the front & back of the amp. If you know what to do, remove it and look for the presence of the grime/dust you may have encountered on the outside. Use a cloth dampened with WD-40 and try to remove any rust or pitting, wiping up any excess. A Blitz or Flitz cleaning cloth system works too, and well as International Silver polish cloth to get rid of pitting/oxidation, especially on the chromed chassis areas.
4. Make sure all cable plugs you use are clean and free from corrosion or oxidation too.
5. Fire the amp up, and start to check each and every jack, connection, FX loop, speaker jack, etc. to find any remaining culprits.
An old friend brought over his son's Triple Rectifier and all of the above were evident: they stored it in a damp basement (even in it's cover) and this was what happened after 2 years (and it was a finished basement too). If it still acts up, you know that an electrician or tech will have an easier & cleaner time of dealing with it. Also check for a possible cracked or loose tube socket or tubes with missing needles.

Another possibility is the preamp tubes. There are apparently some problems with running certain types of Russian made tubes in position 3 & 4 in the preamp which are cathode follower configuration. The Chinese made Mesa (or other) tubes are supposed to work better in these positions. Its not a problem I had but there are lots of posts about it on here and the symptoms are intermittent loss of signal which comes back if the amp is put back on standby for a bit.

Some older Boogies suffer is poor contact on the effects loop jacks, preventing the signal bypassing the loop when no cables are plugged in. You could try using a patch cable to join the send and return jacks or just use the rear panel switch to bypass the loop. If either of these solve the problem then the jacks need cleaning.

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll tell him to get on it ASAP.