What’s at the heart of your amp restoration, repair and mod business?
When an amp comes to you for service, which best describes your method?
You’re the expert in your customer’s eyes and he often depends on you to not only fix his busted amps, but deliver the best possible tone and reliability from his gear.
Here’s your chance to truly impress your customers by making tonal improvements they never imagined possible. And the best part is how easy Mercury makes it for you to become their “go-to-guy.”
Transformers 101―Design Matters
The simple truth:
Ordinary transformers are at the root of many difficult to diagnose amp problems, not just tone. Excessive noise and heat, tone drift, and reliability issues are just some of the symptoms you should be aware of. When a transformer dies you’ve probably always ordered a replacement from the amp’s manufacturer or a parts distributor. Have you noticed that you never hear any tonal improvement with their generic-sounding transformers? And how replacements often further degrade an amp’s tone?
It’s not your fault!
You’ve only been offered replacement transformers from whatever was available — rather than what amps actually need to perform at their best. A dirty little secret is that they just don’t get it — so, they’ve cut way back on transformer quality for purely economic reasons. Tonal quality is not a first consideration. In fact, it’s not even on their radar!
On your next repair, mod or restoration, try something new. Forget about those anemic other transformers — give Mercury a call. We offer you a whole new world of golden-voiced designs to be explored. Everything from “clones” of the best-sounding vintage gear ever made to the latest tonally-enhanced models. Give your customers something that’ll blow their minds (and help your business grow!) go with Mercury.
Join Mercury’s Service and Support Network (SSN) Program
As more and more musicians discover the awesome tone of Mercury transformers we’re getting bombarded with requests to install replacements or upgrades for everything from modern tube amps and reissues to classic old amps. Although that’s great news, our business is designing and making transformers, not installations and service.
We’re looking for qualified amp techs and music stores with amp service departments to become Mercury distributors and service centers.
There’s nothing better than customer loyalty. Aside from making it possible for the amps you work on to sound better than they ever have, we can help build your business by:
Our expert tech support team will also help you with the all-important “which transformer to use” decisions. The time to start learning about the benefits of high quality transformers is now — call us today! Ask for the Service & Support Network (SSN) manager. He’ll answer any of your questions and if it sounds like a good idea to you, he’ll get you started on our SSN program.
What your customers need to know about the transformer connection to great guitar amp tone
Which components have the single-most dramatic effect on a tube-amp’s tone? Its tubes, speakers or transformers?
Surprisingly, an amp’s transformers are the actual backbone of any tube-based amp’s tone. If your customer is not happy with his amp, or just wants to make it sound a whole lot better, start with its transformers. When you work with premium-quality transformers as a foundation, you’ll discover how much easier it is make the final tweaks to an amp’s tone.
Why are some amps more inspiring to play than others?
There is a phenomenon known as “ear fatigue.” It is caused by unmusical, muddy and confused tone. With tube-based amps, low-quality transformers are one of the main causes of ear (as well as listener) fatigue. As an amp tech you can open up an amp’s sonic potential by upgrading its transformers. And quality magnetics generate the kind of lush tones that inspire guitarists to create more.
I’ve been told that ordinary transformers sound just as good as premium units.
Maybe if you’re tone deaf… or the amp’s circuit is of an extremely poor design. But, even at their best, cheap transformers barely mimic, in a lifeless sort of way, an amp’s tonal capabilities. An alarming number of amp makers cut corners by not using high-quality and better-sounding transformers. By upgrading an amp’s transformers you are essentially correcting this design error. The result is often startling. By simply upgrading the transformers you can give your customers’ amps vivid harmonic overtones, added sparkle and more dynamic headroom, with much better note separation. They’ll love you for it — and that’s good for business!
* * *
The bottom line: Inside every great-sounding amp is a set of quality transformers. If they’re not vintage originals, then they’re probably Mercurys. If your amps don’t come alive when you plug in, it’s time you called Mercury.
