Repair of Bedini Amp

I don't know where to point you on that amp. It's a great little amp. I'd love to have one. I'm sure someone can help. If you end up not having any luck, I'd be willing to buy yours and sit on it until I figured something out. I've always wanted one :^) Good luck!

I found an online reference with Ben Jacoby at High End Audio Repair. Anyone have experience with Ben?

I would recommend Music Technology in Virginia. I used Bill Thalman who refurbished an SP 10 turntable for me with excellent (well jaw dropping actually) results. Bill is a minor legend in the high end community. He is their high end audio expect. Google them and go to their web site. Click on services and then you can email Bill directly.

They not only do repairs but upgrades as well. The bedini is 30+ years old and obviously the quality and sonic performance of passive parts has increased hugely. They could also place a IEC socket, replacing the captive PC and allow for use of an aftermarket PC.

As an aside, I used to own a Bedini 25/25 which I bought new. In it's day it was considered the amp for the Rogers 3/5A. It was also quite prized by Quad 57 owners which continues to this day.
Hope this helps.

I also used to have one but I don't get the hype surrounding that amp. I also still have a 100/100 I think is much better. I would not give up on Gary. He really is a good guy. I've also had difficulty communicating at times and at other times he was very attentive so I wouldn't be too put off by first impressions. Who knows what's going on over there:)

Thanks Csontos. I determined that the problem is a leaky power cap, called Mouser and got a suitable replacement (computer grade, electrolytic, same diameter, a little shorter). They are easy to replace using screw terminals. I then did talk with Gary (finally caught him in the office), who felt that this is the right approach. Do this first and see if it fixes the problem (humming). I think it should - it's pretty obvious. He said there was nothing particularly special about the caps that they used vs. what I can get from Mouser.

I know that ultimately I'll need to replace the caps in the signal path and it is harder to access them on the boards, and that this requires soldering. That will come later.

Csontos - I haven't heard the 100/100, but the 25/25 is pretty nice sounding.

Yes - Ben has worked on my gear several times. He's worked on my amp, pre-amp and DAC, each time with great results. I find him to be very knowledgeable and he does fantastic work.

Dave

Sure. As I said, I used to have one and thought it was a 'good' amp. But the 100/100 I think is a 'great' amp. I've owned a 250/250 and a 150mkII also. The 100/100 is the best of the lot. When biased up high, it has an extremely enveloping three dimensional quality that would embarrass the tube guys. However, I found the Bedinis in general are just not 'fast' enough for my liking. That's their only drawback imo.

Replacing the caps with the same (or better) spec modern equivalents did the trick. As I said, Gary told me that there was nothing unique about the power caps they put in originally relative to the ones I replaced them with. This may be different when it comes time to replace the caps in the sound circuit.