Dr Gear

Dr Gear Dr Gear is your one stop shop for instruments, tuition, servicing, parts and more. We back every product we sell.

Instrument, amplifier and effects repairs, modifications and servicing.

Trying to get back on top of everything right before Xmas. Fun times all round really. This EHX Nano Bass Balls that’s b...
18/12/2025

Trying to get back on top of everything right before Xmas. Fun times all round really.

This EHX Nano Bass Balls that’s been modified with external controls for the 800hz and 200hz trimmers.

The repair queue is open once again, however being end of year, things are proceeding slowly while I wait for parts.

Unfortunately, justice wasn’t served today. The video can be viewed on the  YouTube channel, and it covers the bare surf...
02/12/2025

Unfortunately, justice wasn’t served today. The video can be viewed on the YouTube channel, and it covers the bare surface of the end result.

The full details will end up in the public soon enough once people start poring through the court documents. I learned the full weight of the attack 3 weeks ago which is why I’ve been rather quiet and trying to cope with everything. This is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

A contributing factor is the ridiculous housing situation in Australia. As landlords grow their wealth, people like my mother searched for shelter, ending up in a share house just to be able to afford something. If she could have had access to something she could have had on her own, this probably wouldn’t have happened.

I’ll be back from mid December but right now, I just need time to process this, and weigh up everything for the future.

After the hassle of having to move house the last fortnight, I’ll be away until 13/12 as my family and I deal with the t...
01/12/2025

After the hassle of having to move house the last fortnight, I’ll be away until 13/12 as my family and I deal with the trial and emotional toll that comes with it.

It’s been a hell of a year, and capping it off with all this stress has aged me another decade at a minimum. I apologise for repairs that have taken longer than normal while I juggled searching for a house, packing, moving, and all the pre trial stuff. Hopefully once all this unpleasantness is done, I can get back into my groove and pick up some momentum again.

I’m grateful for all my customers who’ve stuck by through all of the madness of the year and here’s hoping 2026 is a little less crazy.

Test modes come in handy in determining just how fu**ed a unit may be. In this case, a Yamaha Motif8 with a few warped k...
22/11/2025

Test modes come in handy in determining just how fu**ed a unit may be. In this case, a Yamaha Motif8 with a few warped keys, and more than a half dozen buttons not responding properly on the front panel. This is gonna be a long repair with a sizable bill just due to the number of fiddly parts needing changed.

Being a Yamaha though, it’ll be worth it. These sound great, and they’re still repairable 20 years on.

The repair queue is still closed while I catch up on the back log and take some time with the court case coming up in 2 weeks.

Modding on a micro scale. The EHX Bass Balls Nano is slightly different to the full sized version and uses 5K pots with ...
19/11/2025

Modding on a micro scale. The EHX Bass Balls Nano is slightly different to the full sized version and uses 5K pots with end stop resistors to narrow the range of the trim pots for the 200Hz and 800Hz filters. So to open up the range, jumper those resistors and install 9mm 10K pots for external control.

The wire used here was 30AWG, super fine stuff that requires tweezers and special st*****rs. Fits well on the SMD resistors

Over the next few weeks I’ll be quite busy so won’t be able to take on any new repairs until mid December at the earlies...
17/11/2025

Over the next few weeks I’ll be quite busy so won’t be able to take on any new repairs until mid December at the earliest. This week we’re moving house (again), and on December 2nd I’ll be at court for my mother’s murder proceedings.

Another thing I need to bring up as well, I gotta stress that asking for ETAs and updates on repairs will be met with silence. Like most techs, I’m up front with the reality of being a limited commodity in Sydney, and the complex nature of our work means I can’t give you an update. When stuff is dropped off I make it as clear as possible that repairs are done when they’re done, and unless I need to discuss a major find or issue with you, you won’t hear from me until the job is done and that can take weeks, sometimes months. Especially right now when I have less time than I’d like to get through work, things take a while. Calling and emailing me asking for updates won’t speed anything up, it just means I have to waste more time responding to the same questions.

Hopefully once the move is done and the unpleasantness of the court case is dealt with, things will be back to some semblance of normality.

Clearing out some more stock that’s sat around for a while and this Pratley SL Mini is looking for a new home. This was ...
09/11/2025

Clearing out some more stock that’s sat around for a while and this Pratley SL Mini is looking for a new home. This was the display model and has some light marks and scratches like you’d find on any display model.

Made up in Queensland using Aussie woods, it’s got a solid Bunya top with Queensland maple laminate back and sides. The great thing about the Pratley Minis is they’re a full 25.5 inch scale, so no weird fret spacing like other minis with 22 inch scales.

It’s got a Fishman pickup system for playing live and is a great guitar for those who do 3 hour gigs and need something super comfortable.

Originally $1249rrp, this one is just $700. That’s almost half price.

There are some absolute classic bangers here, and some rare oddities too. Here’s hoping they’re not gonna be the most ni...
31/10/2025

There are some absolute classic bangers here, and some rare oddities too. Here’s hoping they’re not gonna be the most nightmare inducing kinds of repairs.

Being a tech is all about constant professional development and keeping on top of the latest info and processes. The nex...
27/10/2025

Being a tech is all about constant professional development and keeping on top of the latest info and processes. The next two days I’ll be diving into all of this with Yamahas technical team.

After dealing with the fallout of shorted output tubes in this Marshall 2203, a new set of tubes is in and now they’ll s...
26/10/2025

After dealing with the fallout of shorted output tubes in this Marshall 2203, a new set of tubes is in and now they’ll sit there and burn in for a few hours while I monitor the current to ensure they don’t run away.

Been out of the workshop for basically the last week dealing with a major lung infection and looking after my fiancee wh...
07/10/2025

Been out of the workshop for basically the last week dealing with a major lung infection and looking after my fiancee who copped it even worse. Paired with her chronic asthma and other health issues, it’s been a hell of a week.

So apologies if I’ve not responded to your messages or emails. Kinda hard to do so when you’re basically unconscious 3/5 of the day.

Here’s a Hartke HA5000 that came in for a good service and overhaul. They’re beautiful amps to work on with servicing in mind when they were designed. For me to replace the filter caps was as simple as removing the front panel and the whole board coming up with it. I also disassembled that panel to remove these dust bunnies so they don’t mess with the rotation of the pots.

Old leaky caps out, new ones in. When I replace them, I make sure to mark the top of each cap with a gold marker and put...
26/09/2025

Old leaky caps out, new ones in. When I replace them, I make sure to mark the top of each cap with a gold marker and put a date on the PCB so any other techs in there know when they were replaced.

Address

6/160 King Street
Sydney, NSW
2042

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Gear posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Dr Gear:

Share