.50 Caliber Plus cut out momentarily, came back, then crackly sounds from the back/inside... Transformer looks "wet"...

[zappazapper]

I bought it over 10 years ago from a guy who said he barely played it. Original "Coke Bottle" tubes... On one of them the glass envelope has separated from the base... No noticable issues from that so far... It just jiggles around back there without a problem so far but if I had to guess what was the cause of tonight's issue, that would be my first, I guess??

I don't deny that it's probably a good time to replace the tubes regardless of tonight's issue but maybe someone has had the same issue and it wasn't tube related? The amp sounds great otherwise and it hasn't endured heavy gigging. My main gig is bass and this is my amp for jamming on guitar with buddies when I have a free night.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[quadboogie]

No idea if this is your (only) issue, but it's common for the effects loop jack to get oxidized ... which tricks the amp into thinking something has been plugged into the effects return ... which can cause the signal to cut out. The fix is some contact cleaner sprayed on a 1/4 jack that you insert into the effects return jack several times.

Good luck!

 

[Don]

I came here to say the same thing as quadboogie- clean the effects loop jacks.

 

[zappazapper]

My apologies. I guess I have to check my notification settings, because I was expecting to get an email if someone replied.

So, as far as the loop jack is concerned, there actually is something plugged into the loop, since I use the amp in 4-Cable Method with a Line 6 Pod X3 Live. I will take your advice and give that jack, and all the other jacks, a good cleaning.

I'm still convinced that it was a power issue, because of the snapping sounds coming from inside the amp, not from the speakers. I opened it up and while I couldn't see any evidence of damage (blown components, burn marks, soot), there was a lot of dirt in there and some of the solder points were getting rusty. I blew it out as clean as I could with compressed air and am planning to get a decent desoldering iron to freshen the solder points (it seems trying to just reflow rusty solder points is a bad idea).

But ever since I blew it out I haven't had that issue anymore. I did replace V2 because I was getting weird ringing on the clean channel but I don't think that has anything to do with the issue I was having.

 

[Don]

I'd still clean the effects loop jacks.

Is the transformer actually wet? They're potted and there are sometimes drips and runs from the process.