HELP!!! Fried my Triple Rec....now what?!

[Wretched Guitarist]

So I was getting ready to play a show last night in NY with Goatwhore and right before my band goes on I am rushing around trying to set up my gear. I set it up and turn it on. At first the red light came on and then I hit the standby switch and nothing!!!

So I get behind there and start looking around and there is a burning smell - not good! As I go to the front a member of my band is looking in there and he says "dude it looks like an electrical storm back there." Then no power at all.

I am so bummed. I gig out quite a bit and now I am screwed.

Any suggestions anyone?

The amp is less than a year old and I got it at Guitar Center. Should be under warranty - but ****! How long will that take?

Any advice appreciated.

(sighs)

M315

 

[jbird]

Arcing inside the power tubes? Blew the fuse? Probably just replace power tubes, replace fuse, and good to go!

 

[Wretched Guitarist]

What would cause it? I use two cables out of my head into the cab...4 ohms each....

What am I looking at as far as money to get it going? Is there any way I can be sure this is the problem?

The fuse looks ok, I don't see any separation...

Thanks for the reply very much.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Why would you run two 4 ohm cables from your head to the cab?

 

[Wretched Guitarist]

I thought that I just had to match up the cables - that was the way my old Line 6 was wired...2 speakers each side stereo...

 

[songrider]

I thought that I just had to match up the cables - that was the way my old Line 6 was wired...2 speakers each side stereo...

Well if you were running it that way into your stock Mesa cab then you were putting a 2 ohm load on the head and thats VERY bad.....

Ever read the manual that came with the amp?

 

[clutch71]

What would cause it? I use two cables out of my head into the cab...4 ohms each....

What am I looking at as far as money to get it going? Is there any way I can be sure this is the problem?

The fuse looks ok, I don't see any separation...

Thanks for the reply very much.

"the cab" being singular you'd match the ohm load to that speaker cab. IE 8ohm speaker cab marries up to the 8ohm jack in the back.

If you were running two 8ohm cabs you'd hook each to a 4 ohm jack.

I guess you should keep quiet with GC or Mesa. Not the honorable thing to do but I'm willing to bet you won't let it happen again.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Your cab, if it's a mesa cab, runs at 8 ohms...you should have been plugging in one cable into the 8 ohm jack...

Looks like the mismatch fried your amp.

 

[jbird]

What would cause it? I use two cables out of my head into the cab...4 ohms each....

I'm not saying anything.....

I'm not saying.....

I'm not....

I'm....

:roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[Wretched Guitarist]

So glad I registered...

SO....

From what I am getting out of this I probably fried some tubes and hopefully nothing worse. Sucks, no doubt, but not the end of the world - should just cost me the money for the tubes and the fuse. Right?

Hopefully.

Thanks for the posts. I love my amp and it has been good to me for about a year of hooking it up that way. My HD 147 hooked up that way, into the same Mesa cab, and it always sounded great. When I made the switch to tubes I set it up the same way. Looks like it was incorrect. I'll have to make sure I don't do that again. If that was the problem....

 

[Anonymous]

Take the amp to a tech, a burning smell means more than just tubes. It may have started with a bad tube, but a shorted tube can also take out other components. You onlu need one cable if you're running one cab. Make sure the impedance setting of the amp matches the cab.
Jerry

 

[Wretched Guitarist]

Thanks for the advice. That was what I was looking for.

I got the numbers of a couple of techs around my area.

One cable per cab....NOT like stereo cabs. Got it.

Much appreciated!

 

[jvk]

By the sounds of it, and the smells of it it's most likely that you overloaded the output transformer which in turn overloaded the tubes, and burnt out the grid resistors, which is where the carbon fumes came from. The PCB traces can also burn, but it's pretty rare.

If you're really unlucky, some parts of the power supply probably got barbequed too. The output transformer itself is a bit more resilient though, chances are the fuse or the tubes will blow before it does.

So, don't worry, it's likely that the damage won't be too catastrophic. It'll be easily repairable without too much cost in parts.

 

[Wretched Guitarist]

Thank jvk, good to know, and I agree with you that more likely than not this is what probably happened. I will call Mesa on Monday morning and see where to proceed. I just hope I am not without the amp for a length of time because I have shows coming up.

Looks like there is a good repair guy not too far from me at a place in Watertown, MA called Aztech electronics....hopefully they can get it fixed quickly.

 

[jtb226]

Your cab, if it's a mesa cab, runs at 8 ohms...you should have been plugging in one cable into the 8 ohm jack...

Looks like the mismatch fried your amp.

not necessarily. i have 2 recto standard 4x12's that are 4 ohm cabs (at least that is what the jack plate says). so yeah, you can have 4ohm mesa cabs. just putting that out there

anyway, good luck with your amp. hope you didn't fry too much. lol. i guess i don't really have any advice to offer than what everyone else said. take it to a tech.