IIC blows fuses through attenuators.

[Brad737]

Hello all,

I'm experiencing something odd with my Mark IIC. I can and have played it for hours with no trouble at all, but whenever I play it through an attenuator, the fuse blows. I've tried it with a Hotplate and a Trainwreck Airbrake. They've never given me any trouble with any other amps. And the Boogie works great plugged in straight to the speaker.

Besides not using an attenuator, do any of you have any idea what may be causing this? My IIC is heading to Mike B. For the + Conversion next week. Can you think of anything I should ask him to check?

I realize attenuators may be sacrilegious to some of you. But I love power tube distortion, but need to bring the volume down to manageable levels for my kids.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Don]

Hello all,

I'm experiencing something odd with my Mark IIC. I can and have played it for hours with no trouble at all, but whenever I play it through an attenuator, the fuse blows. I've tried it with a Hotplate and a Trainwreck Airbrake. They've never given me any trouble with any other amps. And the Boogie works great plugged in straight to the speaker.

Besides not using an attenuator, do any of you have any idea what may be causing this? My IIC is heading to Mike B. For the + Conversion next week. Can you think of anything I should ask him to check?

I realize attenuators may be sacrilegious to some of you. But I love power tube distortion, but need to bring the volume down to manageable levels for my kids.

Thanks,
Brad

I'd tell him exactly what you just told us.

 

[Brad737]

I did a bit of reading. I think I may have a weak power tube. Since attenuators run the power tubes so hard, it's too much, and the fuse blows. Since the amp isn't working the power tubes very hard at bedroom levels, the fuse doesn't blow. I'm still going to let Mike know what's going on with it though.

 

[Brad737]

Quick update, for any that may be interested. The problem was in fact weak power tubes. One died on me. I replaced the pair, and no more issues.

 

[bgh]

Hey, thanks for the update. Bad/weak power tubes can cause a wide variety of issues.