user 35785
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- Nov 2, 2012
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I was recording guitars for a little while today and heard the 'clinking' sound that the tubes usually make when they first warm up. I thought it was odd since it was on for a whole hour so I went over and checked, and saw the power tubes were red hot and something inside smelled like burning plastic. I shut the amp off, waited a minute, then turned it back on, same thing. The volume dropped considerably, which made me wonder if the speaker cable was bad. When I twisted it to see if it was connected properly, the fuse blew.
I am seriously hoping that the problem is only just a bad speaker cable (its a cheap stagemaster 15' speaker cable that I bought maybe a year and a half ago), and not a bad capacitor or output transformer.
Last year my amp had issues with the gain and tone knobs, so I sent it in to a tech. He told me that the capacitors on several of the knobs were bad, and he replaced them. I don't remember exactly what he said at the time, but I wish I did though, because I think he said that he only fixed what he could to fix the problem and that the amp would need to be recapped if I plan to push the volume far beyond "bedroom" levels. I told him that I use the amp just for recording, and he said I shouldn't worry about it, but I REALLY hope that a capacitor didn't go out on me, since hes the only tech in my area and (naturally) charges insane fees for his services.
I'm not at all prepared to recap my amp, which really worries me since now that I think of it:
- I have a minifridge in my room that apparently draws alot of power. When it kicks on, all the lights dim a bit for maybe a quarter of a second, and if I'm recording at the time, loose a little bit of volume for a second. I don't have it on any surge protector or power conditioner, but I do unplug it whenever I dont
plan on using it for a while and during thunderstorms. Is this hard on the output transformer?
- I found out that engaging the FX loop, turning down the send volume, boosting the mix volume, then cranking the master volume gave the amp a more "thicker" sound and took out most of the fuzzy characteristics. I did not have any send/receive cables connected though, and the output volume was only at 9 o'clock. I knew it was harder on the tubes, but they didn't act weird until today, and when I set the loop back to bypass the tubes didn't change.
The tubes on the amp are pretty new, they are about a month old. I didn't bias the amp because its fixed and I have no way of changing it, and I didn't have any odd problems with the tubes I put in before, and always use JJ 6L6GC. I know I would ideally need to adjust the bias at some point, but I don't think bias is the issue here.
While I'm out buying a new fuse I'll try to find another speaker cable to see if thats the only issue (fingers crossed)
Any recommendations while I'm out there?
Thanks
I am seriously hoping that the problem is only just a bad speaker cable (its a cheap stagemaster 15' speaker cable that I bought maybe a year and a half ago), and not a bad capacitor or output transformer.
Last year my amp had issues with the gain and tone knobs, so I sent it in to a tech. He told me that the capacitors on several of the knobs were bad, and he replaced them. I don't remember exactly what he said at the time, but I wish I did though, because I think he said that he only fixed what he could to fix the problem and that the amp would need to be recapped if I plan to push the volume far beyond "bedroom" levels. I told him that I use the amp just for recording, and he said I shouldn't worry about it, but I REALLY hope that a capacitor didn't go out on me, since hes the only tech in my area and (naturally) charges insane fees for his services.
I'm not at all prepared to recap my amp, which really worries me since now that I think of it:
- I have a minifridge in my room that apparently draws alot of power. When it kicks on, all the lights dim a bit for maybe a quarter of a second, and if I'm recording at the time, loose a little bit of volume for a second. I don't have it on any surge protector or power conditioner, but I do unplug it whenever I dont
plan on using it for a while and during thunderstorms. Is this hard on the output transformer?
- I found out that engaging the FX loop, turning down the send volume, boosting the mix volume, then cranking the master volume gave the amp a more "thicker" sound and took out most of the fuzzy characteristics. I did not have any send/receive cables connected though, and the output volume was only at 9 o'clock. I knew it was harder on the tubes, but they didn't act weird until today, and when I set the loop back to bypass the tubes didn't change.
The tubes on the amp are pretty new, they are about a month old. I didn't bias the amp because its fixed and I have no way of changing it, and I didn't have any odd problems with the tubes I put in before, and always use JJ 6L6GC. I know I would ideally need to adjust the bias at some point, but I don't think bias is the issue here.
While I'm out buying a new fuse I'll try to find another speaker cable to see if thats the only issue (fingers crossed)
Any recommendations while I'm out there?
Thanks
