Rectifier Tubes Not Glowing

[pokerrules47]

Anyone with a roadster wanna do a test for me and post your results.

I want you to get your amp all warmed up and sounding the way you want it, go to a channel that you have recto tracking setup on. Then turn off the lights in the room so it's very dark and tell me if you see any glow from the rectifier tubes. If you can take a digital pic (with your flash off) so I can see the comparative intensity of the glow, I would greatly appreciate it.

I am experiencing volume drop outs on my amp. I think I have troubleshooted it to the point where it only happens when the channel is setup for recto tracking in spongy mode. If I use diodes, I have not noticed the problem.

I also noticed that neither of my rectifier tubes are glowing at all whether or not the channel is switched to recto tracking or diode.

Thanks in advance...

Mik

 

[Pontius2000]

mine don't light up either. I just assumed they aren't supposed to, but I don't know.

 

[fluff191]

I wouldn't ever judge a properly working tube by its color, as the "glow" can vary ALOT depending on make and brand and those sorts of things.

But the volume swells on the other hand, would indicate you a power tube on its way out the door....

 

[pokerrules47]

I wouldn't ever judge a properly working tube by its color, as the "glow" can vary ALOT depending on make and brand and those sorts of things.

But the volume swells on the other hand, would indicate you a power tube on its way out the door....

I assumed that might have been the case too, however, it's quite odd that it only happens with certain settings. The power tubes are less than a month old. I suspected it was the case and swapped them out for my old ones which are less than 6mos old and the same issue is there. I will do some more testing tonight and confirm that it's only on recto tracking.

 

[Pontius2000]

I had to call Mesa today due to another problem with my Roadster so I decided to ask him about the recto tubes on your behalf. he said that the recto tube glowing is almost completely unnoticeable, but they will get hot like other tubes. but you will probably not notice them glowing much, if any at all. however, he said that if the amp is still powered on and the volume goes out, it is likely to be a recto tube problem.

 

[pokerrules47]

I had to call Mesa today due to another problem with my Roadster so I decided to ask him about the recto tubes on your behalf. he said that the recto tube glowing is almost completely unnoticeable, but they will get hot like other tubes. but you will probably not notice them glowing much, if any at all. however, he said that if the amp is still powered on and the volume goes out, it is likely to be a recto tube problem.

This is definitely what I am suspecting, however I don't have the tools or the know-how to actually troubleshoot it properly myself.

If I send it out for service, it's gone for a month.

I may go buy some rectifier tubes today.

Mik

 

[pokerrules47]

Ok, picked up 2x 5ug4's and 4x EL34's this afternoon. I am going to replace the 5ug4's first... and see if the problem still exists.

If it does exist, I will replace the power tubes. If it continues even still, it's going in for service. I managed to find a local MB authorized shop so I'll be going in there.

 

[echoes420]

I had to call Mesa today due to another problem with my Roadster

If you don't mind me asking... what was the problem and what was the Mesa solution?

 

[Pontius2000]

I had to call Mesa today due to another problem with my Roadster

If you don't mind me asking... what was the problem and what was the Mesa solution?

the blue fx light on the footswitch and the amp started blinking and going dim and then the whole amp shut off. after about 15 seconds, it would come back up again, then shut back down about 5 minutes later.

the mesa guy said to try it on a different outlet. I did that and it has not happened again. he said if it happened again, take it to a MB tech, which he located for me not too far from my house. hopefully it won't happen again but I'm not too happy about a $2000+ amp doing that.

 

[pokerrules47]

Ok, after I put in the new 5ug4 tubes, I noticed some differences. I still notice the volume sag in 50w mode on spongy, with the recto tracking on, but not nearly as bad. It seems to be totally gone in bold mode, and also gone in 100w mode.

Secondly a nasty hum I had noticed is significantly reduced. This hum was on all channels in all modes before. I figured it was something to do with the volume issue, but I suspect the hum was coming from the rectifier tube(s).

Conclusion - one or both of the rectifier tubes were not working properly. I notice that there is a faint glow on these new tubes where there was no appearant glow on the old ones, but that could mean nothing

I also suspect that the volume issue isn't directly related to the rectifier tubes, however I think it was definitely aggravated by the rectifier situation.

I am just letting it cool down, then I'll try the new power tubes. Hopefully that will solve it, if not, monday I am picking up 3 more spax7's and going through the rest of the preamp section