So I just retubed my V2 LSC head and...

[mattsmith87]

First the good stuff, then a concern I have...

I love the tone! Oh my gosh the guys at Eurotubes rock! I have JJ's across the board (rectifier, power and preamp), but a slightly custom setup in the preamp section.

V1 - ECC803S
V2 - ECC83S High Gain
V3 & V4 - ECC83S Standard
V5 - ECC83S Balanced

Wow. The cleans are much more Fender-y than before which is what I was going for. The amp sounds HUGE!!! Such clarity, and a big round bottom end with smooth highs. The drive channel no longer has that flub everyone talks about. It's crisp, defined, and very touch responsive. This setup hits it out of the park!

Now for the concern...

As per the little slip of paper Eurotubes sends with their kits, I cleaned out all of the tube sockets with electrical contact cleaner. I sprayed the cleaner inside the holes where the pins of the tubes go, then installed and removed a tube in every socket 3-4 times as per the instructions. I was hesitant about this because my LSC is my baby, but I did it anyway as the "pros" recommended. I let the amp sit without tubes in it for about 15 minutes before I put the tubes in, in an attempt to let any residual contact cleaner evaporate (I have no idea how long that stuff takes to evaporate).

When I first powered her up I left her on standby, and I saw a bright white FLASH! come from inside the head. I was nervous because bright white electrical flashes are generally not a good thing, but the amp didn't make any other "bad stuff going on" indicators so I let her sit on standby.

After about an hour I powered her off and took her to my room to play. Powered her up, put her on standby, and plugged my pedalboard into the "send" of the effects loop. FLASH! Again... "Utoh," I thought. Again, no other "watch out!" signs so I set up the rest of my gear and played for about an hour. About half an hour in, a third bright white FLASH! Though this time everything was plugged in, powered up and ready to rock.

I didn't notice a change in tone from pre-Third FLASH to post-FLASH, so now I'm confused and nervous.

What's with the nerve-racking flashes???? Maybe some residual contact cleaner? I also noticed that my V4 preamp tube wasn't sitting as flush as the other tubes. Might the flashes be related to that?

Any and all help is appreciated, and I sure hope I didn't destroy my Pig...

 

[Anonymous]

FYI you are supposed to put the contact cleaner on the tubes pins not into the tube sockets.

good luck

 

[plan-x]

Wow! That does not sound good. The contact cleaner usually eveaporates pretty fast. You could turn it on again and watch from where this flash is coming from and let us know. Or just open her up and inspect around the sockets. As pointed out, you weren't supposed to spray up there. Or take it to a tech.

 

[Vogelsong]

Im no tech but if it was my LSS I'd take it apart, check it out, if I saw anything that needed dried or cleaned up I'd do it. Put it back together, and if all is well Im good.

If the flashes continued, I'd make a call.

Does it make any noises when these flashes occur?

Hope this helps,

Rick

 

[PilotSSW]

Mine has done this as well, likewise it was when I first retubed. I don't think cleaning tube sockets is really all that they crack it up to be. I saw the flashes twice, I have since opened the amp to do the reeder mods and have no idea where the flashes came from. My best guess is that people have said that they saw sparks come from the caps when they drained them and its possible that cleaner got on one of them and caused some sort of drain from a cap, but that's my guess and I have no solid answer.

~ Sean

 

[mattsmith87]

I didn't hear any sounds when the flashes happened. I emailed EuroTubes and they told me about spraying the pins on the tubes instead of the sockets as I did. Oh well. Nothing bad seems to have happened to the amp. The guys at Eurotubes said it wasn't the greatest idea but contact cleaner evaporates pretty quickly. I've played the amp a couple hours since then and no more flashes, no change in tone. I'm thinking I got lucky with this one, but word to the wise:

CAREFULLY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS

haha