What's happening to my Road King?

[mcsdude]

Tonight at rehearsal all of a sudden my channel 3 and 4 volume levels went WAY low. I had to turn them on like 8 and 9 while channel 1 and 2 were on 3 or 4. I have been playing fine until then with my levels are set within reasonable ranges of each other. All 4 channels are running the same tube configurations so I know it wasn't that. All channels just use speaker A - and I checked that so I know it wasn't that. Channel 3 uses vintage rect while channel 4 uses the diode... so I know it wasn't that. I had my power switch set to spongy but I thought that affected all 4 channels? I switched it to bold and the problem seemed to go away but now I am paranoid of it happening again and we have a gig this weekend.

Do I have tubes going bad or what???

 

[Barry]

Tonight at rehearsal all of a sudden my channel 3 and 4 volume levels went WAY low. I had to turn them on like 8 and 9 while channel 1 and 2 were on 3 or 4. I have been playing fine until then with my levels are set within reasonable ranges of each other. All 4 channels are running the same tube configurations so I know it wasn't that. All channels just use speaker A - and I checked that so I know it wasn't that. Channel 3 uses vintage rect while channel 4 uses the diode... so I know it wasn't that. I had my power switch set to spongy but I thought that affected all 4 channels? I switched it to bold and the problem seemed to go away but now I am paranoid of it happening again and we have a gig this weekend.

Do I have tubes going bad or what???

if the problem comes back try a new preamp tube in V1,V2, &V3. Try each socket one at a time with the new tube . Tubes are very finnicky things .

 

[chuck stardust]

I would suspect the power tubes 6L6 or the EL34...whichever the case may be. Try tapping on the tube and listening for a harsh noise

Place the amp on standby for a minute or two, then watch the large tubes (Power tubes) as you switch from standby to on. If one is glowing stronger or weaker (OR not at all) you may have found the bad tube.

That should be a good starting point. My F-100 did just what you described, and it was a faulty power tube.

Chuck

 

[MojoFilter]

mcsdude and I talked about this in another forum, and I also have had the same issue.

Both of our Road King II's are less than 2 months old, and I would find it extremely unlikely that both amps have power tubes that are failing in under 2 months. I've got a padded road case for mine, and it gets babied...and there's no way that it's from over-use: the amp has maybe 25 hours on it, so far.

I came up with a theory that I shared with him, but I wanted to see if you guys have any other possible explanations for this...

 

[Barry]

mcsdude and I talked about this in another forum, and I also have had the same issue.

Both of our Road King II's are less than 2 months old, and I would find it extremely unlikely that both amps have power tubes that are failing in under 2 months. I've got a padded road case for mine, and it gets babied...and there's no way that it's from over-use: the amp has maybe 25 hours on it, so far.

I came up with a theory that I shared with him, but I wanted to see if you guys have any other possible explanations for this...

My RK is in a road case as well but I recently had some preamp tube issues and the tube in question wasnt all that old .

 

[kingster911]

Then again I have noticed a huge difference like you said while using spongy in Ch 4 Modern. way lower than the bold, when you switch it it practically swells into the full power again. is it true what someone else put on the board (i forget where i saw it but somewhere in modern amps) that the only difference between the older 2 ch rectos and the newer 3 ch's are just tubes. I guess the ones nowadays are Russian whereas the old ones are Chinese. Anyone think if i swapped out for Chinese ones I'd get a more 2 ch Triple rec tone outta my RKII?

 

[jdurso]

do you have it on spongy or bold..... i had the same issue with my roadster with it on spongy..... happened only once but definitely pissed me off when it happened

 

[Elpelotero]

Then again I have noticed a huge difference like you said while using spongy in Ch 4 Modern. way lower than the bold, when you switch it it practically swells into the full power again. is it true what someone else put on the board (i forget where i saw it but somewhere in modern amps) that the only difference between the older 2 ch rectos and the newer 3 ch's are just tubes. I guess the ones nowadays are Russian whereas the old ones are Chinese. Anyone think if i swapped out for Chinese ones I'd get a more 2 ch Triple rec tone outta my RKII?

that's completely false. It's a statement made by Mesa employees so people keep buying the new amps. I've tried the same "old" Mesa tubes in both of my amps and they are not the same.

 

[mcsdude]

I think Mojo was right about the power feed. Where we were practicing last night was way out in the country and I'm guessing the power was not great. I have played it all day today - changing stuff, turning it on and off a lot, leaving it on for a while, different volume levels, etc. and have not had the problem. I am going to be leaving it on Bold for now though and hope like hell it was just a fluke and won't happen to me during a gig.

 

[kingster911]

[/quote]

that's completely false. It's a statement made by Mesa employees so people keep buying the new amps. I've tried the same "old" Mesa tubes in both of my amps and they are not the same.[/quote]

Then isn't it true? I said they aren't the same. I said the Chinese would sound like 2 ch. Recs and the Russians are in the 3 Ch.

 

[mcsdude]

just an update. I gigged with my road king last night and had no trouble at all. It rocked da house.

 

[123thefirst]

I guess the ones nowadays are Russian whereas the old ones are Chinese. Anyone think if i swapped out for Chinese ones I'd get a more 2 ch Triple rec tone outta my RKII?

The older tubes were Russian, then they switched to Chinese (sometime after 2001) The older preamp tubes have "Russian 2" stamped on the outside.

 

[ol4t]

My road king combo does the same thing on spongy. I just noticed it this weekend. Volume's fine on first two channels, goes almost to nothing on 3 and 4 when spongy's engaged. Startled me the first time I noticed it.

 

[MojoFilter]

just an update. I gigged with my road king last night and had no trouble at all. It rocked da house.

Good news! Say a prayer for me...I'm gigging with mine on Friday night.

I'll update if anything unusual happens with it...I'm still buying a Furman Power Conditioner, just to be on the safe side...