The joy of tube amps

NeoSound

NeoSound

Fractal Fanatic
been cleaning out my storage building and finally got to my original peavey 5150 2x12 combo. I've been wanting to get it out and play it for quite a while. I carried it upstairs to the mancave (definitely don't miss that part). Plugged everything up, powered on and it immediately blew a fuse :mad:. I had to run out so I found a pack of 3 amp 250v fuses. Back at the mancave, I replaced the fuse and had taken the tube access panel off to make sure everything was making good connection as when I received the amp years ago one of the power tubes had fell out of socket instantly blowing the fuse when I first tried the amp.
Well the fuse blows again but I noticed a lightning storm inside one of the power tubes. Back to the storage building to find a set of 6l6's I had. Changed the power tubes and the fuse (again). Turned on the amp and proceeded to search for a good tone. I only found an ok tone and thought I'd mildly crank the volume to remember that good old whack of a tube amp. Well I whacked twice and the damn fuse blew again :eek: wtf? Replaced the fuse again and it immediately blew.... again o_O I now have a renewed appreciation of the III :) maybe I'll twiddle with the amp later when I have more time!?
 
dpeterson said:
Man 5150 combo is one of the heaviest amps i've ever tried to lift. There is a reason it has 2 handles on it.
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The other guitarist in the band I am in had a Mesa Boogie combo amp. Don't remember the model. That thing had to weigh at least 100 lbs. He only brought it to one gig.
 
FractalAudio said:
Probably a Lonestar. I have one. Almost gave myself a hernia moving it.
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Lest I forget the Mesa Nomad 45 2x12 combo. Only tube amp I ever owned, and I'm fairly certain it was made out of lead bricks. Used to dread lugging that thing around campus back in the day.
 
dpeterson said:
Man 5150 combo is one of the heaviest amps i've ever tried to lift. There is a reason it has 2 handles on it.
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Ever move an SVT? The head alone weighs 85 lbs. :tonguewink:
And yes, something is wrong with the amp. If you don't know what you're doing, take it to a tech... lots of power in tube amps that isn't to be messed with by amateurs. If you do know what you're doing though, should be simple-ish to resolve on that amp :)
 
FreeMind said:
Errr.... If you are blowing the fuses so much, there might be something wrong with your amp...
Don't blame all amps and compare them to Axe FX 3, by looking at a broken amp. A broken Axe FX 3 would also suck.
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I'm sure something is wrong with the amp, but it happened while in storage. I've owned many, many other tube amps through the years and I honestly can't think of one that didn't have or develop some sort of issue whether that be a tube go bad, tremolo stop working, tube rattle, transformer die, one channel stop working, cap go bad etc.... kinda like a car if you drive it long enough even with proper service things happen.
I've had far less problems with digital guitar related gear. On the other hand some of the other digital equipment (non-guitar or older guitar related) I've had loads of issues with :rolleyes:
 
selta said:
Ever move an SVT? The head alone weighs 85 lbs. :tonguewink:
And yes, something is wrong with the amp. If you don't know what you're doing, take it to a tech... lots of power in tube amps that isn't to be messed with by amateurs. If you do know what you're doing though, should be simple-ish to resolve on that amp :)
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I had a Marshall 9200a? once and one channel would intermittently stop working, I took it to a local electronic/tv repair man, a very nice guy but around 80 years old. He took the covers off while I was there, powered it on and started tapping on stuff with his finger! and goes yep that one has plenty of sap in it :) he hooked it up after that and said seems to be ok - well... although he didn't do anything but check sap levels :) it didn't give any other problems again and I sold it a few years later.
 
FreeMind said:
Errr.... If you are blowing the fuses so much, there might be something wrong with your amp...
Don't blame all amps and compare them to Axe FX 3, by looking at a broken amp. A broken Axe FX 3 would also suck.
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Indeed. A broken Axe-FX III would suck much more than a broken amp. All components of a Tube amp are easy to diagnose and fix quite fast, while a dead DSP chip is not a thing for electronic hobbyists.
 
FreeMind said:
Errr.... If you are blowing the fuses so much, there might be something wrong with your amp...
Don't blame all amps and compare them to Axe FX 3, by looking at a broken amp. A broken Axe FX 3 would also suck.
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I think he was just making a general statement of how he was reminded that tube amps are a fickle bitch. I am sure he knows there is something wrong with the amp... He didn't appear to be trying to stereotype all tube amps or offend any marshalls. It's ok, really.
 
Pretty much anything Mesa creates it's own gravity well. I had a 2x12 that I swear was heavier than most other 4x12's out there (except...of course...a Mesa 4x12.)

But the OP is right. I love tube amps as much as anyone, but when problems happened...it tended to cascade. It was infinitely more interesting when you had to rely solely on these beasts.

I don't miss it.
 
I had a Mesa Stiletto Ace 1x12 combo and it weighed 90 lbs. :eek: I struggled so much to get it in the back of my truck so I returned it and got a Stiletto Deuce head which was a more manageable 50 lbs. Needed a separate cab, but at least neither of them were as stupid heavy. Ended up selling the Deuce to get the AxeFx standard and haven't looked back. Haven't hurt my back either :)
 
I once retubed my Mesa Mark V twice, and tried it on every different outlet because I was getting a weird pulsing crackle similar to when your cell phone is receiving a text message and you're too close to your amp. I wracked my brain, until I realized it was my powerline adapters creating interference in all of my outlets. I was also getting radio stations from the amp. Interesting bugs. The axe does't make those noises despite keeping the powerline adapters.
 
My heaviest combo was my Matchless DC30 2x12. Loved the tone, hated the weight. And volume. But never had an issue with that amp, fwiw.
 
I just fixed a friend’s Ceriatone clone of a Marshall 18W. Blowing fuses, with the tubes removed. It had a short on the secondary of the power transformer. So a new PT, and while I was at it, a great OT, plus a simple protection circuit between the PT B+ and the tube rectifier. Put everything back together, and it plays brilliantly. Axe III also sounds great. They’re two different things. And yes, the former is certainly heavier than the latter.
 
By the way, my Mark I Boogie seems to be as heavy as a Twin. Huge transformers, and the JBL E120 is an anchor.
 
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