GlideOn
Member
Foolish me, but I installed what had believed to be a pristine 10 year old CE Cap Can that has been stored in a dry, cool place for past decade. failed somewhat dramatically 2 days ago.
Installed in my 1968 Traynor YBA1 that I recapped myself with F&T 50/50s across the board, also 10 years ago sometime in 2011. Nothing wrong with the F&Ts, just never liked them in the preamp area where Mallory caps were originally from factory and I've viewed that as a poor design choice for high-gain application.
This CE cap was to replace and install over where the Power Transformer is so as to quiet the amp under high gain. For all intents and purposes - it worked. Very well. For a little while.
I have been playing on it for past 2 weeks and showed no ill effects, in fact my amp has never sounded better, tighter, chewier. And quiet to boot.
It suddenly went off like a road flare inside my den room and must've unplugged within 5-6 seconds of it happening. It continued to spew motor-oil like electrolytic fluid onto the nearby components 4-5 inches out.
What's unusual is that is was in STANDBY when it happened, idling for what must've been 15 minutes. Did not blow fuse.
I haven't immediately ruled out the chance of a short or wiring that got loose or disconnected, but have since removed and cleaned thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol. But so far I have not seen any visually damaged components and all other resistors, capacitors read nominal nearby.
The far and away likely culprit was that it was a bad, aged filter cap that just couldn't take sustained voltages.
Now that I've cleaned up, the most important question - how is the power transfomer?
That glorious, mighty iron giant made by Hammond from the 1960s.
No, really - what do I do to make sure it is operable?
Do I hook multimeter and tests the leads? Try to run low voltage through it? Leave the fuse in?
There are so many conflicting guides out there that are vague at best but logic tells me primary (black power wires) should read just a few milliohms?
While other (red/yellow red) secondary wires with lots of resistance and turns to generate voltage should read at least 1 megahohm range?
I'm stumped but ready to proceed, possibly replace if it comes to that.
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