Getting ready for the Austin TX show this weekend...........

[glip22]

I would not bias this amp any higher than 37MA regardless of your plate voltage. I run mine at 36. This amp puts quite a bit of heat on the tubes. Not sure if it has to do with the underfiltered power supply which is what contributes to the feel and tone of this amp, but it defineitely works the powertubes.

 

[Ampaddict]

I would not bias this amp any higher than 37MA regardless of your plate voltage. I run mine at 36. This amp puts quite a bit of heat on the tubes. Not sure if it has to do with the underfiltered power supply which is what contributes to the feel and tone of this amp, but it defineitely works the powertubes.

I've heard Rick say this also regarding my Metal. ( keep it under 37ma)

 

[parntz145]

I was playing my MC for a few hours yesterday and that bastard was hot enough to cook on. I would not stack another amp on top of it because of the heat. I actually had one on top of it and took it off the first day.

 

[rocker]

Haven't checked the bias on my Metal but 37MA is what Rick told me too. Played the Metal for many hours this weekend and it do not get so hot it concerns me.

 

[parntz145]

Hey Hollywood,
I did a little research and talked to a buddy of mine that knows a lot about amps. He said if you blew the fuse thats good. Means that no power was going to anything in the amp to cause further damage. He said to buy some new tubes bias it up and play it for awhile. If you hear, see or smell anything thats not normal shut it down and you need it to be checked. He said from what I told him that it sounds like you just cooked the tubes.

From my experience when shipping an amp the bias gets knocked out of whack. This happened to me a few times and thank GOD I always check the bias before playing an amp I just had shipped to me. Never blew anything up. I bet your bias was just to high for the JJ's and you fried them.

 

[parntz145]

I did forget to mention that you had an 8 amp fuse where you should of had a 4 amp. So you might of had some power going for a little longer that could of done some damage. If there is damage its the manufactures fault in that case. I would just throw a quad of any cheap tube in there just to check it. If they dont blow your ok. If they do then at least it doesnt cost you too much.

 

[Hollywood]

Thanks Paul. Josh was telling me this same thing the other nite when it happened and I have a set of ruby tubes el-34 new I can stick in there. those are the cheapest quad I have on the shelf. So I will go to lowes and buy a bit set so I CAN EVEN GET INTO THE FRIGGIN AMP. These fastners on the back panel of the amp are just overkill IMHO . but then again who am I ? Just a paying customer with a non functioning amp. How ever small the issue, it still does not function. Gotta go for now guys. Going to buy my wife a BMW.

 

[sswanson]

Thanks Paul. Josh was telling me this same thing the other nite when it happened and I have a set of ruby tubes el-34 new I can stick in there. those are the cheapest quad I have on the shelf. So I will go to lowes and buy a bit set so I CAN EVEN GET INTO THE FRIGGIN AMP. These fastners on the back panel of the amp are just overkill IMHO . but then again who am I ? Just a paying customer with a non functioning amp. How ever small the issue, it still does not function. Gotta go for now guys. Going to buy my wife a BMW.

I would definitely try this before sending the amp back, it might save you a lot of stress. Almost every problem I've ever had with tube amps was caused by tubes. And if they're going to fail they will most likely fail early on, since you mentioned the amp only had 4 or 5 hours on it, that makes it even more likely. Hopefully they knew what they were doing with the 8 amp fuse and it didn't cause bigger problems.

 

[parntz145]

Alright guys. I e mailed Rick earlier today about the whole fuse deal. I told him I took the fuse out where it says 4 amps and that there is an 8 amp fuse in it.

His reply- Hi Paul,
You will be fine,
Cheers Rick.

So, I guess we will all be fine with an 8 amp fuse.

 

[Hollywood]

Alright guys. I e mailed Rick earlier today about the whole fuse deal. I told him I took the fuse out where it says 4 amps and that there is an 8 amp fuse in it.

His reply- Hi Paul,
You will be fine,
Cheers Rick.

So, I guess we will all be fine with an 8 amp fuse.

he gave no explanation for the over sized fuse ? I know that in my business that if you install a fuse that is larger than the specified size you set your self up for a huge liability. So I will need more than just a guy saying it is okay. I want to hear the explanation behind it. I just went to the store and spent money for some bits for those stupid fastners, so I got to buy fuses tomorrow if I am gonna even think about opening this amp up.

 

[parntz145]

Dude, Thats the reply i got. Im going to call my buddy tomorrow and ask him about this.

 

[steve_k]

Thing is though when biasing this high, is that your quad better damn well be matched and matched perfect. You have one bias adjustment for the quad. If you check bias and set based on V5 and assume the rest of the quad is the same, think again. I went through 2 sets yesterday just farting around with mine. Had a quad of Ruby BSTR's that were new and matched. Couldn't get them stable enough. Had a set of Ruby BHT's and blew one of them up. Got a quad of SED's back in and set at 36 mA. With the Ruby's, I had V5 @ 35mA and when I checked 7/8 they were @ 42.

Anyway, be careful and don't assume they are matched. When I checked the JJ's that came from the factory the other day, V5 was 40mA and V8 was 44mA. Plus, the 8A fuse. I checked voltage across all tubes and it was the same at around 516V yesterday. I have seen a few amps that have degraded voltage further from the source. The Wiz gets the same all the way down.

One other thing I tried was to see if there was enough bias adjust to run a quad of 6550's. With it backed all the way down, the tubes immediately went blue and bias was in excess of 100 before I shut it down. So, shit canned that idea. Would have to change the bias resistor to do that.

Mine is back together and sounds great with the SED's biased up a little hotter. Big ass bottom end now too and good chugga.

Oh, replace the screws in the back with phillips head screws so you aren't at the mercy of that weird driver all the time!

Steve

 

[Hollywood]

Steve can you tell me when you look at yours on the bottom, on each side of the power tube sockets do all the little bolts/screws that are supposed to hold down/ in the sockets have little locknuts and washers on them? Each one on both sides ? Let me know.
Also what rating on tubes do I need if I send for something just to see if I can get this barbeque grill to work again? I know when I get a set of SED's for marshalls I am looking at very middle of the road ratings for break up and headroom.
I think the last quad I used the other week was set at 32 for current matching. bought them from KCA nos tubes and the guy Mike matched them very closely. they are awesome in the marshall I installed them in. I know JJ's are different from a rating stand point so if I run those what rating do I go for and what do i set JJ's up for ? I guess the GT e34l's are JJ's and should do fine ?

 

[steve_k]

Steve can you tell me when you look at yours on the bottom, on each side of the power tube sockets do all the little bolts/screws that are supposed to hold down/ in the sockets have little locknuts and washers on them? Each one on both sides ? Let me know.
Also what rating on tubes do I need if I send for something just to see if I can get this barbeque grill to work again? I know when I get a set of SED's for marshalls I am looking at very middle of the road ratings for break up and headroom.
I think the last quad I used the other week was set at 32 for current matching. bought them from KCA nos tubes and the guy Mike matched them very closely. they are awesome in the marshall I installed them in. I know JJ's are different from a rating stand point so if I run those what rating do I go for and what do i set JJ's up for ? I guess the GT e34l's are JJ's and should do fine ?

Damn, you blew the nuts off the tube sockets!

Mine is missing one each on the last 3 sockets. I assume they weren't installed. Nothing rattling around. Saving some money....

Oh, the JJ's definitely have smaller pins than the SED's and Ruby's. I had to really work to get the SED's in. You will too with the Ruby's. That extra nut comes in handy when working the tubes in.


Steve

 

[steve_k]

Steve can you tell me when you look at yours on the bottom, on each side of the power tube sockets do all the little bolts/screws that are supposed to hold down/ in the sockets have little locknuts and washers on them? Each one on both sides ? Let me know.
Also what rating on tubes do I need if I send for something just to see if I can get this barbeque grill to work again? I know when I get a set of SED's for marshalls I am looking at very middle of the road ratings for break up and headroom.
I think the last quad I used the other week was set at 32 for current matching. bought them from KCA nos tubes and the guy Mike matched them very closely. they are awesome in the marshall I installed them in. I know JJ's are different from a rating stand point so if I run those what rating do I go for and what do i set JJ's up for ? I guess the GT e34l's are JJ's and should do fine ?

I mostly order SED's for average break-up, they got so much headroom and can handle the voltages. I don't do JJ's. GT makes a tube with heat sinks that can handle a little more power. The SED quad in there now is set for PC @ 45.

Steve

 

[Hollywood]

My amp has loose power tube sockets. the screws/bolts were not tightened all the way down. that is also why I wondered if the nuts missing could have played a part.
I do know that the two sockets that did not get tighened up at all are the sockets that the tubes went nuclear. I wonder if that little ground coming off one of the pins of the socket to the bolt on the one side and it not being tightened properly could have caused a ground issue ?
On most things a corrupt ground is worse than no ground. So I guess I wait to hear fron Josh who is calling Wizard tomorrow. I will not be installing anything other than JJ's unless you guys say another tube brand will sound similiar or better.
I actually loved the tone I had coming from this amp. But at over a grand per hour I gotta get another habit or get to rehab. Oh, yeah the holes are already in the chassis for the extra leds like on brads amp and there are even extra holes like for an effects loop. Jerry told me that and he was right.

 

[parntz145]

Man!!! You guys have me scared to even open mine up. Im scared ill find a body in there or somthing. I hope you all just got the fucked up batch. LOL I dont notice anything strange on mine. I think for the money that we all laid out that this is really fucked up.

 

[steve_k]

My amp has loose power tube sockets. the screws/bolts were not tightened all the way down. that is also why I wondered if the nuts missing could have played a part.
I do know that the two sockets that did not get tighened up at all are the sockets that the tubes went nuclear. I wonder if that little ground coming off one of the pins of the socket to the bolt on the one side and it not being tightened properly could have caused a ground issue ?
On most things a corrupt ground is worse than no ground. So I guess I wait to hear fron Josh who is calling Wizard tomorrow. I will not be installing anything other than JJ's unless you guys say another tube brand will sound similiar or better.
I actually loved the tone I had coming from this amp. But at over a grand per hour I gotta get another habit or get to rehab. Oh, yeah the holes are already in the chassis for the extra leds like on brads amp and there are even extra holes like for an effects loop. Jerry told me that and he was right.

Looking down at the tube sockets from under the chassis, the grounds are on the right side nut. Puts a new twist on, "I'd give my left nut for a -------".

 

[Hollywood]

You know at first I started to freak out. but the fact is These amps sound killer. I actually may just have a bad set of tubes. I do not agree with this fuse situation one bit. But that withstanding, I can say the work inside of this amp is neat as hell.
I just have bad fucking luck. no doubt. I am understandably fucking pissed about this luck on top of the fact that I am long over due another amp I am waiting on.
This plus the fact that ibet my azz if I want another built from the bench up, I will have an even longer wait and that REALLY MAKES ME HOT. All this lends itself to put me into the I AM SCREWED COOKING POT.
But all this said I still will say this, taking a breath and slowing down my heart rate, these amps sound fucking incredible and I have to think the whole picture here is a great amp/ product. I just had to get one that was gonna shit out on me.
But I got a Splawn Nitro brand new that did the same fucking thing, so you gotta know I am already weary when it comes to problems with new gear. I am really fucking tired of this kinda thing happening to me. PERIOD!
the amp I have coming to me Paul, I was told are brother and sister and were built identical at the same time. So if you have been playing yours, then maybe I will get one with no bad MOJO ...... Think about the time you have put on your amp Paul ?
If you made it past 4 to 5 hours, then you should be in the clear..

 

[Hollywood]

Okay, just for clarification, what are the plate volts these amp run at ? What is the recommended ma/IK setting for these and watts dissapation ? I just set up a marshall with 450 or so plate volts to 60 percent running 34 ma. so the equation changes if the amp has higher plate volts yes ? Watts diss. was around 15 if I remember right on the marshall.