HEY BRUCE... I NEED HELP WITH MY TOL 100 MICA head

  • Thread starter Thread starter guitarman967
  • Start date Start date
G

guitarman967

New member
First I want to say thanks for designing such an amazing head. I think you rarely get credit for creating such a beautiful sounding instrument especially for the time period it was created in.. Sonically, It has stood the test of time.

I recently had some problems with the head. A power tube started red plating.. It blew the AC fuse..No big deal. I replaced the tube and the fuse..It seemed to work fine but I didnt get to play it very long.
Not sure if this is coincidence or not but then the overall master seemed to act real funny the next time I fired it up.. The full volume of the head would only come through if I turned the control just right. It sounded muted at most settings on the control. I could max it out and barely have enough volume to play over normal conversation levels..Certainly seemed like an issue with the pot.
The control didnt feel right. The travel was not smooth at all.
So I had a tech replace the control. The schematic called for a 500k pot but when he measured the master control is gave him a reading of 50k :aww:
He was a bit perplexed about that but went with the schematic value figuring that the pot may have given him an altered reading because it was broken..He also noticed that it was the only pot on the amp with a plastic shaft. Is this normal?
He replaced it with a metal shaft pot..

The problem I have now is that the American clean ch1 and are not acting properly..They both sound the same and both ch volumes are controlling the volumes for either channel..The gain and ch volumes controls are not acting as they should. Also,there is hardly any sound coming from the channel in comparison to the British Channel 3 and 4 which sound fine..
Is there any advice you could lend me Bruce?? I love this amp to tears but all these problems have me feeling pretty bad.. :cry:
I just want it to be healthy again..I'll be taking it back to the tech saturday but I want to give him your advice if possible so I can get this straightened out in the correct manner. Thanks alot for listening and supporting Egnater products. Joel
 
Sounds like you may have a couple of unrelated problems. The original master was a 50K with a black plastic shaft. It is possible that control was broken but using a 500K pot in place would not cause the symptoms you describe. Sorry I don't have the quick answer for the trouble. Would it be practical for you to ship it here for repair? I hate to see this drag on while your tech attempts to figure it out. Phone us at the shop 248-541-9100 or email me at begnater@aol.com to discuss.

Bruce
 
Thanks for the quick response Bruce.. I imagine that the schematic for the later versions of the TOLH have a different value for the Overall Master than the MICA heads. Maybe that's what has caused some confusion.

I'm gonna give my tech a call and see what he thinks should be done. I really appreciate the offer. If it isnt too much trouble maybe either one of us could give you a ring first to see if this issue can be taken care of without sending it off.. UPS can cause additional problems in my experience.
I really appreciate it.. Joel
 
Hey Bruce, if you're still checking the thread, do you think the Overall master would be better off with the 50K potentiometer or the 500K like the Rocktron versions? Could you detail what the differences would be? Thanks again.
 
Back
Top