MOD 50 PROBLEMS!! LOOKING FOR ASSISTANCE

  • Thread starter Thread starter JCC
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JCC

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I was wondering if anybody had a tip (besides send to to the shop)

The Story:

I have been running my MOD 50 since I got it with 6L6s and have never been real happy with the amp. Today I finally took the time try some EL34s. I re-set the bias following the directions in the MOD 50 manual. After about 10 minute of playing the amp began to cut in and out. Not totally silent but about a 90% drop in volume. My first impression was that maybe I had a bad EL34, so I shut it down, pulled the 34s re-set the bias and put a different set of 6L6s in the amp. After firing it up, again in less than 10 minutes time the same thing happened. Last move was to put the original 6L6s back in the amp, check the bias and give those a run. Once again the amp started out fine and then the same failure.
Even Stranger
I found that if I put the amp back on stand-by and waited a minute or two, it would come back up, work well for a short time and then again fail. Now here is where it gets really strange, after several go rounds of the stand-by wait and try again routine, the amp began to work normally. I played for about an hour with no problem. I then shut the amp down and took a couple hours break. When I came back to the studio and fired it back up the entire failure process began again.

I have checked and changed all tubes, checked to tube fuses, changed guitars, cables, and can’t run down the problem. Does anyone have a suggestion????????


Looking for help

JCC
 
Even thought this would seem unrelated, it is a common issue with many amps. This is a long shot but better than taking it to "the shop." Next time the problem occurs, take a short cable and connect it from the series send to the series return. Sometimes the normalling contact on the jack can become oxidized and cause the syptom you describe. Let us know if this magically fixes it. Report back ASAP.
 
Bruce will take care of you....let us know what you find. I have not had this issue at all. Only issues I had were tube related....preamp and power tube related but never an amp issue. My Mod 50 has been bullet proof. I also try to clean the tube sockets and input/output jacks periodically.
 
Followed the instructions Bruce passsed on, and what do you know, all is good. Really strange but I'm happy to be back in business.

Now to the tone...

Now with the problem eliminated I went back to the original project "install a set of EL34s in my MOD 50". I can only say WOW I am really happy. Seems my EG3/4 really likes the EL34s the mod seems brighter and tighter at mid to low drive levels (my style)!!!! The Fender modules are great as well still nice and snappy without being harsh...

Thanks to Bruce!!!!!

JCC
 
Now that you verified this.....Go to Guitar Center and purchase the Cramolin/Caig Labs brand spray DeOxit cleaner. The can with the red label. Put the nozzle into the jacks from the ouside and do a very short "blast" into each jack. Put the plug in and out a few times. Should fix it permanantly.
 
JCC":2h2o0iib said:
Followed the instructions Bruce passsed on, and what do you know, all is good. Really strange but I'm happy to be back in business.

Now to the tone...

Now with the problem eliminated I went back to the original project "install a set of EL34s in my MOD 50". I can only say WOW I am really happy. Seems my EG3/4 really likes the EL34s the mod seems brighter and tighter at mid to low drive levels (my style)!!!! The Fender modules are great as well still nice and snappy without being harsh...

Thanks to Bruce!!!!!

JCC
Click to expand...
Give the TS 6550's a try. They sound great clean and dirty. By far my favorite tube in the MOD 50. For the rocking Marshall stuff it's hard to beat EL34's.
 
Yea, this happened to me too. My story was, I always have something in the loop. Broke down my gear and went to rehearsal, forgot my effects unit. Carry on without, but since nothing was plugged into the loop, the contacts were impaired as Bruce described. Read about this solution on The Gear Page that night (happy coincidence). Contact cleaner, hit the plug in and out about 10X with a 1/4 guitar cord and, presto, fixed.
 
Hey JCC,

Same thing happened to me, and Bruce helped out. Don't skimp on the contact cleaner. Get the good stuff. In my case, it took a couple of applications for the connections to be fixed.

Truth be told, I still plug in the cable from send to return during gigs. But, I'm a bit paranoid about things like that. ;)
 
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