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Fuse blown or tubes died?

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:18 pm
by jkhuri44
Gday guitar headz.
was at band prac last nite...and guitar amp was sweet as...
4 hours later....all of a sudden...guitar amps clean tone was very warbled, and gargly....and got exponentially worse in a matter of seconds....
i looked at the back of the amp, one of the tubes went white hot...(that was pretty cool, haha) ..
but then, the amp turned itself off.... we didnt hear any loud pops or bad noises...
has anyone experienced this....we're thinking Blown fuse...or dead tube....just not sure which....and who can fix it for us...if its a sever problem...amp was a Mesa Dual Recto.
Cheers.
J.

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:10 pm
by Bent my VU
Sounds like one of the tubes has gone and taken the fuse with it (as it should have). If it's a 100w amp pull the dead tube and it's partner so you have either the two outer or inner tubes only installed and replace the fuse. This will probably get it back up and running but at 50w - if you want it to sound the same have the output of the amp set to half the resistance of your speaker cab.
Depending on how badly the tube failed the socket could be damaged as well.

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 3:32 pm
by Simon B
Tube is gone, dead. same thing happened to an amp I own.
if you havent changed the tubes to a different brand, buy 4, mesa power tubes, a fuse and just stick them in..... you cant do this with most amps, but mesa jave a fixed bias so there tubes will work everytime with mesa tubs without having to rebias the tubes. however you might have taken a screen or grid resistor out when the tube arced, take it to a tech get it retubed. and double check there is no socket damage......
I hope this helps

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 3:46 pm
by jkhuri44
take it to a tech get it retubed
any ideas who da man for mesa's in Sydney??
the guitarist bought this second hand so the warantee is caput! :)
thanks for the help guys!!

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:52 pm
by Simon B
pete reynolds is in windsor, but he is quite busy at the moment, too busy making his own amps.... awesome bloke
Ivan richards in on the central coast, he gets stuff mailed to him reguarly
Pro audio in Canberra is the Distributor for Mesa, you can send it to them or ring them and they will tell you who the mesa tech is in sydney.....

Posted:
Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:59 pm
by jkhuri44
cheers simon,
i will get onto that on Monday :)
thanks for helping!

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:47 am
by TimS
JK,
I would highly recommend Pete Reynolds also - I used him to rebuild my Mesa MkIIB 2 yrs ago and he did a super job. I've known pete for a long time and he is a true champion and great amp builder.
I have 2 sets of matched pairs MESA power tubes if you want them. You're welcome to buy them if you like.
I use a Boogie power amp in my guitar rig (50/50) :-)
Martin Kell also does amp work - he is at Bexley.

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:52 am
by jkhuri44
hey tim,
happen to know Martin Kell's number?
i dont own the amp, its th eguitarist in my band's amp , im just inquiring on his behalf...as both of us havent had a tube die on us before..hehe
if Martin, or which ever tech says we need to get the tubes ourselves, ill let u know...are yours used? or new?

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:06 am
by TimS
This is the only number I have - and its from 2004, so it might have changed..
95679399

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:13 am
by jkhuri44
thank ye sir!

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:52 am
by rick
Greg cameron fixes guitar amps for the "stars" in his spare time at Turtlerock
Dunno if your a star though:)
Call him

Posted:
Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:25 pm
by jkhuri44
cheers rick,
will get onto that after finding out who else my mate has called! :)