Amp...Eh.. No!

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri 07/18/03 10:46 am

Gabi,

You just wont believe this, or at least everyone here will think Iâ€™ve been winding everyone up about the whole story of my amp, but:- I did as you suggested and moved that Cap away from the input Jack, andâ€¦..:- IT ONLY DAMNED WELL WORKS

Well steady on;- I didnâ€™t try it with the guitar plugged in, so I donâ€™t know if it actually makes any sound

!! BUT;- when I switched on, the humming noise began to build-up slightly again, only this time I left it for a second or two longer, and the noise rapidly died down over the next 4 or 5 seconds to leave only the faintest background hum.

And then I left it switched ON like that for a full 20 minutes

No burning smells, no smoke, no extraneous noises at all :- just a few tiny little ticks & a few almost inaudible crackles for the first 5 seconds or so

. And after that just the faint electrical hum of a normal valve amp (as far as I can remember a â€œnormalâ€

Post by **Gabi** » Fri 07/18/03 11:12 am

Oh come on... I am a comet!

hehe! Or better said a nebula!

Glad it did at least something. I am curious if it works with the geetar plugged in.

Now, another thing. Make sure when you fire up the amp, to turn the power switch on FIRST
This will fire up the valve heaters...

THEN after about 3-5 minutes, turn on the STANDBY switch.

All this because you want the tubes to reach their optimal temperature before you let the fuul high voltage through them...

It is said that this procedure will extend the tubes life...

Keep us posted and KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THAT CHASSIS!!!! Even AFTER you unplugg the amp. There are LETHAL voltages there. Use a wooden chop stick from a famous asian restaurant in London. Don't go with cheap ones...

Gabi.

loverocker · Post by **loverocker** » Fri 07/18/03 11:17 am

Great news! <grumble> Curses - how do I delete that message saying not to bother trying to get distant gurus to fix it... <grumble> made me look stoopid <grumble>...

Just kidding - plug in, crank her up and report back

Post by **Gabi** » Fri 07/18/03 1:16 pm

Ian? Still there? You start to worry me... All ok?

gab.

drgork · Post by **drgork** » Fri 07/18/03 1:36 pm

What's the word Ian???!!! The suspense is killing us!

Danny

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri 07/18/03 2:07 pm

Hi Guys,

Oh yeah, I'm still here,

OK well Iâ€™m pleased to say the amp also works with the Guitar, with just two minor problems (maybe three!). So hereâ€™s a preliminary report â€œfrom the War frontâ€

Post by **Plexi** » Fri 07/18/03 2:34 pm

Ian: Glad to hear its working..things you posted.. the jack could be dirty,or bad connection.

The speaker sound thing, could be the speaker.. or as we have found in these amps, those round 3 disc caps in a row. they vibrate on certian notes,and it comes out the speaker/s . Take some small non conductive stick or something to lightly push on them while hitting the note..
Then a few other parts can vibrate and pick up noise, but those i've seen quite a lot. Seems it should be coming out of both, but its hard to hear sometimes which one its coming from.

3, The hum coming on,and then leaving.. it may be fine..then again may start to come back slowly.

I think i told you just the opposite of what Gabi did, about just turning the amp on, for the first time, and let it slowly build voltage..instead of letting it come to full voltage on standby..and then flipping the full voltage to the caps.

It just sounds like this amp needs some maintenence,and a cap job.

Hey but at least it is working...and no burning or smoking..

Richie

drgork · Post by **drgork** » Fri 07/18/03 2:35 pm

Bluevibeamps,

email me when you get a chance:

drgork@mindspring.com

Thanks,
Danny

Psalm150 · Post by **Psalm150** » Fri 07/18/03 4:09 pm

amp...eh...YES!!

Go to your western coast. I think you'll hear us applauding and cheering over the ocean.

Glad it's working

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri 07/18/03 4:20 pm

Hi Guys,

First, thanks to everyone for all the support over this, I genuinely appreciate it;- I mean that, OK?

Richie;- well, each time I fired it up, I sat there with your list of instructions in front of me â€“ it was all pretty obvious common sense stuff of course â€“ but I was so nervous about it that I made every step as if â€œWalking on Broken Glassâ€

Post by **Gabi** » Fri 07/18/03 5:15 pm

Hmm, I don't suspect the tight fit into those brass bases would generate any problems at all...
But if you can, indeed, try using skinnier tubes just for a try.
Or if you don't have anything else better to do, try removing them. Then screw back the mounting screwes so that the sockets are not dangling around.
I am sure you don't want that...

ok.. off for the weekend of working on our car (changing the rear suspension coil springs) since we'll go camping/wedding to Colorado on Tuesday. So you guys will have to live without me till the end of the month...

Hopefully nothing will go wrong with the computer couse otherwise we'll have no 18watt.com portal till I come home

Post by **Plexi** » Fri 07/18/03 5:43 pm

Gabi: have a safe trip, you should see your Marshall resistors in the mail sat or mon..before ya leave.. If some page PC problem happens,we may have to come look for ya..lol or go back to yahoo till ya get back.

Ian: I don't think you'll have a problem with the little fatter tubes,and the tighter the fit, less microphonics.
I would have usually told you to fire it up like Gabi posted.. but the first time after sitting that long, it helps to just let it come up in voltage as the recto tube heats up. Better for the caps. I know your supposed to reform caps slower, but this is the better way than letting it warm up on standby, then hit those caps with full voltage with flipping the standby.

Even some of these amps didn't have a standby.

As for oweing me anything, i'm sure the guys on here would agree, you've help us more than we've helped you. And learned quite a bit about these amps,since your first post. Just glad you posted your pics,and all the info.

Alot of people have built this amp,some for there first amp,and you'll see some we helped find some problems. Are now helping others with there amps,and pass on things they learned. Alot of these guys have turned out some great amps too.

Richie

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri 07/18/03 6:03 pm

OK guys,

well itâ€™s near midnight here now, but if itâ€™s best to have a closer fit on those tubes, then Iâ€™ll try the new set of valves again tomorrow, inc. those fat EH 12AX7â€™s!

Gabi, take care & have a great trip (is this a good time to change suspension springs?)!

All the best,

Ian.

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Sat 07/19/03 6:14 am

Hi Guys,

Well youâ€™ll be getting thoroughly sick of this very shortly, & I doubt there can be much left to say about my amp, except hereâ€™s a brief update on two of the slight problems I mentioned yesterday.

Speaker noise, ie Rumble/Ringing noise;- the fixing screws on the speakers were all slightly loose, ditto one of the screws holding the â€œR5 Canâ€

loverocker · Post by **loverocker** » Sat 07/19/03 10:35 am

Glad it's all working out. I'm new around here, but the friendliness here knocks me out. Brings a tear to a glass eye

<sniff>

Ian - kind words, I'm flattered and I'd have happily taken a look, but my theory knowledge is so low I'd have been uneasy doing very much apart from checking the obvious

I'm still new to this (only dabbled with simple Marshall mods and a AX84 P1 before coming here). It's one thing creating an amp from cheap bits and with the great support you can find here, but a whole nuther thing to get busy with a historically important amp! Real glad it turned out to be such an easy fix.

Never heard of those old Zaerus valves. But definitely keep them - unless valves genuinely fail completely or get noisy/microphonic, I keep them. I've got Mullard valves dating back to 1959 and they all work fine.

As Richie said - some amps don't have a Standby - I've never seen one on near-identical WEMs. I am going to add one for Phase II of my 18Wer, though.

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Sat 07/19/03 11:54 am

Loverocker,

As it is you, I feel I can once again adopt the Queens English, and give respite to the American colloquialisms.

Well you could have fooled me! Or to put it another way; Iâ€™ve been around long enough to have realised that anyone with a revered reputation may in fact turn out to be anything from wonderful to complete crap. So had it not worked, then Iâ€™d have been more than happy if you had agreed to take a look at it. Well, as it happens, it all seems to work perfectly after all, so the dilemma doesnâ€™t arise,

LoL.

Those old USSR valves are a mystery. The brand name is printed on them in script, so I may have misread it, and in fact now I look more closely its more like â€œZaeuxâ€

Psalm150 · Post by **Psalm150** » Sat 07/19/03 1:04 pm

"Queen's English"-that what y'all call it? I just dig way ya talk

Post by **Plexi** » Sat 07/19/03 5:10 pm

[quote]Those old USSR valves are a mystery. The brand name is printed on them in script, so I may have misread it, and in fact now I look more closely its more like â€œZaeuxâ€

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Sun 07/20/03 7:23 am

Hi Guys,

OK, well I wonâ€™t let this turn into a daily â€œhealth checkâ€

Post by **Plexi** » Sun 07/20/03 3:57 pm

[quote]Trem-Hiâ€

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Amp...Eh.. No!