18-watter Dead On Arrival

[TS808]

After waiting 3 weeks I received my 18-watt Bluesbreaker clone from Sligo amps.
That's the good news.

The bad news is that it was dead on arrival. It was well-packed, but I did notice one of the power tubes was slightly dislodged (thanks FedEx). I put the tube back in, plugged in the amp and........NOTHING. I did smell something burning and noticed that the one power tube was MUCH hotter to the touch than the other.

I maxed the volume and hit a chord, and all I got was a crackling sound. I did smell something burning and noticed that the one power tube was MUCH hotter to the touch than the other. I emailed Steve at Sligo amps and he got back to me right away.

I told him about the one power tube being dislodged, so he suggested trying another EL84 which I did. Again, same thing.....crackling sound, smell of something heating up.

Right now, Steve at Sligo thinks for some reason the rectifier went out or is bad, so we're going to try a different one.

I had been in contact with Steve and I know he tested the amp thoroughly before shipping it out. What happened between his shop and my house, I don't know.

We'll see.....I'm waiting for a new rectifier now....

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Man, that's a complete bummer. I hope you get that straightened out.
I've never heard of Sligo amps, but it seems like he's working with you on it.

What *is* that burning smell? I once swapped out the preamp tube in my Fender Champion 600 and then put the previous NOS one back in.

I smelt a burning smell, so I immediately turned it off & reseated the tube (it was hot). Now it works great.

What causes that? Will it fry the amp?

 

[Robert]

Man that sucks. I hope that doesn't happen to my 18 watter when it comes.]

Hope you get that resolved.

 

[TS808]

Man that sucks. I hope that doesn't happen to my 18 watter when it comes.]

Hope you get that resolved.

This might sound crazy, but that was the one concern I had about a "hand built, hand wired" amp was reliability. Sligo essentially takes Weber amp kits and puts them together.

He's gotten great reviews on Harmony-Central, but one review did cite problems with their amp too.

The amp is gorgeous and the components (other than the tubes) look like pretty good quality, so I have no idea what could have gone wrong.

 

[tunghaichuan]

I don't understand why amp manufacturers ship amps with tubes installed in the sockets. The potential for damage is too great. Every time I've shipped tube equipment, I pull the tubes, bubblewrap them and put them in a small box and tape it to the chassis so the tubes don't get crushed. It doesn't take that much extra time to do, and prevents a lot of headaches in the long run.

tung

This might sound crazy, but that was the one concern I had about a "hand built, hand wired" amp was reliability. Sligo essentially takes Weber amp kits and puts them together.

He's gotten great reviews on Harmony-Central, but one review did cite problems with their amp too.

The amp is gorgeous and the components (other than the tubes) look like pretty good quality, so I have no idea what could have gone wrong.

 

[tunghaichuan]

Man that sucks. I hope that doesn't happen to my 18 watter when it comes.

If it were my amp, I'd contact the manufacturer and insist that the tubes be separately padded and boxed in a small box inside the main box before shipping.

tung

 

[TS808]

I was able to speak with the amp builder today, and it was decided to ship the chassis back to him. I think that is the best thing to do at this point. He wants to check it over to make sure that something wasn't damaged or knocked loose during shipping.

The amp was very well packed, and the builder told me he usually does wrap the tubes separately, but since the amp was going overnight from Virginia to Pennsylvania, he didn't do it this time. Plus, I replaced the power tubes, and that didn't seem to do the trick, so it may be a bad rectifier, or something else is going on.

Once I get the amp back and up and running, I'll post some pics.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Good luck TS!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Good luck TS!

+1!:AOK:

 

[TS808]

I should be getting my amp back either today or tomorrow. The issue turned out to be a grounding problem in the bias circuit, which was causing the amp to be dead for one thing, and was severely overheating one of the power tubes.

Once I get it back, I'll update on the tone and throw in some pics too.