russ69 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I was playing "Tubular Bells" to suppliment the fireworks and as I walked by I got a fireworks show of my own. Man what pretty colors, some wild purple colors. This is the first time I smoked a tube amp. I killed the power right away so I hope I still have a working amp but I wont know until the new power tubes show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiet_Hollow Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Well that sucks. Hope the damage was isolated to just the tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Sorry to hear that Russ, hang in there. You may be able to salvage it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Not enough rig for the gig, or random failure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) Not enough rig for the gig, or random failure? Most likely not enough poop so it popped. I was not driving hard and I turned it down once or twice to make sure I wasn't working it too hard. It's a little Jolida integrated I have out in the garage. I learned on the web that the bias should be set at 20ma not the 30ma the manual calls for. So it was driving itself harder than it needed to. I don't think I lost any channels, it was just using itself up. By dumb luck I was standing right next to it when she flamed out. Fresh tubes should be here within a couple of days and I have some confidence it was just the tubes. No smoke or bad smells. Edited July 6, 2014 by russ69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 A new fuse and four new power tubes and I'm back up and running. Got lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Congrats! Happy to hear the amp is working again, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted July 9, 2014 Moderators Share Posted July 9, 2014 Good news, glad you were right there when it happened, could have been bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 wonderful news. i was holding my breath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) Good news, glad you were right there when it happened, could have been bad. I think the fuse saved it. If I had saved it, the fuse would still be good. I thought I got there first, so it's a close call as to who shut the power off first. Edited July 9, 2014 by russ69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted July 10, 2014 Moderators Share Posted July 10, 2014 Well it's good to know the fuse might catch it and stop a possible fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Fuse or not, good thing you were there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) Well you know those cheap Chinese POS can't handle even the least amount of abuse Oh and by the way quit believe all the hogwash you read on the internet. Not a single EL84 on earth cannot take 30mA of idle plate current. 20 mA is way too low. At least 25mA would be more like a reasonable bias point. So if the tubes can take the current but the amps goes into a spark show delivering it the amp is a true POS... No offense intended but these are facts. Edited July 10, 2014 by NOSValves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Well you know those cheap Chinese POS can't handle even the least amount of abuse Oh and by the way quit believe all the hogwash you read on the internet. Not a single EL84 on earth cannot take 30mA of idle plate current. 20 mA is way too low. At least 25mA would be more like a reasonable bias point. So if the tubes can take the current but the amps goes into a spark show delivering it the amp is a true POS...No offense intended but these are facts. I just checked with Jolida, they say 20ma. It sounds fine at that setting, maybe a little more bloom in the bass but that might be from the different tubes? I'll play around some more and see where it takes me. This is my most used unit and the tubes were near 10 years old so I'm not sure you can blame the POS amp. Yeah, it is what it is but it's given me a decade of solid service. I think we were just looking at tube failure. You didn't expect me to put the McIntosh, Quicksilvers, Audio Research, or the Carys in the garage did you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 "Tubular Bells"? That was from the Exorcist... I'd more expect it to vomit pea soup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Well you know those cheap Chinese POS can't handle even the least amount of abuse Oh and by the way quit believe all the hogwash you read on the internet. Not a single EL84 on earth cannot take 30mA of idle plate current. 20 mA is way too low. At least 25mA would be more like a reasonable bias point. So if the tubes can take the current but the amps goes into a spark show delivering it the amp is a true POS...No offense intended but these are facts. I just checked with Jolida, they say 20ma. It sounds fine at that setting, maybe a little more bloom in the bass but that might be from the different tubes? I'll play around some more and see where it takes me. This is my most used unit and the tubes were near 10 years old so I'm not sure you can blame the POS amp. Yeah, it is what it is but it's given me a decade of solid service. I think we were just looking at tube failure. You didn't expect me to put the McIntosh, Quicksilvers, Audio Research, or the Carys in the garage did you? Why would you put any of that over prided/hyped craps in your garage when the real deal is right in front of your face by the way my very best system in in my garage/shop...most folks that hear it become life long customers/believers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 (edited) Why would you put any of that over prided/hyped craps in your garage when the real deal is right in front of your face by the way my very best system in in my garage/shop...most folks that hear it become life long customers/believers... I put the "over prided/hyped craps" in the various systems inside the house and I use the "cheap Chinese POS" in the garage. Works for me, YMMV. Man, a fellow needs some thick skin around here, lucky for me I have it. I just run the stuff, I didn't design it.... Edited July 11, 2014 by russ69 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 ...If in fact, the unit was designed for 20ma bias, then going to 30ma is a 50% increase in power demand from the power transformer. Not likely to work well. It is mysterious why they manual would call for 30ma and the recommendation from other places is 20ma. Has there been a history of trouble at the recommended setting? The factory changed the setting. I can only assume they had too many warantee issues and made the change. Mine worked fine for 10 years at the higher setting but I'll have to admit that I dont drive my stuff very hard so I'm not the ultimate tester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Why would you put any of that over prided/hyped craps in your garage when the real deal is right in front of your face by the way my very best system in in my garage/shop...most folks that hear it become life long customers/believers... I put the "over prided/hyped craps" in the various systems inside the house and I use the "cheap Chinese POS" in the garage. Works for me, YMMV. Man, a fellow needs some think skin around here, lucky for me I have it. I just run the stuff, I didn't design it.... yep I've got some of those "over prided/hyped craps" too. Some Quicksilver Horn Monos. I also have a BBX Extreme with Cream and the delectable new Maxim Mods that I have dubbed the NBS Killer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 Quickilvers are some really sweet amps. Not too expensive and worth every penny. It's the pre-amp that will eat up the budget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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