Help me please

1
ok i am freaking out i am having some electrical problems and i need your guys help.

situation:
every thing has been fine for the last month till now.
in the last 2 day my roommate has blown a fuse (mesa triple rec solo) i have blown a fuse and as of 45 minutes ago blew a (power)tube.
i recently took my amp in and had the fuse replaced. i was running a 3 when it should have been a 2.5. but i never had a problem till now.

my amp:
1964 fender showman
running 80watts at 4 ohms

i just had the tubes replaced/bias about 2 monthes ago.
i have back up tubes but if i replace only one do i need to re-bias the amp?
is there something that could be causing all this or is it just coincidence?

i am very afraid i am going to damage my amp. i am getting ready to take it to the dallas guitar show on the 14th to sell it and i dont want to blow a transformer befor i go.

any and all help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.
if you need serial numbers or need more info just ask i will be monitoring this thread very closely.
thanks
-shelby

Help me please

2
VII wrote:i have blown a fuse and as of 45 minutes ago blew a (power)tube.
i recently took my amp in and had the fuse replaced. i was running a 3 when it should have been a 2.5. but i never had a problem till now.


having too high-rated of a fuse is not good. esp when it blows.

you may have a pretty bad problem if you were using an oversized fuse and still blew it

and then blew out a tube on top of it

my advice is to spend the money and take it to a qualified tech. no one can diagnose it over the internet. could be the transformer, could be your cabinet, could be leaking DC, could be a power surge that blew the fuse and weakened the power tubes. could be many things.

Help me please

4
VII wrote:every thing has been fine for the last month till now.
in the last 2 day my roommate has blown a fuse (mesa triple rec solo) i have blown a fuse and as of 45 minutes ago blew a (power)tube.


That sounds a bit dubious, what else was switched on in the house? Was anything switched on / off at the time - eg. a microwave, hairdryer, etc?

i recently took my amp in and had the fuse replaced. i was running a 3 when it should have been a 2.5. but i never had a problem till now.


That shouldn't really matter.

i just had the tubes replaced/bias about 2 monthes ago.
i have back up tubes but if i replace only one do i need to re-bias the amp?
is there something that could be causing all this or is it just coincidence?


A mains power surge in your house could cause all of this. It can be caused by various things.

I'd personally take your amp back to the tech and ask him though - he can have a look and may suggest something else. His work may be guaranteed. The blown fuse could be due to a faulty valve.

If you replace the tubes, replace all power tubes together. You may then need to re-bias, unless the tubes are the same brand and good quality.

People get a little paranoid about biasing though. I know it can ruin a set of valves, but some earlier designs don't even have bias adjustment.

Help me please

5
nothing extra was turned on in the house.
and when things have blown only one amp has been on.
both are pluged into (seperate)protectors but i was told if the house is running to hot on amps or voltage it can fudge things up regardless.
also it has been pointed out to me that since we (as in the people of austin texas) are about to get a little hurricane action that could also be part of why the electricity is running all nutty (that is of coarse "if" its my house's electricity)

i am planning on taking it to a tech and i am putting the amp on the DL untill this can be solved.
i just dont want to get ripped off by the amp tech. i am new down here and havent found one i can trust yet.
so do i have to replace all the tubes? cus i just did that 2 months ago.
if the problems are coming from my house's electricity then what else could it be?

Help me please

6
i once had a similar problem, except i blew the tube first and the fuse second. and then another fuse. and then another tube. in the same socket.

my problem was, apparently, that the tube socket was dirty. and as a result, electricity arc'd between two of the pins. can you get a good look at the tube socket? does it look at all charred? does the base of the blown tube look at all charred? it might be as simple as replacing the tube socket. that's all i had to do, and that amp's been working like a champ for over a year since then.

as far as whether or not you have to replace all the tubes... you say you have backup tubes. are they a matched quad? did you happen to purchase two matched quads at the same time, specifically asking the guy you got them from if he could give you a matched octet? that's the way to go, if you're buying a main set of tubes and a backup set. that way, all 8 of the tubes are interchangable. or in the case of an amp that (unlike yours) only uses 2 power tubes, you can buy a matched quad and use two at a time. food for thought for next time.

as far as whether or not you need to replace all the tubes... until you (your tech) figure out what's wrong with your amp, i personally wouldn't turn it on with *any* tubes in it. until the sockets are all verified to be okay, and the voltages on all the pins are verified to be okay, i wouldn't put tubes in it at all. until the problem is located, i just see it as asking for more fried tubes.
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