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Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

951 by bigc
tommy wrote: Tue Oct 18, 2022 12:51 pm No doubt that a PPIMV sounds better, but I think the master on my 2204 sounds great! But I keep it around 5.5 on the MV. I'll admit that it gets thin once you start getting below halfway.
This is kind of where I'm at. I have to turn it up so loud to get it to sound good, and I almost never need it to be that loud. Haven't played live in ages, but I'd still like to be able to.

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

956 by losthighway
Okay, my bass buddy is not the most gear conscientious dude. He forgets about impedance or gets his signal chain wrong and I often give support. He has been filling in for another band and said his head blew up at one of their shows.

It a Mesa Bass 400.

I said to drop it off with me before taking it to a tech so I could look. First thing I find is a blown fuse which brings me to my question:

Is there a good chance that fuse was saving more expensive parts? Should I not replace it and try to turn it on to explore more?

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

958 by TylerDeadPine
losthighway wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:18 pm Okay, my bass buddy is not the most gear conscientious dude. He forgets about impedance or gets his signal chain wrong and I often give support. He has been filling in for another band and said his head blew up at one of their shows.

It a Mesa Bass 400.

I said to drop it off with me before taking it to a tech so I could look. First thing I find is a blown fuse which brings me to my question:

Is there a good chance that fuse was saving more expensive parts? Should I not replace it and try to turn it on to explore more?
Which fuse it it? (There’s usually two)

Fuse always protects more expensive parts, but it’ll keep protecting them unless they’re smoked and it’ll just keep blowing fuses anyway.

Best case scenario the amp was working too hard because of the mismatch and the fuse blew to protect the circuit.

Tubes also could’ve shorted/arc’ed - all kinds of stuff can happen

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

959 by Dr Tony Balls
I agree with both answers, FWIW. The fuse is there to protect the big stuff from getting killed due to a failure. So something has gone wrong and you need to figure out what it is. This will mean replacing the fuse and attempting to turn it back on, but with parts removed to try and trace out what the problem is/was. This would, *generally*, mean removing all of the tubes and turn it back on. If the fuse pops, its something internal that has failed, if it doesnt it was a bad tube that caused the fuse to blow initially. Start reinserting preamp tubes and turning it on to see if the fuse blows. If you get all the way through that, start inserting power tubes (in pairs, into the correct sockets) and testing till you find what makes the fuse blow.

This method will likely result in one going through more fuses than they need to. For repeated use without wasting fuses, use a lightbulb limiter to show when the amp is drawing too much current. Google it to build one, very easy.

Also Tyler's point about which fuse will help to further isolate the problem area!
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Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

960 by losthighway
Dr Tony Balls wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:10 am I agree with both answers, FWIW. The fuse is there to protect the big stuff from getting killed due to a failure. So something has gone wrong and you need to figure out what it is. This will mean replacing the fuse and attempting to turn it back on, but with parts removed to try and trace out what the problem is/was. This would, *generally*, mean removing all of the tubes and turn it back on. If the fuse pops, its something internal that has failed, if it doesnt it was a bad tube that caused the fuse to blow initially. Start reinserting preamp tubes and turning it on to see if the fuse blows. If you get all the way through that, start inserting power tubes (in pairs, into the correct sockets) and testing till you find what makes the fuse blow.

This method will likely result in one going through more fuses than they need to. For repeated use without wasting fuses, use a lightbulb limiter to show when the amp is drawing too much current. Google it to build one, very easy.

Also Tyler's point about which fuse will help to further isolate the problem area!
Excellent advice. Clearly written, thank you.

It's the fuse found on the front of the amp near the power and standby switches.
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