Soccerman58
Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2017
- Messages
- 6
Hi
I noticed a few posts here about Bugera problems, but none seem to address mine, and according to the folks handling Bugera tech support there is no tech bulletin about the phase inverter blowing, but it is sure happening to me.
The first time I knew I had a problem with something I was playing some very loud metalcore, so my first thought was it was all the heat being generated, but I have also had two blow on me just strumming in the living room, so that seems unlikely. When it first blew we took it to a guitar shop tech who said it was the phase inverter so he put another one in and we bought it home and promptly blew it again. It will play for a few minutes, then the volume just drops out.
I've blown a stock AX7, then I switched to AT7s and blown 3 of those - a new Electro-Harmonix (whose tubes I wouldn't use in V1 at any price) a NOS Tung Sol AT7 and a used Amperex AT7 (which pissed me off even more).
I'm not sure what more I can tell you. I took the chassis to work and some of the octal pins for the power tubes seemed to have iffy soldering, so I redid those. The PI octal looked OK tho, so that probably had nothing to do with it either.
There were a couple of ratty connectors that I cut and hardwired, but I did not see any issues with burned connectors that seems to plague these amps. Didn't see anything burned, come to that.
But, I also did not see any evidence whatever that this tech had done anything at all to it. Had he tested it with any volume at all, I'm sure he would have popped it. Maybe he did, several times - who knows.
I guess the first place to start would be to ask you what would cause a PI tube to pop please? I assume that because there is still some volume that it is only one of the triodes blowing, but which one and why is a deep mystery. That's also about the limit of my understanding of all things tube - that it has more than one triode in it
I am personally much too scared of tube amps to do anything while this thing is turned on, but I have a regular multimeter if you want me to measure something while it's off. And if you guys can give me some tips on what to look for I have plenty of electrical engineers at work and all kinds of scopes and test gear. Maybe they ain't so chicken as I am
If I remember correctly, I also have a link to a schematic for you if it would help, but it is on my other computer. Come to think of it, I believe the link came from a post on this very forum. But reading schematics is well above my pay grade.
So gentlemen - any and all advice is welcome. I really need to fix this - I can't afford another head right now.
Best regards
Phil
I noticed a few posts here about Bugera problems, but none seem to address mine, and according to the folks handling Bugera tech support there is no tech bulletin about the phase inverter blowing, but it is sure happening to me.
The first time I knew I had a problem with something I was playing some very loud metalcore, so my first thought was it was all the heat being generated, but I have also had two blow on me just strumming in the living room, so that seems unlikely. When it first blew we took it to a guitar shop tech who said it was the phase inverter so he put another one in and we bought it home and promptly blew it again. It will play for a few minutes, then the volume just drops out.
I've blown a stock AX7, then I switched to AT7s and blown 3 of those - a new Electro-Harmonix (whose tubes I wouldn't use in V1 at any price) a NOS Tung Sol AT7 and a used Amperex AT7 (which pissed me off even more).
I'm not sure what more I can tell you. I took the chassis to work and some of the octal pins for the power tubes seemed to have iffy soldering, so I redid those. The PI octal looked OK tho, so that probably had nothing to do with it either.
There were a couple of ratty connectors that I cut and hardwired, but I did not see any issues with burned connectors that seems to plague these amps. Didn't see anything burned, come to that.
But, I also did not see any evidence whatever that this tech had done anything at all to it. Had he tested it with any volume at all, I'm sure he would have popped it. Maybe he did, several times - who knows.
I guess the first place to start would be to ask you what would cause a PI tube to pop please? I assume that because there is still some volume that it is only one of the triodes blowing, but which one and why is a deep mystery. That's also about the limit of my understanding of all things tube - that it has more than one triode in it
I am personally much too scared of tube amps to do anything while this thing is turned on, but I have a regular multimeter if you want me to measure something while it's off. And if you guys can give me some tips on what to look for I have plenty of electrical engineers at work and all kinds of scopes and test gear. Maybe they ain't so chicken as I am
If I remember correctly, I also have a link to a schematic for you if it would help, but it is on my other computer. Come to think of it, I believe the link came from a post on this very forum. But reading schematics is well above my pay grade.
So gentlemen - any and all advice is welcome. I really need to fix this - I can't afford another head right now.
Best regards
Phil