OMG!! WTF!!!! What now????

[Riffmeister]

I just got my new pups and got them all wired up and stuff and go to fire up the amp ( which I used the night before and was sounding great)

So I turn on the amp and let it warm up about 5 minutes, then hit the standby switch, WHAM- Poof!!!! It makes a loud noise and blows a fuse. I get some new fuses, BAM!!! there it goes again. I take it to my buddys guitar repair shop and he fires it up, and hits the standby right away, it doesn't blow until a few seconds after making a little hissing \crackling noise, but does blow again.

He takes the power tubes out and puts in some older than dirt JJ's he has laying around, and now it seems to work fine. I have used it for several hours and it hasn't blown again.

This is the 3rd amp I have gotten due to issues with them, and I am getting pissed at this point!!! Is this an issue that can actually be the tubes ??? I only ask cause my buddy tested the tubes and the readings he got said they were ok, but one was doing some weird stuff during the readings when he did what he called a quality check on the tube tester.

If this is actually a tube problem, what in the world could be wrong with them, they look brand new. MAn I am just so bummed at this point. I know American Music isn't going to send me out new tubes( I've only had THIS amp for 3 weeks) they are most likely going to want me to send the whole freaking amp back. The tubes are warranted for 90 days, so I wonder if Peavey would just send me tubes without any issues.

[Twitch]

Sometimes you just get bad tubes, had a set (well 1 of 4) go out on me not too long ago after about 6 hours of usage. Then on the other hand you seem as though this has happened more than once. What kind of amp do you have?

[Riffmeister]

Twitch,

It's a Peavey Valve king. This particular problem never happened till today though. The first amp they sent me, it had a high pitch squeal when the boost button was engaged along with a huge pop as the button was pushed in or out. The next one they sent me , was used and had sticky crap all over the tolex as well as the preamp tube sockets being loose, and this , the third amp came brand new still sealed up and stuff, sounded amazing and was working fine for 3 weeks till this.

So does it sound like this is the problem, the tubes I mean?

[DonP]

It's a blown tube. You know it is because when the tubes were replaced it worked.

Like I've said already, my DSL100 through a tube after a few hours of buying it. I bought a single new tube, and have running fine for 12 years on the set.

If a tube has an infant mortality, it will die in the first few hours of use. After surviving that, they will last until the cathode is used up.

[Scooter]

It's a blown tube. You know it is because when the tubes were replaced it worked.

Like I've said already, my DSL100 through a tube after a few hours of buying it. I bought a single new tube, and have running fine for 12 years on the set.

If a tube has an infant mortality, it will die in the first few hours of use. After surviving that, they will last until the cathode is used up.

What he said. I have the VK100 head, same thing.

[j2379]

if its the 3rd one check your wall voltage. used to have a practice space that the outlets were giving off 140volts. since its constant it wont trip a breaker or surge protector but it will eat up amps.

[Spivonious]

Sounds like a bad tube to me. New amps usually have 30-day tube warranties, so Peavey will probably send you a new set if you ask. Check the warranty materials to be sure.

[Riffmeister]

The only reason I wasnt' totally sure it was a tube after replacing them and having it work, was that , as I said, the tubes teseted OK on the tube tester.

The tubes are actually warranted for 90 days so I am going to call and see if I can get some new ones sent.

[Spivonious]

Tube testers won't let you know if the tube can handle the high currents in a guitar amplifier, just that the tube operates at all.

[Riffmeister]

Well, I called the place I got the amp from , American Music Supply and they basically tried to sell me more tubes and don't match them on top of that, so I won't be dealing with them anymore.

I called a guy named Aubry at Peavey and he gladly sent me out a new set of tubes.

I had been having some issues with Peaveys customer service over the last few months having sent a lot of E-mails to them with ?'s regarding the 3 amps and never heard from them. So when I sent in the warranty registration online for the 3rd amp, I put in the comments that I had a hard time getting customer service to respond to me.

Long story short this guy Aubrey read the comments and contacted me right away, that's how I got to talk to him about the tubes. He appoligized and said that sice X-mas, they have been so backed up due to some issuses.

[RyTard]

Voltage???

Maybe take a Voltage meter, and hook one side of the meter to the wall outlet you most frequently use. You should have a Neutral, positive, and a ground. If you don't get close to the same voltage reading by testing the Neutral to positive, and ground to positive, then don't ever plug your amp into it. I know most manufacturers put ground lifts on their power input circuit, but simple bad voltage spikes and bad earth grounds have destroyed my old Mark IV tubes and fuses despite the use of ground lifts. Same occurances with loud "pops" and high pitch "squeels". Just a suggestion

[Twitch]

Maybe take a Voltage meter, and hook one side of the meter to the wall outlet you most frequently use. You should have a Neutral, positive, and a ground. If you don't get close to the same voltage reading by testing the Neutral to positive, and ground to positive, then don't ever plug your amp into it. I know most manufacturers put ground lifts on their power input circuit, but simple bad voltage spikes and bad earth grounds have destroyed my old Mark IV tubes and fuses despite the use of ground lifts. Same occurances with loud "pops" and high pitch "squeels". Just a suggestion

DO NOT TRY WHAT HE HAS SUGGESTED!!! Its called a short, or ground fault. If you touch off hot to ground on an AC outlet, the very least youll do is blow youre meter and the breaker, if youre lucky. Chances are youll shit your pants instead and ruin your day. Retard, dont post about hazardous things if you dont know what youre talking about. Either buy a receptical tester, or check hot to neutral and neutral to ground. However if you dont know if the outlets been wired backwards, I highly suggest the receptical tester.

[Twitch]

Recepticle tester

[Forrest]

Yeah, instead of suicide, you might want to pick up one of these. Even if your power at home is not the issue, it's nice to have for gigging.

http://shop.vendio.com/progearwarehouse/item/984554250/?s=1270799762#

[Jayster]

Twitch,
I believe Rytard is referring to 'using a meter' and reading between the grounding leg and the positive leg, and then still 'using a meter' reading between the neutral leg and the positive leg. While this makes little sense to me as for there to be an imbalance is highly unlikely, at least it is something I've not seen.

As far as the original problem, I'm sorry but I've no input ....