Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

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Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by slash-ed »

So the Soldano Reverb-o-Sonic combo made its way up to me from Nik... but it seems like maybe one of the preamp tubes may have died in transit.

When you turn the amp on, you can hear the hum of the channel gain, it increases when you bump the master volume up, and changes when you click from channel to channel.

Unfortunately since I've been amp free for awhile now, I don't have spare tubes or anything like that.

Does anyone in Auckland (specifically near me in Mt Wellington) have a working 12AX7 or two that I could borrow to swap out and see if that's the issue? Massive extra points if you know what you're doing with amps (I do not...) and wouldn't mind coming round to poke at the amp for me. I'm sure some beer will appear in the fridge...
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by H671 »

I've got one and I'm in East Tamaki if that's of any help.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by jeremyb »

Check they're not loose first, pull them out and re-seat them, toobs can shift in transit and cause all sorts of weird issues :(
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by slash-ed »

jeremyb wrote:Check they're not loose first, pull them out and re-seat them, toobs can shift in transit and cause all sorts of weird issues :(
Yep, done that. They were indeed loose, but once reseated, still no joy.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by sizzlingbadger »

Couple of checks to help narrow down the issue in the chain...

If you plug a guitar into the FX loop return do you get any sound ?
If you turn the reverb up and kick the amp do you get the spring noises through the speaker ?
Last edited by sizzlingbadger on Fri Apr 07, 2017 5:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by mrmofo »

Check your guitar cable
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by NippleWrestler »

I'm in Avondale and have a bunch of spare 12ax7s lying around the place that I know to be good. You can try them out if you like.

Have you ruled out the power tubes?

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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by Anvil Amps Alan »

Duck over to my workshop in Howick and I will help you sort it out.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by sizzlingbadger »

I have the schematic if you need it.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by Aquila Rossa »

most people seem to say 12AX7 these days rather than call them ECC83, yet we still say EL-34 rather than 6CA7

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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by willow13 »

Aquila Rossa wrote:most people seem to say 12AX7 these days rather than call them ECC83, yet we still say EL-34 rather than 6CA7
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by godgrinder »

Aquila Rossa wrote:yet we still say EL-34 rather than 6CA7
6CA7 and EL34 are different tubes, just like the cases of 6550/KT88, 5881/6L6GC. They are direct replacements of each other but not the same.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by slash-ed »

Thanks all for your input and help.

Took it down to Anvil Amps and he got me sorted.
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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by Mattallica »

So what was the cause of the issue?

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Re: Help / spare 12AX7 wanted, AKL

Post by slash-ed »

My stupidity/blindness in trying to trouble shoot an amp after coming off a few days worth of flights haha. I reseated all the preamp valves but failed to notice one had actually just dropped out completely.

But Alan also resoldered all the tube sockets on the board as they were looking a bit dry, just some future proofing as well.
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