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No more Procrastination! (An interesting small valve head story)


Bridgehouse

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Could be - but I’m not messing about with a new amp - I don’t want any “you’ve messed with it - no refund” issues and TBH I can’t be bothered with the faff of doing that. 

Working late every day this week and I have neither the time nor the inclination to start unscrewing something and messing about with it. 

I’m sure they will be fine for a return but if they aren’t you’ll know about it!

I’m lucky - I’m mechanically minded and happy to do those sorts of things - but if I wasn’t then you shouldn’t have to muck about with something you aren’t comfortable with. The user manual clearly states tubes should only be removed by an Ampeg certified service technician - lol. 

Anyway, there you go. Not a happy experience so far and I guess it’s just a bit of a confidence knock in the product - it may just be a bad tube or a poorly seated tube, but it could be a poor build - what if the next one does it after the warranty period? Unlikely, but hey you know how it goes.. 

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Just now, Misowaki said:

Fair enough, man.  Well mine's coming tomorrow so I guess I'll let you know how I get on with it too.  Fingers crossed, eh?

 

Yours will be fine - I’m clearly just having one of those days ;)

I’ll sleep on it and see how the shop responds and decide if I want a replacement. 

To be fair, it looks really nice on top of my BF Compact.. it just sounds like a 1920’s gramophone with a scratchy record stuck on the lead in...

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Hmm... I'm no expert but that definitely sounds like tubes to me.  Scratchy with no volume gain would suggest something going on with the power amp tube, no?  Maybe they can send you some new tubes first on the guarantee that they will accept the return if it doesn't fix the issue?  

 

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14 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Your OP says your budget is 700 quid-ish...?

Yeah - true it did.. I thought the handbox was about £1k delivered?

Thing is - it’s a big wedge for a stay at home amp for recording and trying to recreate that b15 small wattage thump. It was a nice to have luxury as it wouldn’t form part of my usual gigging rig or setup - I’ve firmly buried myself in the FRFR camp with a good £2k+ invested there!

£300 for a valve head to play with at home was reasonable I thought.. but yes, horses for courses YMMV etc. 

Edited by Bridgehouse
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4 minutes ago, Misowaki said:

Hmm... I'm no expert but that definitely sounds like tubes to me.  Scratchy with no volume gain would suggest something going on with the power amp tube, no?  Maybe they can send you some new tubes first on the guarantee that they will accept the return if it doesn't fix the issue?  

 

I’d reject that - for a brand new item I’d rather it just worked as intended without any user intervention or messing about.. 

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9 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

I’d reject that - for a brand new item I’d rather it just worked as intended without any user intervention or messing about.. 

Shame. Mine worked fine right out of the box with no issues. Sounds like a dodgy valve to me. That's the risk with valve stuff though - I turned up to a festival gig t'other week, 2K Aguillar tube head...hmm wow I thought this is going to sound great...couldn't even get a sound out of it...dodgy tube apparently....

 

Get it fixed / swapped - you won't regret it and I don't thin you'll find much better for the price!

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3 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

Shame. Mine worked fine right out of the box with no issues. Sounds like a dodgy valve to me. That's the risk with valve stuff though - I turned up to a festival gig t'other week, 2K Aguillar tube head...hmm wow I thought this is going to sound great...couldn't even get a sound out of it...dodgy tube apparently....

 

Get it fixed / swapped - you won't regret it and I don't thin you'll find much better for the price!

I’ll sleep on it. Been one of those days anyway so maybe I’ll feel different in the morning. 

It’s a right come down when you get all excited and then it doesn’t work tho. Proper downer on my evening after a long and quite stressful day working. 

Either that or I’ll get a refund and buy a TE Elf for the sheer hell of it.

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25 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

I’ll sleep on it. Been one of those days anyway so maybe I’ll feel different in the morning. 

It’s a right come down when you get all excited and then it doesn’t work tho. Proper downer on my evening after a long and quite stressful day working. 

Either that or I’ll get a refund and buy a TE Elf for the sheer hell of it.

A good nights sleep always helps. It’s a HUGE downer when you’ve been excited and then it’s not right / broken - zero fun.

The ELF is ace! 

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Worth seeing if you get a clean signal from the preamp out. If you do,  problem is the power section, if you don't I'd suspect the preamp tubes. (  reseating may help )

quality control  would have picked up construction fault before shipping to UK, BUT , valves are not always good travellers .

Mind you, I'll need counselling if mine isn't perfect !

good luck.

Edited by Chimike
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57 minutes ago, Chimike said:

Worth seeing if you get a clean signal from the preamp out. If you do,  problem is the power section, if you don't I'd suspect the preamp tubes. (  reseating may help )

Sage advice.
 

57 minutes ago, Chimike said:

Mind you, I'll need counselling if mine isn't perfect !

Same here =D
 

1 hour ago, Bridgehouse said:

I’d reject that - for a brand new item I’d rather it just worked as intended without any user intervention or messing about.. 

I hear you but maybe you can blag a bigger discount or an extra set of tubes which will save you money down the line?  Or maybe I'm just too much of an opportunist and need to stop trying to work every angle haha

But that said, if it were mine and I didn't try reseat the tube and sent it back losing £15 for the pleasure to find out that's all it was, I'd be kicking myself.  I'd probably make a video of the fault, when they inevitably suggest reseating, tell them I'm not comfortable doing it because the manual says get a qualified tech to do it (bonus point!) "and I don't want to void any warranty or ruin anything by attempting reseating, but I don't want to return it so I'm in a pickle here..."  Surely they'd send some new tubes quick sharp because they'd rather that than deal with a return... or maybe this is just the point where my mind does the GAS equivalent of the infamous "I'm here to fix your pipes" blue movie scene...

 

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Still tempted to give the 50w version a go.

Valve amps are great but it's always good to have spares on hand - they can get damaged in transit etc or just die off. I totally get you disappointment but hopefully you'll be able to have a local BC'er loan you a tube if you feel like getting the cage off for a look. Try and see of any valves aren't lighting up as brightly as the others or any noticeable differences between them. The smaller valve are probably behind those wee metal 'screens'.

The advice of make a video (if you have time) and contact them retailer/Ampeg is solid. A good twitter moan draws attention and often results in fast turnaround. I believe Polar Audio are responsible for Ampeg of old before Yamaha took em on. Not sure where the stock will come from (probably Yamaha).

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On 09/08/2018 at 16:17, Bigwan said:

Hmm... I've owned both the CTM30 & LB30 and really enjoyed them. I own the CTM15 and am not convinced yet - I'm a tinkerer and have a few ideas on how to improve on it, but I may part ways with it since I have a PF-50T incoming. I wouldn't go the Orange Terror route myself. The LB30 sounds nicer and won't try to take your head off... The Ampegs have a dummy load built in so silent recording is a built in option, which is rather nice.

Hi Bigwan, I remember buying a LB-30 from someone up North about 3 years ago and he kindly sent it to Waterford (was it you?) , It was fantastic sounding amp and I foolishly thought it wasn't powerful enough (it was my cab) and I sold it on - I really miss it. I now too have a barefaced two10 and am running an Ashdown CTM-100 through it and it has heaps of power...which got me thinking about revisiting the low wattage valve thing. I'm wondering if a 50W tube head would suffice for home use / small gigs. Let me know how you get on with it.  

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