Amp repair men

[blackcoffeeblues]

Yesterday I blew a fuse in my 1981 Leo Fender RD-112....it is a AGC 3amp fuse---the fuse cap says 125 volt fuse--but I can't find them on line---they all say 250 volt---does it really make a difference? And another question I am going to change the two el-34 tubes---when they say matched pair does that mean the bais is set to match. And what would a suggestion for brand be----I see some of them on there are PRETTY damn pricey. I don't mind paying for the up graded ones if it makes a difference in sound, but I don't want to shell out $60-70 per tube when they have matched pair for the same price....and last do you think there might be another problem that caused the blow out? I am going to put a AGC3 amp 250 volt fuse in it today and see if cures the ill. Hope I don't fry the whole darn thing: Later

 

[DannyB]

Use a 3 amp fuse and you're fine. Before you buy tubes, call Doug at Dougs Tubes and ask all your tube questions.

http://www.dougstubes.com/

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

Ace had the fuses----and I looked at Dougs tubes----sounds like the man to go to. GOOD STUFF.

 

[DannyB]

I've been buying tubes from Doug since 2013. He wont lead you astray. Tell him Danny, his dog buddy, said call.

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

OK I got it powered up but something weird happened-I was running a Donner blues pedal-followed by a analog delay and when I killed the power to the pedals with amp on---I GOT A RADIO playing for a couple seconds then faded out--------and the other thing is the amp has a BUZZ in it when the pedals are off--So does my Nace -if they are on they doesn't buzz----I only got 3 pedals and it does it with all them. Got ant idea whats up with that.

 

[Iheartbacon]

Are the pedals powered by battery or plugged in?

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

Plugged in.

 

[DannyB]

Make sure your amp is running right, no pedals connected. That's priority 1. What does the amp sound like now that you replaced the blown fuse?

Wall wort power, cable gone bad, cables not completely plugged in, there's a lot of things that make pedals noisy.

 

[Iheartbacon]

Power noise from wall worts can be a big issue with pedals. Try an isolating power supply or better yet batteries.

If all pedals do it, you actually only need to try one on a battery to see if things get better. If they do, then you can either look to a better way to power the pedals, or figure out what is on the circuit making your power dirty.

 

[PapaBear]

If your picking up radio stations could be shielding on a cheap cable

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

Changed cables to newer ones---helped a WHOLE lot--still a littlte buzz that seems to be in my MIDRANGE control-A good cleaning might help that.---I also cut the amp to low power input--(it has Hi-Lo) suppose to cut the power from 100 watts to around 50) so they say???? I contacted Dougs Tubes he wrote me back and said RUBY EL34BHT would do me right--at $20 a piece I am all over that---if I don't like them I can always put the old ones back in. Thanks to all

 

[CapnDenny1]

Looks like a cool amp!

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

Looks like a cool amp!

It is a very good amp. I bought it back in 92 and have used it A LOT---little on the heavy side #46 it has a EV 150 watt 12" speaker in it that weighs probably #10+---it has a bright and bass switch on it to change tones from normal. The bright is BRIGHT makes about any guitar sound like a Tele. I have read that many people change the STAND BYE 3 way switch, over to 2 way, have you heard anything about the pros and cons
of a 3 way? If so I would like to hear them. Shouldn't be that hard to do. I need to take it out of the cab and give the pots a good cleaning I havn't done it since I bought it. I have actually thought about trying a Celestion Purple Back speaker in it. They are a little dirtier sounding than the EV., but admit I REALLY LIKE Electro-Voice speakers--when it comes to a clean sound they are hard to beat. I did put a Jensen in once--that lasted about a day---not for me. Later

 

[CapnDenny1]

Not sure why they would replace the 3-position switch with a 2-position? That would eliminate the standby function (which is OK) or one of the power modes.

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

I don't know either, but am pretty sure I read it on the net a few years back when I was having a little problem with it....Who knows??? I personally like a standby switch. The first thing I use to do when I was playing was, turn the amp on, let it sit for 10-15 mins.then click it on standby to keep the tubes hot. It takes awhile of playing to get them really hot, about a full set ;a distinct change of tone..Or maybe the beer. Later

 

[OG_Blues]

It takes awhile of playing to get them really hot, about a full set ;a distinct change of tone..Or maybe the beer.

This would be a good place to recruit a group of people to do a controlled scientific study of this phenomena.
Which group would you like to volunteer for - the Control Group, or the Beer Group??
Subsequent studies could test different brands of beer.
We must be thorough and get it right you know.

 

[CapnDenny1]

The tubes will heat up much faster with the switch NOT in standby. There is no power dissipated by the tube other than the heater when you are in standby.

It is supposed to be really bad for the tubes to leave them in standby for any length of time more than a minute or 30 seconds or so. If there is any value in it at all, it is done after 30 seconds to a minute.

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

OG sounds like a plan---I will do the Budwiser
Denny--I always put it on stand by-even on long (20-45 minutes breaks) and during stage set up time---again 30-45 minutes---and it is still cooking. But I did get a valuable education on pedals yesterday---I FRIED both of them. Distortion and delay, the amp went bezerk---The Donner Blues pedal was plugged in the Analog delay was running on battery--when I put my jumper cable on from the Donner to the Delay--everything went crazy--and I mean crazy---screeching is an understatment. I killed all power buttons as quick as I could and quit for the day.
Fortunutlly it worked today-I tried both pedals ---they deader than a duck. Oh well at least they weren't HI$$$ ones. As Forest Gump would say---"STUPID IS, AS STUPID DOES".