FIRE! question about tube amps...

R

Robert Phillips

New member
I recently sold my fender blues jr - which has worked perfectly for the three years i've owned it. The guy that bought it just sent me an e-mail saying it had caught on fire when he tried to play it.
So,
it seems to me that it's fairly difficult to set an amp on fire, but i don't know. do you think it could be related to how he did/did not re-install the tubes correctly (i think there's only one way they'll fit...)? or ...?

thanks,
robert
 
Wow, on fire...that's pretty unusual. If you shipped it to him my guess is that some internal component, probably in a high voltage section, broke loose from a hard drop during shipping. Did he shake it and check for rattles before applying power? If it was shipped, he should probably start a claim with the carrier. Ask him if he wants to sell it. CHEAP.
 
well...

i of course removed the tubes for shipping, didn't want anything to break. It turns out the guy *somehow* put the tubes in the wrong sockets.
I know.
I'm not sure how he did that either.
There are five tubes and five sockets. The power tubes should fit in the power tube sockets and the preamp tubes should fit in the preamp sockets. I told the guy he should know that he is blessed by God that he isn't hurt/dead/maimed/etc.
So, let that be a reminder to us all that it sometimes is a good idea to acknowledge when you don't know much about something and ask somebody else or research.
: )
so it wasn't near as complicated as it could have been - thanks for the possible scenarios Tom.
-robert
 
EL84's and 12ax7's are both 9 pin tubes, but the sockets should be labeled on the amp, and EL84 sockets usually have the wire retainers which are too tall to hold an ax7 in place...
 
Chill - right, you would think that the gap between the end of a 12ax7 and the metal piece on springs that helps hold the EL84s in would signal something wrong.

juststartingout - unfortunately/fortunately, i think he was at home; would be a perhaps more interesting/damaging alternative to pyrotechnics.
: )

-robert
 
I got my much needed laugh out of this thread. Thanks guys.
 
That guy deserves to be stuck with solid state amps - less chance of him doing something really stupid again.

But then again, I actually did that once with an amp that I was doing some mods on, same deal with EL84 power tubes. Late at night, the chassis was on my workbench, I put the tubes back in exactly back'rds from left to right. I heard something weird, like a cap humming or something, so I shut it down right away, OOPS !!! put them in the right position, and off she went. Whew!!



:cool:
 
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