HELP NEEDED: Tube Amp too quiet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chamelious
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chamelious

www.thesunexplodes.com
When i came to gig last night, my Peavey 3120 head was about half as loud as normal. It was just loud enough to play a gig unmiced in a smallish pub when the master was on full. I couldn't see anything wrong, tried different cables and guitars and checked every setting and switch. All 4 EL34 power tubes were lit up.

Only thing i can think is one or 2 of the power tubes have gone bad even though they're lit up, could this be the case? If so, is it safe for me to run the amp with less than 4 power tubes? Could i test it by running one power tube at a time?


Cheers
 
Also i THINK i may have noticed it get quieter suddenly at a gig i played on monday. At the time i thought my ears were just getting blasted.

I tried a different power cable, different socket, tried being the only thing plugged into a socket, no effect.

I forget to mention, the tone sounded normal, it just literally sounded about half as loud. Impedance was set correctly.
 
chamelious said:
If so, is it safe for me to run the amp with less than 4 power tubes? Could i test it by running one power tube at a time?

Cheers
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No. Depends on the amp though. Usually they will only work with a pair at minimum and it's normally the outside two or the inside two.

Just re-tube the whole amp. How old are the tubes anyways. I'm assuming they have seen their days.
 
Tubes are almost brand new, the amps only a few months old. I just cant think what else woulc cause this
 
Have you tried testing the amp at home to see what the difference in volume is like in that environment?

Might be a stupid question, but it might be just the thing!

There's been plenty of times I've had my 50watt Marshall blaring in the house, ear-piercing levels like. Then I'd bring it to a gig and I'm almost blowing it up with level just to get it loud enough (teenage guitarist, what ya gonna do :rolleyes:)

Also, are you using any pedals?
 
Cant at home as im in a flat but im gonna check it at the practise room last night. However its a 120w head, i know what it feels like at half volume with my face in front of it, last night i had it on full with my face a metre from the speakers, i shouldn't be able to do that.

I tested it with a known good cable straight into the amp.
 
Without taking it to a tech...the first/best thing you can try is a tube swap, and not just the EL34 power tubes, but maybe the phase inverter tube too, which is the closest one to the power tubes usually.

A spare set of tubes is worth having even with a new amp, as many of the current production tubes being used by amp manufactures are coming from less than stellar QC by some tube makers...so even though it's new, it could crap out.

After that...unless you have a schematic and know how to troubleshoot...it's best to take it in to a tech. If it's fairly new, it's probably still under warranty.
 
miroslav said:
After that...unless you have a schematic and know how to troubleshoot...it's best to take it in to a tech. If it's fairly new, it's probably still under warranty.
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And putzing around in the guts of the amp may void it. Take it to the doctor. One thing a tech can do is put a dummy load on the amp and monitor its output to see what it is doing.

Have you tried connecting it to other speakers? A shorted voice coil will dump a lot of the amp's power.
 
ggunn said:
And putzing around in the guts of the amp may void it. Take it to the doctor. One thing a tech can do is put a dummy load on the amp and monitor its output to see what it is doing.

Have you tried connecting it to other speakers? A shorted voice coil will dump a lot of the amp's power.
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Thats about the only thing ive not tried yet, going to try that tomorrow, and the people i bought it off are calling me back monday after speaking to Peavey.
 
Maybe you're just going deaf? Haha, all of this is sound advice, my bet is on the tubes.

Also, Peavey needs to come up with better names for their amps, 3120? 3 channels, 120 watts, wow...
 
It IS possible to put in 2 power tubes, then swap one of them one at a time to see if there are dead ones. But new tubes are the best bet anyway without the hassle. Warranty.
 
Well the company who supplied the amp are calling back monday, my worry is they'll take the amp back and keep it for weeks.
 
Oh, for cryin' out loud. Pull all the tubes AND BRING 'EM TO A SHOP THAT HAS A TUBE TESTER. Test those puppies out before you do anything else.
 
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