How serious is this?

[jeremyo83]

I have a traynor YCM-50 Blue (1x12 combo amp).
Used it last gig, and blew a tube. When I was switching out the tubes, one of them was stuck pretty tight, and took quite some wiggling to get out.

When I put the new tubes in, only one of the two are working. The power tube slot that took all the wiggling is not working.

I called my local guitar shop, and their amp guy said that because it's out of warranty, I'll have to send it directly to traynor, but I don't want to ship my amp across the country.

Does anybody have any experience with anything like this? Any suggestions? should a local repair guy be able to fix this?

[ranchtooth]

A good tech guy or someone with an electronics engineering could easily help you out. Finding one is the only hard part.

[sumgai]

jeremy,

Yes, any reasonbly good tech should be able to fix this. If the old tube was hard to remove, it's possible that something was warped from too much heat. However, from your description, I'm gonna guess that when you installed the new tube, one (or more) of the pins got dislocated somehow. That'll hang you out to dry.

Depending on where you live, you might find someone on one of these lists:
www.hoffmanamps.com/service.htm
www.vacuumtube.com/service&.htm
www.webervst.com/techreg/techreg.htm

There are other lists, just google for them.

Errr, you did swap between the two new power tubes, right? Ya never know, someone's gotta buy the bad one that got through the Quality Control tests, and you just might be the lucky one!

HTH
..................

After re-reading your message, something else just caught my eye:

I called my local guitar shop, and their amp guy said that because it's out of warranty, I'll have to send it directly to traynor.....

I'm sorry, does one of us have that backwards? Normally, when an item is within warranty, the seller will either service it (and be paid by the factory), or send it back if he can't. But when it's out of warranty, the factory sure doesn't want to see it, and local techs like me jump all over these things - that's how we make our money, by repairing things that break after the warranty is up.

I'm a bit suspicious of that person's credentials.


sumgai

[jeremyo83]

Errr, you did swap between the two new power tubes, right?

... uhh... first on my list of things to do when I get home after work..

Depending on where you live, you might find someone on one of these lists:

.. no dice for my area. I did call Long & McQuade in Stratford (L&M own Yorkville, which produce Traynor), and they said I could take it in and they'll send it to their repair guys. I'm not sure how pricey this will be though. At the moment it seems to be my only option.. unless anyone here knows a good amp repair guy in London, Ontario (Canada)

I'm a bit suspicious of that person's credentials.

.. he's a sales guy at the local guitar shop, not an actual amp repair guy. He does do some minor repairs on amps, but feels like this is out of his area of experience.

[ChrisK]

It sounds as if the tube socket was damaged from excessive "wiggling".

I might suggest that you post digital pictures;

of the socket, face on looking down thru the pin holes from the tube's perspective,

of the "wiggled" tube looking at the base from the socket's perspective,

and any other view that may shed some insight.


Why was such wiggling needed? Our seeing the base of the offending tube may shed much insight.

To take these pictures (of the socket) may require disassembly of the amp. You may be able to use a ladies' compact mirror to "angle in" a view.

PLEASE DISCUSS SAFETY ISSUES WITH sumgai IF YOU WANT/NEED TO GO (IN) THERE.

THESE ARE NOT LOW VOLTAGES AND THEY WILL KILL YOU (if you do something untoward).

At least post pics of the wiggled tube base (and did it have a base clamp holding it in place?).

[UnklMickey]

chrisk said:

...Why was such wiggling needed? Our seeing the base of the offending tube may shed much insight...

my thoughts exactly.

[sumgai]

Chris and unk,

You should have seen the rough draft of my post above, about what probably happened! It was a work of art, covering all the bases. It was also turning me into another Herman Melville. A few snips of the editing scissors, and what I saw is what you got.

I also theorize that pulling the previous tube was at least partially to blame, but it may well go back the time that tube was inserted. A bent pin, which then got bound up in the channel, that's my guess. The next insertion probably broke it loose from its moorings, and there's now a loose pin on deck. Fortunately, that's inside the chassis, so the worst that can happen is a blown fuse.


Errrr. jeremy, you do have the correct fuse in there, right?


sumgai

p.s. Chris, thanks for the vote of confidence on the safety thing.

[jeremyo83]

ummm.... remember this old question?

Errr, you did swap between the two new power tubes, right?

.. well.. i gotta say i feel like a bit of a douche.

turns out i have a bad tube, and not a bad tube socket. although this makes me feel a bit silly for not checking this earlier, I'm still thrilled that I don't have to get my amp repaired.

thanks for everybody's helpful contributions!

[sumgai]

jeremy,

ummm.... remember this old question?

Errr, you did swap between the two new power tubes, right?

.. well.. i gotta say i feel like a bit of a douche.

turns out i have a bad tube, and not a bad tube socket. although this makes me feel a bit silly for not checking this earlier, I'm still thrilled that I don't have to get my amp repaired.

thanks for everybody's helpful contributions!

That's cool! But it also means that we don't get to look at close-up photos of tube sockets!


j/k ;D



sumgai

[ranchtooth]

Also, you live in london? Sup southern ontario buddy? I'm from brantford but my girlfriend goes to western so I'm in and out of london.

[jeremyo83]

hey hey, Ontario's where it's at!

[sumgai]

ranchtooth said:

Also, you live in london? Sup southern ontario buddy? I'm from brantford but my girlfriend goes to western so I'm in and out of london.

jeremyo83 said:

hey hey, Ontario's where it's at!

Alright you two, if you're gonna keep that up, best you go get a room over in the Coffee Shop!


;D



sumgai