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Valve head help


Aaron Gilman

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Hello I need some help with a valve head that I bought 2nd hand recently (laney vh100R)

All was going well with my new acquisition, until the other night when after warming up the gear, I fired my guitar in got about 10 minutes play, then "crackle"....no sound anymore.

All the tubes are still lighting up and all the LED's at the front are on.

Anyone know whats up with it? I suspect its one of the valves, but if that's the case why are they all still glowing?

I have never owned or really even played a valve amp before this, so don't really have a clue, if it is in fact a valve then that's no bother, ive got my debit card ready to get some new ones.

Can someone please point me in the right direction on this one, as google has been as useful to me as a fish with tits.











 

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Even with a popped tube, there should still be some volume. If a power tube had gone, you'd just get a very quiet sound. If a preamp tube had gone, you'd get normal volume, but perhaps some squeaky microphonic feedback/buzzing. I believe so anyway.

 

Does the speaker omit any sound whatsoever? If you crank the gain and the volume, is there any sort of hum coming from the speaker? If there is, it could be a faulty input connection which is breaking the circuit between your guitar and the amp's output to the speaker.

 

I assume you've tried different leads and guitars to completely rule out a non-amp issue?

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This happened to me when I had a marshall tube amp a few years back; it ended up being a problem with the jack input on the amp. It definitely sounds more like an electrical fault than a problem with the valves, probably a broken circuit or something.

 

Just to restate what has been said above, tube problems are normally a loss of volume rather than it cutting out completely. Either way, I recommend you get it serviced by Dennis Marshall in Dunfermline if it is practical for you to get your amp there, and I know many people on this forum would back me up in saying that.

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tried all different combinations of guitar, lead, I've even used the same guitar and lead that I used when the head died, but with a different head and through the same cab to make sure that it wasn't the cab.

Am I in a world of butthurt?

 

 

Try cranking the amp's volume and gain and see if you get any kind of hum or hiss at all from the speaker. If it is complete silence, then it could be something to do with circuitry between the valves and the output, which is relatively common in newer valve amps. I had the same problem with my DSL, where it had to be rewired.

 

If you get some hiss or hum, as you'd expect from a cranked amp (even with no guitar plugged in) then it likely could be the input jack, which is probably an easier fix.

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  • 2 months later...

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