Author Topic: busted valve? please no.....!? (Read 7653 times)

sambo · « **on:** January 12, 2007, 10:25:58 PM »

ok how do you tell if a valve has blown in an amp?

would it be such a big difference that you really couldnt miss it kinda thing? or would it just noticably degrade the tone?

cause ive been finding the ENGL really harsh/a little fizzy for the past week or so... and it just doesnt sound like i remember it did....

reeeally annoying... might just be me imagining things...

agh!

sambo · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2007, 05:28:59 PM »

SOMEONE?! ANYONE?!

how do you tell if a valve is blown?

38thBeatle · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2007, 05:47:03 PM »

Sam if it has "blown" then it just doesn't work. Depends what you mean, though, by "blown". Are you sure you haven't changed a setting without realising?possibly a stupid thing to suggest as I am sure you would have thought of that but it has been known.Could it be that your ears have acclimatised to the sound and you are hearing something you haven't before. I am not an expert to be honest-I am sure the knowledgeable posse will be galloping over the hill soon.

dave_mc · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2007, 06:13:27 PM »

another thing is, might the speaker have broken in? thought that would surely have the opposite effect?

zigmund · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2007, 02:10:32 AM »

Be of good cheer sambo I reckon; Engl controls have a high degree of interactivity so that it might seem as if you're only tweaking things a tad until you boost a volume and it gets too crunchy. A combination of settings at one power level may well change tonally when you go to another.
I'm not putting this brilliantly well, but try a few of the following: drop Presence to 0; drop Treble to 0; ensure the LEDs indicate that you're going through a Lead channel instead of a Crunch one; keep Middle up between 6 and 10; drop your Master Volume down whilst ramping up the Lead Volume...it could be that with a little pushing of the "pre" stage of the amping, this can begin to add that pleasing valvy compression and smoothness.
Your description at present just suggests to me that all is well: Engls naturally have a high ceiling of treble and presence...the fact that you're experiencing this would suggest that all is very well with the amp, and it may just require a reduction of these.
There are many heads here much more knowledgeable than me, so I'm sure it will all be tickety-boo. By all means PM me if you wish.
Oh yes: are you playing the same guitar as before? Have you altered pickup heights? Are you playing in the same room, at the same volume? Just rhetorical questions you understand.

sambo · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2007, 11:23:33 AM »

i think it must juts be my ears adjusting to the sound properly.... maybe a little bit of the speaker breaking in or whatever i dunno.

and beatle- so if one valve goes... nothing works? cheers.

and yer that did concern me Zigmund... i noticed how the actual sound changes a lottt just when turning up the channel volume between 1-4...

gonna have to mess around with all the controls again i guess. i'll try what you suggested- thanks.

agh!

hunter · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2007, 01:20:46 PM »

Try this setting on the drive channel: Gain 1 o'clock, bass 3PM, mid 2PM treb 1PM and Presence 10-11AM.

How does this sound on your screamer?

38thBeatle · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2007, 04:10:30 PM »

Sorry Sambo, there are amps that will keep going but on reduced power when one gives up the ghost-at least as far as I recall. I must admit I am no amp expert and I stand to be corrected but I think it is not as simple as that I am afraid.

sambo · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2007, 04:24:20 PM »

thanks hunter- ill try that soon (im at band practice at the minute)...

and beatle- hmm annoying. i guess it reassures me that one of them hasnt gone though.

cheers

dave_mc · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2007, 05:53:46 PM »

+1 on what zigmund said, basically.

I run my treble on the high gain channels at about 3-4, with a presence around 4, (EDIT: and that's with the bass and mids at 9!) and the savage se is smoother and less trebly than the screamer. (i increase the presence to 6 for really modern stuff, but that's about it)

When I got my engl at the start, I had the treble around 6 or 7, and presence to a similar amount, lol.

Could just be that your ears are changing, lol. It happened to me, anyway.

sambo · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2007, 06:45:04 PM »

lol! shiiiite, i think that must be the problem...

that and a mixture of what zigmund said.

on a side note- i realised something REALLY embarassing today lol...

when i used the H&K cab with the ENGL... i put it in the wrong output... i was so gutted when i realised it...

being a complete idiot i looked at the "1x8 or 2x16" on section 1 of the outputs... and banged the cab in there... totally ignoring the fact that the combo's speaker was already plugged in there...

whats the worst effect that this could have on the amp??? :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

and also- used it through our bassists bass cab today... (using the RIGHT output this time :oops: )

sounded LOVELY...

definitely getting myself a cab soon.

dave_mc · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2007, 09:47:41 PM »

^ what's the cab's impedance?

sambo · « **Reply #12 on:** January 14, 2007, 10:24:26 PM »

8ohms... ?

sambo · « **Reply #13 on:** January 14, 2007, 10:25:09 PM »

so i was running two 8ohm 'units', (the cab and the combo's speaker), into the section of outputs which is for 2x16 or 1x8....

how bad is that? lol

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #14 on:** January 14, 2007, 10:31:57 PM »

it's highly unlikely you've done anything to your amp. setting the impedance to match up on the amp and cab is more an issue of maximum power transfer.

:twisted: