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Loud Pop followed by Smoke - Please Help!


funkywrench

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Short Version:

 

I was playing my Egnater Tweaker combo through my Alex Attenuator last night. All of a sudden the volume dropped out completely (with just a buzzing present as I turned down the level of attenuation, i.e. increased the volume). I unplugged the guitar lead to try and test another one, when I plugged in there was a loud pop followed by me crapping my pants, followed by a heap of fine smoke that poured out from the chassis of the Tweaker.

 

I immediately switched off. After 5 minutes I thought I'd plug the speaker in direct from the Tweaker to the speaker and surprisingly when I powered up again it all still worked as normal.

 

Can anyone help me identify what may have gone wrong and what could have caused it?

 

 

Extra Info for anyone that cares:

 

Amp chain was Egnater Tweaker amp portion -> Alex Attenuator -> Combo speaker of Randall RM50 (Vintage 30).

 

The Alex is an 8 ohm version. I triple-checked the impedance setting on the Egnater. The Vintage 30 is an 8 ohm speaker (hence why I didn't plug into Tweaker's own speaker).

 

The Egnater had done the no volume followed by buzzing thing once previously when it was also plugged into the Alex. That time I tried some different leads, and then tried the Alex with my Randall RM50. The RM50 worked with no issue and when I plugged back into the Tweaker it was all working again. I'd since used the Alex with the Tweaker another 6 or 7 times without issue until last night.

 

It somehow seems that either the Alex is straining the amp somehow or the amp is not handling having the master being turned up so loud.

 

All the tubes are still working and the smoke definitely came from inside the chassis. The smoke was fine and whispy but a lot of it streamed out after the loud pop/bang.

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Sounds like a filter cap blew. When my JTM45 did that it sounded like a small firecracker, followed by lots and lots of smoke.

 

 

Yep, that's exactly what it sounded like. Thanks for all the replies, I'll take it to a tech and hopefully get it fixed under warranty.

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UPDATE

 

Upon further investigation, it seems that the glass of one of the 6v6s is very loose at the base and the glue seems discoloured. Would a tube losing it's vacuum cause a fair amount of smoke and/or a loud pop?

 

The fact that the amp still works makes me wonder if any internal componenets are actually damaged or not.

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UPDATE


Upon further investigation, it seems that the glass of one of the 6v6s is very loose at the base and the glue seems discoloured. Would a tube losing it's vacuum cause a fair amount of smoke and/or a loud pop?


The fact that the amp still works makes me wonder if any internal componenets are actually damaged or not.

 

 

Ha, I've never had a tube lose it's vacuum when the amp was on, but I suppose it's possible that's what happened. However, the glass is a complete envelope that just sits in the base, the base isn't part of the vacuum seal. There would have to be a break in the actual glass.

 

And you can't rule out other amp components because the amp still "works". You can fry stuff and still have the amp make sound, then it starts exhibiting problems down the line, usually when you need it most (Murphy loves tube amps).

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