Members echodeluxe Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 so, i have heard all these problems people have had with their ac30cc2's especially with the tubes. well, i have had TWO rectifier tubes go out on me, and i'm on my second set of power tubes, namely JJ's. now, before my second rectifier went out, i had noticed some crackling when i started my amp up. it would warm up a little, crackle some, and then the crackle would go away after it was fully warmed up. obviously, it was the tubes, but i didnt get the chance to go in and change them when i blew a mains fuse. so i took it to my shop, stuck a new fuse in it and watched the light show as my rectifier arced and vaporized the fuse. okay, screw this, im going another route because OBVIOUSLY these rectifiers cant handle this amp. turns out that this amp is running very very close to its rated max current. so, yeah, these poor rectifier tubes are trying to deal but eventually they fail, weak and worn out. it took my new rectifier tube a month to call it quits. so, i decided i probably should go with a solid state rectifier. now, all you tone snobs are gonna say "OMG YOU CANT DO THAT, TONEZZZZ!!!" yeah yeah, i know all about the voltage drop of a tube as opposed to the voltage drop of a couple diodes in series with the plates. thats why i took two pairs of diodes in parallel off of pins 4 and 6, then connected the cathodes of the diodes to a 100 Ohm 10 watt resistor to pin 8. its a temporary fix, but it works great! all i did was break the envelope of my dead rectifier, clean up the edges so there was no sharp glass, and used the existing pins of the tube base as the base of my new SS rectifier. well, it worked great and the voltage drop across the resistor was at about 20, which is perfect. the amp sounds great too, no problems. with this new rectifier, however, i give the amp about a minute to warm up to prevent cathode stripping, as there is no more "soft star". but who need ssoft start with a standby switch? then the crackle was back. well, the rectifier was wreaking havoc on my power tubes. i swapped out two of them and the crackle was gone. this amp sounds amazing but its been a pain in the ass. i am most likely going to order a weber copper cap, as they get great reviews and i think they did a great job with it. i would recommend checking them out. and dont worry about tube sag either, most of the sag in a vacuum tube amplifier comes from saturation of the power tranny. and we are talking well into overdrive anyway. plus if you have a well designed SS rectifier, the voltage drop across it should be just like its tube counterpart. this is long. sorry. haha. i figured some of the nerdy tech guys would dig this. oh and by the way, i couldnt have done it without the help of amp_surgeon. that guy is a genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phyrexia Posted March 2, 2008 Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 my AC15 is diode rectified to begin with. I don't have a problem with that. Have you been to plexipalace.com? Lots of CC info on the Vox forum. I modded my 15CC1X with the help I found there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echodeluxe Posted March 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 yeah i post there every blue moon under the same name. lots of cool info there, but its kind of a ghost town. cool guys too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echodeluxe Posted March 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 2, 2008 god i love this amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarmikeb Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Have you tried the weber copper cap yet? I'm still curious about the change in sound. Chime in if you have any input on this topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ron Burgandy Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 I had issues with my old AC30 as well in regards to the rectifier tube. Ghost notes, volume issues, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 my AC15 is diode rectified to begin with. I don't have a problem with that. *ding ding ding* There's your answer if you like the top boost channel. If you don't, there's always the AC15 Heritage. It uses a tube rectifier, but I have not heard of those blowing up, and they have been around for a while now. It pwnz the AC30CC, anyways. There's no contest between the EF86 and normal channels, if you ask me. Of course, it has no master volume, for some awesome reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ron Burgandy Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 *ding ding ding* There's your answer if you like the top boost channel. If you don't, there's always the AC15 Heritage. It uses a tube rectifier, but I have not heard of those blowing up, and they have been around for a while now. It pwnz the AC30CC, anyways. There's no contest between the EF86 and normal channels, if you ask me. Of course, it has no master volume, for some awesome reason. Real AC series amps do not have masters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Real AC series amps do not have masters Real ones are teh ghey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abstract Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 Real AC series amps do not have masters fur teh Tonez!!1!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echodeluxe Posted March 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 master volumes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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