Members kcswimjustin Posted December 18, 2006 Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 HCer's, I need some expert opinions: I just finished playing Christmasy church service in a chapel that normally I play acoustic (completely unplugged in). Since tonight was a special night, I brought my Gibson ES-137 and my British made Vox AC-30, which is the only "real" amplifier I own. In order to not drown out the vocalists and the piano, I turned the amp all the way down to about 1, and to avoid the amp's hum (which isn't so much that you notice in a rock club, but in a church when people are praying, it's pretty distracting to those up front), I flipped it onto standby between hymns... But a couple of times when I went to turn it back on to full power, I got NOTHING. No sound, no hum, nothing. I switched out cables and flipped the pickup selector switch to make sure it wasn't something else, but nothing did the trick... THEN, on the second-to-last hymn, it magically came back on and seemed to be working fine. But on the next one, it cut off again. Is it bad to flip the standby switch so often in a short period of time? Does putting the amp on 1 limit the amount of power that it draws? Or does this sound like a tube problem? I haven't changed the tubes in about 16 months, but I only play it about 3 hours a week anyway. Or, could it be crappy electrical power in the old chapel I was in? The amp seems to work fine here in my apartment now. Although, it's got a louder than usual hum to it, so might it be time for new tubes? Any help is appreciated. I'll probably take in to get looked at tomorrow anyway, but your thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks, kcswimjustin www.justinkarpinosmusic.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blackba Posted December 18, 2006 Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 What era of AC30 are we talking about here? AC30 and AC15 amps are known to Eat tubes so it could be time for a tube change. Is your Sanctuary Grounded? When my AC15TBX is ungrounded I get alot of hum as well, otherwise its very quiet. As for Standby, the other guitarist in my Band only turns his amp on Standby if he isn't going to be playing for 15 minutes or longer, he claims that every time you give full voltage to the tubes it can be damaging, but at least they are still warm. My guess would be bad grounding and that you have a tube that is not seated well or a cold solder joint showing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kcswimjustin Posted December 18, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 Cool, thanks blackba. I've also just noticed that when I turn the cut channel all the way to the right (when you face the grill) that the hum drops out almost completely. It darkens the sound a bit, but if I boost the treble I can compensate for that. Does this mean it might be something related to the Brilliant channel? Any thoughts are appreciated, kcswimjustin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blackba Posted December 18, 2006 Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 Originally posted by kcswimjustin Cool, thanks blackba. I've also just noticed that when I turn the cut channel all the way to the right (when you face the grill) that the hum drops out almost completely. It darkens the sound a bit, but if I boost the treble I can compensate for that.Does this mean it might be something related to the Brilliant channel?Any thoughts are appreciated,kcswimjustin Sounds like a bad preamp tube. I am not sure what year AC30 you have or which preamp tube that would be.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kcswimjustin Posted December 18, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 18, 2006 Hey thanks for the help, blackba. I really appreciate it -- I'll get it checked out. Rock, kcswimjustin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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