My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

[Dr.Mavashi]

Ok what is happening is: it goes from its regular nice growl to a this really fizzy, over satturated no low end tone of a cheap practice amp for a few seconds then comes back to normal and then does this thing again, and again ... 15 seconds to a minute intervals .... WTH ????!!!!!

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

how old are the tubes?

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Yeah ... they pretty old about 3 years old at least .... I haven't changed them since I bought it a year ago, but I dont crank the amp at all, I am still "bandless" so its just in my apartment through a LiteMass with MV never past 2.5 ....

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

if it's been that long since the thing has seen new tubes then i would start there. the ol' rule of thumb is that 99% of problems that occur in a tube amp are tube related.

i'd put all new tubes throughout the whole amp. sounds like you need them, and at the very least you'll notice an improvement in your tone.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Well, its not that bad, the pre-amp is all new with JJs ....

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

A new tube can go bad. How old are the filter caps? As a thought, in summers humidity, jacks and tube sockets can get dirty and mess with all sorts of things... Fx toops too. I would clean those, do some tube swapping, and see where that puts you. Likely minor....

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Kevlar,
Nice to see you, I am moran when it comes to electronics .... but I am sure the guy I bought from took good care of it but never did anything beyond tube changes. So I would assume that filger caps are about 10 years old if not the stock ones from the 80s. I have a matched pair of EL34Ls from JJs sitting in the box ... so should I take it to the shop and just say " re-bias for these JJs and swap the filter caps" how much do you think is a fair price for such a job???

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Ok, just talked to an amp tech, that was recommended by a pro to me. Ok re-biasing is 45 bucks, with my JJs brought in already that is. He said that a cap-swap could be anywhere between 100 and all the way to 300 ..... I assume thats with the caps .... what do you guys think?

 

[DonP]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

I have two AOR 50s, a head and a combo. The head sounds good, the combo too fuzzy.

If you don't use your amp on a regular basis the caps dry out. The guy you bought it from might not have taken care of it if he didn't power it on every few months to give it a work out.

No low end is a classic sign of the power caps going bad. They are the reason for an amp having a kick ass bass response if they are good and there are a lot of them, or a mushy soft bass response if they are weak or to few in number for the power of the amp.

Having the amp go in and out every 15 seconds is strange, but the caps are one of those things like tubes that just need to be replaced after so many years.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Ok, so sounds nothing major with my favorite toy. Yeah that guy had a Jubilee and some other marhall and he wanted another guitar and was not using it much .... Now, should I get caps for it so I dont just take what ever tech puts in it?

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Should I buy my own caps, what kind etc... bump

 

[Pierre]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

100 bucks for a recap seems cheap. On the AORs the pcb is hell to take off, it'd take ages to do a proper cap job...That's why my own Laney is out of action right now

 

[Buckeyedog]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Give the power tubes a try first. It will probably be ok to run it for a bit without biasing it up. If that works, then just have it biased up. No use spending $$ you don't have to. Also for future, you may want to pick up a Weber bias rite. It's a really cool tool to have and you can bias your amp yourself.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Give the power tubes a try first. It will probably be ok to run it for a bit without biasing it up. If that works, then just have it biased up. No use spending $$ you don't have to. Also for future, you may want to pick up a Weber bias rite. It's a really cool tool to have and you can bias your amp yourself.

Yea, I buy tube from EuroTubes(jjs) and Bob was preaching the Webber thing, I am also a Mass Liter user so its meant to be but in the future but now I wanna spend my money on getting some stomp boxes and upgrading my axes and my 4X12. I have a pair of matched E34Ls from JJ, this tech said he will re-bias the amp for these tubes for me for $45, so ....

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

100 bucks for a recap seems cheap. On the AORs the pcb is hell to take off, it'd take ages to do a proper cap job...That's why my own Laney is out of action right now

Dude that sucks I would hate if I could not play my toy because it needed to go to the shop. Be strong :1: Was AOR going through the same thing before you diognosed filter cap change?

 

[Pierre]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

It sounds kinda fizzy... not fuzzy. Just doesn't sound good really. I have the 30W dual 6V6 combo.

The main filter caps only has about 20V after 20 minutes of resting. It should be in the couple of hundreds if not. So that one's gone, which probably means a lot of the other ones are too.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Filter caps are different from capacitors that can give more or less headroom depending on what volue you give them, right?

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Peeps please, help a ninja out.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

filter caps aren't exactly the first thing i'd look to change when it comes to headroom. the tubes you select will have a greater impact on headroom, and being tubes they're easy to change and much less permanent than changing caps.

just toss some new tubes in there dude, that's likely your problem if they're as old as you say they are. changing tubes in an amp is like changing oil in a car, it's gotta be done eventually or your dependable ol' car (or amp) won't be so dependable any more. just put some fresh ones in there man, then start thinking about other things if the problem still persists.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My AOR is missbehavin' HELP!!!

Well, when I strum a note or a chord before I flipp it off standby the sound cragudally increases in volume, and same thing when I put stand by on it gradually gowes away. I am gonna put the matched pair of JJ E34Ls when the recomended tech comesback from vacay in 10 days ..... keeping my fingers crossed that it is not caps, but regardless if its originals from the 80s they wont held out for much longer .....