Hmm, im a little confused. In an SVT - CL, are you supposed to see theese driver tubes? I took the amp out of the 'case', and couldnt see anything! Thoose 2 tubes are an mystery too me, does anybody have a pic of an SVT CL, and do you have to open up something too find these driver tubes?
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SVT CL - No high Voltage
- Thread starter Kaspergreenday
- Start date
Hmm, im a little confused. In an SVT - CL, are you supposed to see theese driver tubes? I took the amp out of the 'case', and couldnt see anything! Thoose 2 tubes are an mystery too me, does anybody have a pic of an SVT CL, and do you have to open up something too find these driver tubes?
Think one of those overpriced technicians might be able to find the tubes?
One of the nice ones here might help you find them if you were a little nicer about it. What's better, a bench fee, a repair fee, or a really expensive doorstop ( broken amp )?
Bad news: When i turned the amp on i did the same thing as describes first. No high voltage.. Im starting to get really pissed on this amp. How can it not work already, when i changed the three pre amp tubes, and it just worked!?!?
This is a picture of the SVT-CL chassis, top and bottom. The PI and driver tubes are three in the bottom section, behind the power tubes. The pre-amp tubes are the two in the upper section.
Because changing the tubes was likely not the answer to your problems. A technician who can open up the amp and know what they're looking at will better be able to diagnose and repair the amp than a bunch of people on an internet forum.
To the OP: It's understandable that you'd look at the tubes first in a tube amp. They seem fragile(they aren't) and easy to try(they are). Trouble is, they are usually NOT the problem. It's almost always something else unfortunately. There are about a hundred other things that can go wrong.
Yeah, it was probably not the solution to my problem! But it's all a mystery to me, i changed the three preamp tubes and it worked? Isent that very odd, when it only was momentarily? So weird..
And thanks for the Picture coreyfyfe! Just so people don't get confused: i ofcourse ment i couldnt find the preamp tubes, and that i switchted the easy locateable driver tubes
.
And thanks for the Picture coreyfyfe! Just so people don't get confused: i ofcourse ment i couldnt find the preamp tubes, and that i switchted the easy locateable driver tubes
.
There is nothing odd about it. You have an intermittent problem. Just because you put your hands in it once and it worked only proves you are wasting effort without the "over priced" education and training.
There is nothing odd about it. You have an intermittent problem. Just because you put your hands in it once and it worked only proves you are wasting effort without the "over priced" education and training.
Ok, looks like there is no way around it! Technician here i come..
But with that being said, is there anybody out there that can answer these, (mildy off topic questions:
I noticed that the fan is not on, and is the fan supposed to be on at all times, or is just when it detects warmth or something?
And another thing, which like the fan, is not new, my SVT CL is making a decently loud noise when i turn standby on, and it just idles, and even when i play (but you do not notice it because the bass sound is louder).Is this normal and what could it be? When i biased the amp very low it was nearlly gone, but when its at a correct bias its pretty loud. Here's a sample, theres alot of background noise, but you get the difference:
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Oh boi! It has always sounded like that, even when it worked, and the fan not working, not good! Is this something the engineer could fix easily, or is this really bad? If anyone has experiences..
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
The fan should ALWAYS be on with the SVT, they get extremely hot. In regards to the fan not working, it could be blocked or not fully connected, which is what happened to me when I took my SVT in for service.
I would stop attempting to fix it yourself before you damage the unit or yourself.
I would stop attempting to fix it yourself before you damage the unit or yourself.
What year is this amp? I bought a used SVT-CL 90's SLM era last Summer and started having problems with the standby kicking on while playing and I would have to turn it off and let it cool a few minutes usually before it would work again.
I took it to my tube guy who is semi-retired now and very reasonable on price. He not only did several upgrade/mods to address the standby problem which I hear is common for that era CL but he also replaced a faulty speaker jack and a pre amp tube that was bad.
Total cost= $80.00
Well worth the cost of not getting frizzle-fried trying to mess with it myself. These guys are right. Ask around and find a good tech and befriend him for life!
I took it to my tube guy who is semi-retired now and very reasonable on price. He not only did several upgrade/mods to address the standby problem which I hear is common for that era CL but he also replaced a faulty speaker jack and a pre amp tube that was bad.
Total cost= $80.00
Well worth the cost of not getting frizzle-fried trying to mess with it myself. These guys are right. Ask around and find a good tech and befriend him for life!
Wow that was cheap! Im sure the prices are nothing like that here in Denmark, but im gonna send it in anway when i have time. I think it's from 2006 or something. I bought it by a guy last year.
I'm sure a music store would have charged me much more. I'm lucky to have this guy for a tech. He has been repairing electronics for decades and used to do the repairs for a shop that sold Ampeg at the time my amp was made. He's semi-retired and works out of his house. Ask around and you may find someone similar near you.
Hey, now.......
The fan SHOULD NOT be working if the unit is in standby...... HE IS IN DENMARK....... THEY HAVE 230V.
In fact, the fan not working could be the best news he is going to hear all day!
The conversion for the SVT series uses the high voltage transformer to produce the 120V for the 120V fan.... that is how it can work on both 120V and 230/240 V.
BUT..... that means that when the high voltage is off, as when on standby, the fan will also be off.
So..... if the fan, which is connected in the MAINS SIDE wiring is NOT working, that means that the trouble is almost certainly NOT in ANY of the electronics. More likely something is loose in the mains side wiring of the unit.
This assumes that the fan WAS working at some time, but is NOT working now that the unit is also not working.
If the fan NEVER worked, then it just doesn't work, and is useless for helping to find trouble. In that case, technician is the best idea.
Yeah the problem is that i can't remember the fan has ever been on. I don't know if its just me being paranoid, but i doubt it has ever worked, and no matter what, i gotta turn it it anways, so i guess ill get him to do a good ol' all around check
.I am litteraly starting to hate this amp..
I recently sent the amp to servicing, and the tech said he fixed the fan and tested the amp, and said it should be fine now.
I just got it home, turned it on.. and bam.. same problem, no high voltage, just red. I once again sit in disapointment and iritation over this amp..
If he fixed the amp, could it have gone ''wrong'' again on the ride home? Can this amp really be this ****** and unstable?..
I recently sent the amp to servicing, and the tech said he fixed the fan and tested the amp, and said it should be fine now.
I just got it home, turned it on.. and bam.. same problem, no high voltage, just red. I once again sit in disapointment and iritation over this amp..
If he fixed the amp, could it have gone ''wrong'' again on the ride home? Can this amp really be this ****** and unstable?..
This just armchair diags. but, I am starting to wonder if the interconnect harness between the preamp and power amp may have an intermittent wiring fault. This would make some sense as it probably got moved some when you changed preamp tubes and moved again on the way back to your home after repair?
The amp is not "unstable"..... it has a problem, most likely a simple loose connection, maybe a bad solder joint, possibly a bad connection in the wire harness to the preamp as mentioned by another poster.
The answer is that he did NOT fix the amp. He did not actually find the problem.
He may have THOUGHT he fixed it, but perhaps you did not tell him it is intermittent, or maybe he didn't believe you. Or maybe he didn't try very hard to get it to fail after he did whatever he did.
In any case, he didn't fix the real problem, which may not be easy to find, but is most likely a rather simple problem.
