Tubes red-plating

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marcoloco961
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Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:07 pm
Location: Colona, Il. U.S.

Tubes red-plating

Post by marcoloco961 »

I have a friend who is going to bring me an amp to look at that is frying tubes. I suspect an issue in the bias circuit obviously, but would like a schematic to compare to. I am not wanting to rip off anyone's design, merely service the amp properly. It is a VHT Pitbull 45watt(?) 40 watt(?) I am hoping for some voltage references, etc.

If it is not a problem to PM me a copy of the schematic, I would appreciate it. He had this amp re - tubed and got three jobs out of it before the tubes fried again. TIA
marcoloco961
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:07 pm
Location: Colona, Il. U.S.

Re: Tubes red-plating

Post by marcoloco961 »

This must be a hard to get schematic. I guess I'm going in blind..........LOL. Hope I don't find everything covered in HAD goo. That would really suck. How the hell do you work on an amp that has had it's board covered in goo? :roll:
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M Fowler
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Re: Tubes red-plating

Post by M Fowler »

Marco,

That is one amp I don't have a schematic for to help you out sorry.
marcoloco961
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:07 pm
Location: Colona, Il. U.S.

Re: Tubes red-plating

Post by marcoloco961 »

M Fowler wrote:Marco,

That is one amp I don't have a schematic for to help you out sorry.
It must be pretty well protected, I can't find a copy anywhere. No worries, I'm sure I will get it figured out once I get it here. Gut shots anyone............LOL
TheGimp
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Re: Tubes red-plating

Post by TheGimp »

It could also be leaky coupling caps from the PI to the output tubes. This can cause the bias to be off and even cause grid current in really bad instances.

That said, I would expect only one side to go RP if it were a coupling cap as the probability of two going leaky at the same time is pretty low.
marcoloco961
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Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:07 pm
Location: Colona, Il. U.S.

Re: Tubes red-plating

Post by marcoloco961 »

TheGimp wrote:It could also be leaky coupling caps from the PI to the output tubes. This can cause the bias to be off and even cause grid current in really bad instances.

That said, I would expect only one side to go RP if it were a coupling cap as the probability of two going leaky at the same time is pretty low.
Thank you sir. I will keep this in mind as another thing to look for with an amp that is red-plating. You were correct, both sides were red-plating, turned out to just be a bad solder joint on the cathode ground to the resistors. I appreciate your advice. Pretty awesome amp after it was up and running.
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