So my amp died

Piñata Tsunami

Piñata Tsunami

I wanna be the very best
It's a Cornford Hellcat. 35w Class A boutique head, with four EL84's for the power amp, and five 12AX7's for the preamp. I just had it in the store to get the tubes changed. Got it back, and it sounded marvellous. A couple of weeks later, I turn it on. There's obviously power to the amp, since the power light is glowing. However, the entire thing is completely dead as to sound output; there's nothing there. Anyone got any ideas what might be wrong with it?
 
Maybe a dead preamp tube. Most have at least a 30 day warranty. Id take it back to the store. Tung-sol preamp tubes? I've heard some guys have had them go dead quickly.
 
telecaster911 said:
Maybe a dead preamp tube. Most have at least a 30 day warranty. Id take it back to the store. Tung-sol preamp tubes? I've heard some guys have had them go dead quickly.
Click to expand...

This pretty much. Can you see if all of the tubes are lighting up?
 
As far as I could see, all the tubes were lighting. I'll double check that next week, but I'm 85% on it. Thanks for the advice, I'll update to let you know how it turns out.
 
One easy way to test if it's something in the preamp would be to just run straight in through the loop. If you get sound that way, you know it's something before the loop stopping the signal getting through, i.e. probably a tube.
 
Or maybe check any lil internal fuses. The power might be on, but maybe there's a lil internal fuse that's gone.
 
That actually sounds like it might be the HT fuse to me. If you can find that, check to see if it's blown.

These usually blow when you've got a shorted power tube. I've had it happen in my old Univalve and my old JCM 800 too, just from shorted power tubes. One of those tubes (the one in the Univalve) was brand spanking new too, so just because it's a new tube doesn't mean it's not bad.

On both amps, the jewel light lit and the tube heaters lit up, but no sound came out.
 
Looks like easy access to the HT fuse. It's the second fuse over from the power cable.

hellcat_back_lg.jpg


I'd be willing to bet that if you pulled that fuse, it'll be blown (you may have to check it with a multimeter). If it is, then you've likely got a bad power tube too, and just replacing the fuse is only going to result in blowing another fuse.
 
Check the fuse like Prages said above. Also, take it back and make them fix it as the tubes can light up and still not be any good. It could also have blown a screen resistor too. I have had my amp blow one once with a bad power tube. I would be more inclined that you have a shorted or shorting out tube though and may be blowing the fuse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top