Orange Amps Forum

Sooner wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:54 am

The cab looks like it's wired in series parallel to me. So no problem with impedance. Can't really tell if it's in phase or not from the photos. Need a diagram.

Edit: After a second look it appears the phase is correct too. Would help confirm if we could see exactly where the white/black wires go.

Sooner - in the diagram I posted there is a wire across the bottom that connects the two lower speakers - I don't see any corresponding wire in that cabinet.

White wire from jack goes to speaker 1's positive. Speaker 1's negative goes to speaker 2's positive. Speaker 2's negative goes to the black-stripe jack wire.
(Top pair in series.)

Parallel white goes from speaker 1's positive to speaker 3's positive. Speaker 3's negative goes to speaker 4's positive. Speaker 4's negative goes to the black-stripe parallel wire connecting to speaker 2's negative.
(Bottom pair in series, connected in parallel to top series pair.)

Series/parallel, in-phase according to the terminals on the speakers.
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It's within the realm of possibility that the magnetic polarity of one of the speakers could be reversed.

It's also possible one of the speakers is dead. (In series/parallel, a dead speaker will silence its paired speaker too, but the paired speaker may still be healthy.)

So a 9v battery test is called for. Will confirm if all 4 cones are moving, and if they're all moving in the same direction.

bclaire wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:14 am

Sooner wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:54 am

The cab looks like it's wired in series parallel to me. So no problem with impedance. Can't really tell if it's in phase or not from the photos. Need a diagram.

Edit: After a second look it appears the phase is correct too. Would help confirm if we could see exactly where the white/black wires go.

Sooner - in the diagram I posted there is a wire across the bottom that connects the two lower speakers - I don't see any corresponding wire in that cabinet.

Billy, that diagram you posted is one of the several ways to do series/parallel. Both the diagram and D|C|M|E's cab are electrically equivalent.

D|C|M|E's wiring is safer than the diagram.

The diagram has 2 pairs of parallel speakers, with the 2 pairs connected in series. If any speaker fries, or any connection comes loose, all 4 speakers go silent and the amp sees infinite ohms (open circuit).

With D|C|M|E's, there are 2 serial pairs, and those pairs are connected in parallel. If a speaker fries or a connection comes loose, 2 of the speakers will continue to work.
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There can be a teeny tiny subtle sonic nuance between 2series-in-parallel vs 2parallel-in-series if you have mixed speakers. But with four V30's it should sound the same.

Rlw59 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:28 am

White wire from jack goes to speaker 1's positive. Speaker 1's negative goes to speaker 2's positive. Speaker 2's negative goes to the black-stripe jack wire.
(Top pair in series.)

Parallel white goes from speaker 1's positive to speaker 3's positive. Speaker 3's negative goes to speaker 4's positive. Speaker 4's negative goes to the black-stripe parallel wire connecting to speaker 2's negative.
(Bottom pair in series, connected in parallel to top series pair.)

Series/parallel, in-phase according to the terminals on the speakers.

That's what it looks like to me too. You apparently have better confidence in your eyes that I do...

Rlw59 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:28 am

It's within the realm of possibility that the magnetic polarity of one of the speakers could be reversed.

It's also possible one of the speakers is dead. (In series/parallel, a dead speaker will silence its paired speaker too, but the paired speaker may still be healthy.)

So a 9v battery test is called for. Will confirm if all 4 cones are moving, and if they're all moving in the same direction.

Good advice.

Ahhh... I stand corrected!

Yeah, we should have mentioned the 9 volt battery test earlier!

I'm not a fan of the double wire connecting things - I can see how easy it would be to twist it and get the wrong terminal.... If it were me, I'd split those wires apart....

So I just discovered something horrible.

I don't know how much of this could possibly play into my tonal issues, BUT for the first time since receiving the RV MKIII head, I turned it around to inspect the tube glow, thinking preamp tubes could be an issue, only to find this wire seemingly coming from the transformer wrapped around an EL34 and MELTING ONTO IT.

The cable is labeled "AUDIO ACOUSTIC HIGH GRADE OFC CABLE".... so yeah, probably the reason its sounds bad...

WHAT THE F*#K!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Either way, this is definitively a structural problem!





All this time I never looked in the head because it was brand new!

It couldn't be an electronic problem.

I thought the speakers just needed to break in...

Then I thought it was maybe a phase issue...

Then I thought "preamp tubes???"

And now I see! Someone left an audio cable coming from the transformer wrapped around a burning hot tube!


...I just wanted a high quality half stack in my life after 21 years of playing guitar... I finally felt like I could go crazy and splurge on something I've been wanting for years...

Really crappy dude. Sounds like that retailer you have been using is a bit sketchy (same place as your last head right?). I would just send the head back and look for something else at another store. Tell them the full story and you should have any trouble with a refund.

Boy_Narf wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:40 am

Really crappy dude. Sounds like that retailer you have been using is a bit sketchy (same place as your last head right?). I would just send the head back and look for something else at another store. Tell them the full story and you should have any trouble with a refund.

Thanks, man. I just can't believe how consistently the QC has failed me specifically. Its incomprehensible. I'm still kind of reeling from this revelation. Need to sleep on it, think straight and then contact the dealer. I was very clear and specific with the manager I talked to who guaranteed me this would be a completely brand new, never opened, never touched, straight off their shelf unit. This has to come down to Orange manufacturing headquarters QC. I can't imagine what else it could be.

Wow..... that's pretty bad.

I can't believe how unlucky you are here....



At least now you know what needs to be sorted. That sucks donkeys balls.

Les Paul Lover wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:11 am

Wow..... that's pretty bad.

I can't believe how unlucky you are here....



At least now you know what needs to be sorted. That sucks donkeys balls.

Thanks man. I tell you I am freakin' stupefied here. I have always been unlucky with amps. Probably why I stopped buying new ones 12 years ago and just dealt with the ones I had. I never imagined this curse would carry over to a brand like Orange. I could buy Triple Rec and it would probably have pumpkins for transformers and cottage cheese where the circuit board goes.

Here's a question: could this have done damage to the speakers?

The speaker probably not, but the transformer or other components.... it's hard to tell.

Got to go for warranty repairs.
That's then only thing to do here.

Looking at Google images, I think that's one of the cables that connects to the spring reverb tank. So a low wattage circuit, probably no damage to other components.

Could certainly play hell with the tone though.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I just emailed the dealer. We'll see what they say about it.

I don't think I trust them to repair it. They botched repairing my MKII twice. I'd rather have full on replacement.