Tube Problem, or something else?

[mesa-refugee]

i have a months-old RVII 50-watt head. this has now happened 3 or 4 times- i warm up the amp for a minute or so, take it out of standby and i have weak volume or none at all. i don't know if it's a strange coincidence but every time this has happened the problem goes away after i put the amp into standby for a couple of seconds and turn it back on. once it's back on it's rock-solid, no problems, and sounds great. i'm hoping this is just a tube issue. anyone?

[0000]

Nearly all my amps do that as well. They suggest 3-4 minutes on stand-by before turning it on, actually.

My AD200 takes several minutes before the volume slowly fades in. My lower wattage amps are quite a bit quicker.

[mesa-refugee]

hmmm...must be an Orange thing. i've owned a boatload of tube amps and it seems it was always a minimum of 30 seconds for all of them. i can deal with waiting a little longer if that's what it takes.

[Jondog]

Typically 30 seconds is sufficient, and I would say that's true with the Rockerverb. It may be possible you have a tube with a bad filament.

[mesa-refugee]

Typically 30 seconds is sufficient, and I would say that's true with the Rockerverb. It may be possible you have a tube with a bad filament.

if that's the case, would it more likely be a power tube given that there's little or no output?

[davieo45]

I would go with what Jondog said. Bad output valve most likely. How old are they?

[a.hun]

That definitely isn't normal. If it is a valve problem (quite likely but not guaranteed!) it could be either a preamp or power section valve.


Andy.

[mesa-refugee]

I would go with what Jondog said. Bad output valve most likely. How old are they?

brand new amp. not even 3 months old yet. used about 8 hours/week

[Jondog]

I would go with what Jondog said. Bad output valve most likely. How old are they?

brand new amp. not even 3 months old yet. used about 8 hours/week

There's no gaurantee on a tubes life. Often companies will warranty them for a period of time. I bought some Mesa tubes a month ago and was told Mesa warranties them for 6 months. I think Orange warranties tubes that come with the amp for 3 months from date of new purchase. Maybe take advantage of that. Give Orange a call directly to see if they can help or direct you where to go. If tubes don't fix it, then you know it's a different issue and you can take advantage of the 1 year warranty on the amp itself. That is not normal operation in my view and I wouldn't just accept it and live with it. For the record, I'm not a Mesa fan really, but I do like their tubes!

[nlimbaugh]

I think it's a tube as well but at the same time I'm kinda surprised it ends up sounding so good after your three minutes or whatever. I think I had symptoms like that once and the amp stopped working in short time. I'd consider not turning it on again to be safe. I wasn't safe and that's what brought me to this forum .

[Jondog]

I think it's a tube as well but at the same time I'm kinda surprised it ends up sounding so good after your three minutes or whatever. I think I had symptoms like that once and the amp stopped working in short time. I'd consider not turning it on again to be safe. I wasn't safe and that's what brought me to this forum .

I wasn't safe either. This forum helps me escape my kids.

[mesa-refugee]

not safe how? am i going to be electrocuted or something?

[Jondog]

not safe how? am i going to be electrocuted or something?

Didn't use protection. Somedays electrocution sounds like a good idea!

[sizzlingbadger]

If you are using footswitch try removing the footswitch and see if that helps. If it does then it could be a problem with the FS contacts. I had the same issue, it turned out out to be a dodgy FS lead which was causing only some of the internal relays to operate which meant no sound.

[mesa-refugee]

I think it's a tube as well but at the same time I'm kinda surprised it ends up sounding so good after your three minutes or whatever. I think I had symptoms like that once and the amp stopped working in short time. I'd consider not turning it on again to be safe. I wasn't safe and that's what brought me to this forum .

I wasn't safe either. This forum helps me escape my kids.

"I'd consider not turning it on again to be safe." are you serious? what happened to yours that you would say that? i should mention that i've got effects both in front of, and in the effects loop of the amp. for all i know it's not the amp but the common denominator has always been putting it temporarily on standby fixes it. coincidence?