very low volume - then, no sound

[patingermany]

hey there!
no it's not my amp. but a guy i know here has this old Orange he says has kinda died. it had been stored away for ages by his dad.
then, well, he wanted to use it. (yeah i know... filter caps)
he said there was a lot of hiss, and the amp was very very quiet. he turned the volume up and up but nothing. and then the sound died.
no smoke, pop, explosion or anything.

what could it be? tubes? caps killed the tranny?
maybe something like wrong impedance (he does not know the impedance of his 4x12 cab)?

shower some wisdom on me, before i shoot him (an offer, i mean)
thanks!

Pat.

[Gladmarr]

I'd say check fuses first. After that, it could be a lot of things.

[bclaire]

An old unused amp like that could have a number of things go wrong from just sitting for so long. Time won't affect the tubes if they're not being used but filter caps are another story. If the tubes were on their way out, maybe, but whenever you buy any sort of vintage amp you have to figure into the purchase price a trip to the amp tech and possible additional cash outlay.

[patingermany]

yep, i know/knew that, but i just wanted to make sure i hadn't not thought of something.

it's a 1976 OR120 (non-MV), all original. i could buy it for 700 euro as-is, but i'm worried it might end up being a lemon.
i only just arrived in europe and have no idea which amp doc and how much they'd charge.

if i manage to sell something fast, i think i'll play.
stay tuned!

[Les Paul Lover]

Yeah, fuse, electrolytic capacitors and valves should be checked.


On a long unused amp, the caps would be the main culprit, but you don't know why someone stopped playing it in the 1St place.

If you need valve, caps and fuse replacement, it probably won't leave you much change from €200, and that's the optimistic prognosis. For an essentially non working Or120, I think €700 is pretty high. I'd be happier spending €900 to get a working one...... (Make him get the work done)
If he wants you to take the risk on spending little/lots of cash to get it running again, I'd expect a steep discount. €500 to €600 sounds more reasonable. Hey, if at €500 you find the transformers need replacing, then you would be paying too much in my opinion. In the UK, you can score a functional or120 for around £800/900.

Essentially, €700 for a non functional head is Way too much. Whatever they say.

[patingermany]

thanks for your reply/replies!

he has now checked and says yes, it has a blown fuse.

i guess i'll go check it out personally (smell and so HA!) one of these days.
stay tuned!