New Orange User. Please Help!

[RIZz BoTt]

I purchased a used AD30 two channel head. When I tried it out at the store everything worked great. When I took it home the orange LED up front will not turn on and the channel does not work. Darn! Tried switching preamp tubes and power tubes, same result, channel two will not come on, or the Orange LED light up front. HELP PLEASE!

[bclaire]

I purchased a used AD30 two channel head. When I tried it out at the store everything worked great. When I took it home the orange LED up front will not turn on and the channel does not work. Darn! Tried switching preamp tubes and power tubes, same result, channel two will not come on, or the Orange LED light up front. HELP PLEASE!

Bring it back to the store. Sorry that happened but they need to take care of that for you....

[fiveightandten]

So, the light is out and channel 2 is out, but channel 1 is working?

If so, this is the first thing that comes to mind for me:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54367" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But I agree with Billy, get the amp back to the place you bought it from. If it turns out to be the problem in the link above, it's major surgery to fix it.

-Nick

[Les Paul Lover]

So, the light is out and channel 2 is out, but channel 1 is working?

If so, this is the first thing that comes to mind for me:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54367" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But I agree with Billy, get the amp back to the place you bought it from. If it turns out to be the problem in the link above, it's major surgery to fix it.

-Nick

Indeed.

I've had to do that on 2 AD15 so far.

Fairly simple fix, but a pain to do as a DIYer.

[RIZz BoTt]

So before reading any of this I decided to leave the amp on for awhile. After about 15 minutes the pilot light came on and the second channel fired up. Everything seems to be working fine now. I would like to take a look at the board myself. Is there a link that shows how to open up my AD30? I'v done a little work to my SVT-cl, and this doesn't seem like too hard of a fix. I just need to know how to gain access to the board. Thanks guys

So, the light is out and channel 2 is out, but channel 1 is working?

If so, this is the first thing that comes to mind for me:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54367" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But I agree with Billy, get the amp back to the place you bought it from. If it turns out to be the problem in the link above, it's major surgery to fix it.

-Nick

Indeed.

I've had to do that on 2 AD15 so far.

Fairly simple fix, but a pain to do as a DIYer.

[RIZz BoTt]

I on your pics three prong coming from the PCB. So i'm just soldering the connecting wires two outer prongs and leaving the middle one alone? I would still like to know how to gain access to the board. Thanks for your help buddy.

[fiveightandten]

I on your pics three prong coming from the PCB. So i'm just soldering the connecting wires two outer prongs and leaving the middle one alone? I would still like to know how to gain access to the board. Thanks for your help buddy.

For your safety; if you don't know how to remove the chassis from the head sleeve, you shouldn't be working on the amp.

Despite what what Les Paul Lover said above, IMO this is a pretty big job. The heater lines carry a lot of current and are in close proximity to traces and prongs from the other tube connections. If something is done improperly, it can do pretty big damage and junk the PCB, not to mention pose a safety risk.

I'd recommend having the shop look at the amp. Tell them the problem is intermittent. It is, and I'd bet it will be back. You may wind up returning the amp and letting them either take care of the repair, or refunding your money.

-Nick

[RIZz BoTt]

I wouldnt be doing any work with the amp plugged in, but I do understand where you're coming from. I'v decided to take it to a professional. Although I am adept at fixing and tinkering with my Ampegs, this one just feels out of my comfort zone. Thanks friend.

I on your pics three prong coming from the PCB. So i'm just soldering the connecting wires two outer prongs and leaving the middle one alone? I would still like to know how to gain access to the board. Thanks for your help buddy.

For your safety; if you don't know how to remove the chassis from the head sleeve, you shouldn't be working on the amp.

Despite what what Les Paul Lover said above, IMO this is a pretty big job. The heater lines carry a lot of current and are in close proximity to traces and prongs from the other tube connections. If something is done improperly, it can do pretty big damage and junk the PCB, not to mention pose a safety risk.

I'd recommend having the shop look at the amp. Tell them the problem is intermittent. It is, and I'd bet it will be back. You may wind up returning the amp and letting them either take care of the repair, or refunding your money.

-Nick

[Les Paul Lover]

I wouldnt be doing any work with the amp plugged in, but I do understand where you're coming from. I'v decided to take it to a professional. Although I am adept at fixing and tinkering with my Ampegs, this one just feels out of my comfort zone. Thanks friend.

I on your pics three prong coming from the PCB. So i'm just soldering the connecting wires two outer prongs and leaving the middle one alone? I would still like to know how to gain access to the board. Thanks for your help buddy.

For your safety; if you don't know how to remove the chassis from the head sleeve, you shouldn't be working on the amp.

Despite what what Les Paul Lover said above, IMO this is a pretty big job. The heater lines carry a lot of current and are in close proximity to traces and prongs from the other tube connections. If something is done improperly, it can do pretty big damage and junk the PCB, not to mention pose a safety risk.

I'd recommend having the shop look at the amp. Tell them the problem is intermittent. It is, and I'd bet it will be back. You may wind up returning the amp and letting them either take care of the repair, or refunding your money.

-Nick

Even unplugged, those chunky capacitors can give a very nasty lethal shock.
If they aren't drained..... They're very dangerous.

As for the middle prong, it isn't necessary and it can be removed.

In any case, I'd just bring it back to the shop.

You've just bought it, the repair is a long one to do as everything need to be dismantled, and by doing it you are invalidating any warranty you may have, as well as devaluing it's resale value by doing a non professional job (whether you do it well or not).

[fiveightandten]

I wouldnt be doing any work with the amp plugged in, but I do understand where you're coming from. I'v decided to take it to a professional. Although I am adept at fixing and tinkering with my Ampegs, this one just feels out of my comfort zone. Thanks friend.

As Les Paul Lover mentioned, the amp holds voltage even when unplugged (all tube amps do). You're definitely best off taking it in to have them look at it. You're doing the smart thing.

The best way to fix this is to get rid of those connectors completely, and get some new standoffs to solder into the board (or, better yet, connectors that are actually rated for the current they will see). The prongs for the connectors are thin and weak. They bend easy and they were never designed have wire soldered to the top of them, or to have any mechanical stress on them without the caps in place.

However, because they're quite thin, it's tough sourcing something else that can fit through the holes in the PCB. This is unfortunate, because I know in my amp a lot of the prongs on the connectors had charred plastic melted on them, hot glue on them, or were burned. I had to remove them, clean them off with steel wool to get a clean surface to solder on, and reinstall them. It was not fun work.

You wouldn't gain much info from looking at things. You may see burned wire or charred connectors. But these can also melt and fail without much, or any visible issues on the outside of the connector. You would have to measure things with a DMM (the amp would have to be on for that), and remove the connector caps to have a look. This means very carefully removing all that nice hot glue that they dripped all over the connectors and the PCB around them.

Did I mention this was a terrible job? Between removing hot glue, removing connectors, cleaning connectors, soldering everything, and removing and reinstalling the PCB, it took me HOURS. Considering the cost of a new PCB from Orange, I would buy a new loaded PCB from them before doing this job again. It's a repair job to compensate for poor amp design. If it's bad, like mine was, swapping to the updated version makes sense to avoid the labor.

I hope it works out and you can get the amp repaired. It's a good amp and a nice sounding one...with a poor heater wiring design.

-Nick

[Sooner]

the repair is a long one to do as everything need to be dismantled, and by doing it you are invalidating any warranty you may have, as well as devaluing it's resale value by doing a non professional job (whether you do it well or not).

I don't think doing it yourself would devalue it simply because your not a "professional". If you do it well the only difference between you and a professional is that he gets paid to do it.

The best way to fix this is to get rid of those connectors completely, and get some new standoffs to solder into the board (or, better yet, connectors that are actually rated for the current they will see). The prongs for the connectors are thin and weak. They bend easy and they were never designed have wire soldered to the top of them, or to have any mechanical stress on them without the caps in place.

However, because they're quite thin, it's tough sourcing something else that can fit through the holes in the PCB. This is unfortunate, because I know in my amp a lot of the prongs on the connectors had charred plastic melted on them, hot glue on them, or were burned. I had to remove them, clean them off with steel wool to get a clean surface to solder on, and reinstall them. It was not fun work.
-Nick

Just re-read your original thread. I didn't realize you had so much trouble with the repair. My ad15 connectors came oFf clean with no problems at all.

I'm curious about your suggestion of replacing the pins. It seems, unlike my AD15, your AD30 has a couple of connectors that aren't directly above a valve. Are these the only ones you removed and re-soldered or did you do it for any that were directly above a valve? I assumed those would have to be soldered from the other side of the PCB and therefore you would have to remove the valve socket first.

[fiveightandten]

Just re-read your original thread. I didn't realize you had so much trouble with the repair. My ad15 connectors came oFf clean with no problems at all.

I'm curious about your suggestion of replacing the pins. It seems, unlike my AD15, your AD30 has a couple of connectors that aren't directly above a valve. Are these the only ones you removed and re-soldered or did you do it for any that were directly above a valve? I assumed those would have to be soldered from the other side of the PCB and therefore you would have to remove the valve socket first.

Yeah, it was pretty messy work. My connectors had hot glue all over them, which was also dripped on the PCB around the connections. The leading connectors clearly got hot, as the hot glue melted and oozed down the PCB. To get my connectors off, I had to carefully take an exacto blade and scrape the hot glue off them. Even then, they didn't want to come off. Hot glue had oozed inside them and bonded them together. I had to slice and pry at the slits in the sides of the connectors and pull at them with pliers. There was no way they were coming off by hand. A few came off without much of a fight, but the others required an abnormal amount of force to remove them, due to the hot glue being inside the connector.

The leading connectors (not on tube sockets) were the worst, and those had to be completely removed to be cleaned. The ones farthest down the line weren't burnt, but I had to fight with most of them due to the hot glue. I think I had to remove 2 or 3 tube sockets to pull their respective connectors out for cleaning (steel wool and sandpaper). I was able to get at the rest with a nail file and some sand paper. I had to get the hot glue, carbon, and plastic off the pins so I had something clean to solder to.

You can see how badly melted the leading connectors were in this pic (only one was removed at the time) and see that they got hot enough to melt the blob of hot glue that was over them, which then dripped down the PCB (it lays sideways in the 2x12 combo):


This is just plain bad amp design. As you can guess, the amp developed problems after the heater lines failed. This is due to the fact that it was running on 1/2 the power section following the failure. All the voltages were spot on and components were in spec from a measurement standpoint. But it was having an issue with intermittent volume drops that I couldn't reproduce on the bench (it would drop in and out after being played for an hour or more).

I got tired of trouble shooting and replaced every damned part in the output section of the amp, along with the output transformer. That solved the problem, but this failure took out an entire set of tubes and required me to replace components in the output section. I don't think the OT was actually the problem, but for $85, I just bought one. I need an amp that works, not one that I have to keep opening up every few weeks to replace another part that got pushed too hard due to the heater circuit failure.

The amp is reliable now with the new output section and OT. But the experience of owning this thing has soured me on modern Oranges. It's been, by far, the least reliable amp I've ever owned (and I have two 60's era Voxes!). I bought an OR-80 again, and I'll be selling the AD-30 once tax return season is upon us and people have some spending cash.

-Nick

[Les Paul Lover]

Just re-read your original thread. I didn't realize you had so much trouble with the repair. My ad15 connectors came oFf clean with no problems at all.

I'm curious about your suggestion of replacing the pins. It seems, unlike my AD15, your AD30 has a couple of connectors that aren't directly above a valve. Are these the only ones you removed and re-soldered or did you do it for any that were directly above a valve? I assumed those would have to be soldered from the other side of the PCB and therefore you would have to remove the valve socket first.

Yeah, it was pretty messy work. My connectors had hot glue all over them, which was also dripped on the PCB around the connections. The leading connectors clearly got hot, as the hot glue melted and oozed down the PCB. To get my connectors off, I had to carefully take an exacto blade and scrape the hot glue off them. Even then, they didn't want to come off. Hot glue had oozed inside them and bonded them together. I had to slice and pry at the slits in the sides of the connectors and pull at them with pliers. There was no way they were coming off by hand. A few came off without much of a fight, but the others required an abnormal amount of force to remove them, due to the hot glue being inside the connector.

The leading connectors (not on tube sockets) were the worst, and those had to be completely removed to be cleaned. The ones farthest down the line weren't burnt, but I had to fight with most of them due to the hot glue. I think I had to remove 2 or 3 tube sockets to pull their respective connectors out for cleaning (steel wool and sandpaper). I was able to get at the rest with a nail file and some sand paper. I had to get the hot glue, carbon, and plastic off the pins so I had something clean to solder to.

You can see how badly melted the leading connectors were in this pic (only one was removed at the time) and see that they got hot enough to melt the blob of hot glue that was over them, which then dripped down the PCB (it lays sideways in the 2x12 combo):


This is just plain bad amp design. As you can guess, the amp developed problems after the heater lines failed. This is due to the fact that it was running on 1/2 the power section following the failure. All the voltages were spot on and components were in spec from a measurement standpoint. But it was having an issue with intermittent volume drops that I couldn't reproduce on the bench (it would drop in and out after being played for an hour or more).

I got tired of trouble shooting and replaced every damned part in the output section of the amp, along with the output transformer. That solved the problem, but this failure took out an entire set of tubes and required me to replace components in the output section. I don't think the OT was actually the problem, but for $85, I just bought one. I need an amp that works, not one that I have to keep opening up every few weeks to replace another part that got pushed too hard due to the heater circuit failure.

The amp is reliable now with the new output section and OT. But the experience of owning this thing has soured me on modern Oranges. It's been, by far, the least reliable amp I've ever owned (and I have two 60's era Voxes!). I bought an OR-80 again, and I'll be selling the AD-30 once tax return season is upon us and people have some spending cash.

-Nick

Oh no........

Ive had the same problem recently with the volume dropping off after an hour play time or more.......
But i'm not sure if it's the amp or my pedal board?

It's very difficult to trouble shoot as it doesn't happen very often, and it's so far only happened with the amp and pedal board together...... Never With the amp on its own...... And Never with the pedal board and other amps......

Ive started thinking it might be my AD15, but I haven't been able to get it to do that on its own yet......

[Les Paul Lover]

Just as an update to my previous post, I was ready to buy the caps to replaced all of them in my AD15 when I managed to nail what the issue is.

It was so intermittent it was pretty difficult to trace, but it's down to my pedal board.

Not totally sure if it's due to cabling or a particular fx, but I'll soon have it sorted.

Just glad I don't have to do major surgery only AD15!!!!

[Les Paul Lover]

The issue was with my cabling.

All sorted now!!!!!!