New to forum.. please help

[jglover51]

Hi all,
I own a Mesa Stiletto Ace 1x12 combo that keeps going through tubes in the V4 position (FX Loop Send & Return). They last for about 3-4 hours playing time max. This all started happening when I started using an EH Holy Grail reverb pedal in the loop (I never used the loop before). I've heard cleaning the socket with contact cleaner may help, but is there a specific brand of contact cleaner that works best? Also, could cheap cables have something to do with it? I noticed one cable was considerably thinner than the other one. Thanks.

[Enzo]

Hi jg, welcome to the place.

Not to pick on you, but we hear this complaint every so often. Not your particular model, could be any amp. No one ever specifies just what about the tube has failed.

Does it not light up its heater? Did it turn all white and foggy inside? is it sparking and burning inside? Does it look normal but refuses to amplify? Just what?

It seems your problem is the amp doesn;t pass signal when you use the FX loop? Is that the idea? What does the amp do when nothing at all in connected to the loop jacks?

If replacing that tube makes the amp work properly again, what happens if you simply remove the "bad" tube and then just re-install it? Does it start to work again? How about not even removing the tube, just wiggle it side to side a bit. Does that make it work again?

Your FX toys could have the problem. A bad cord wouldn't damage tubes, but it certainly could interrupt your sound. Take a cord you KNOW works - test it by using it as a guitar cord - and plug it from FX send right back to FX return. Now does the amp work?

Certainly loose or corroded tube socket contacts will upset operation. I wouldn;t worry so much about brands of contact cleaner. Even if what I use is "better" than what Radio Shack sells, their stuff still works well enough to clean most contact situation you will encounter.

[jglover51]

Hey Enzo. Yeah, I probably should have been more specific, but I went home and reset the same tube and now it works fine. I'm thinking it may have been a bad connection, but I don't know. Thanks for your help.

[tubeswell]

Socket pin clips wear loose with repeated plugging and unplugging over time and they may need re-tensioning (with the amp switched off and unplugged - and the filter caps discharged of course)

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by jglover51

Hi all,
I own a Mesa Stiletto Ace 1x12 combo that keeps going through tubes in the V4 position (FX Loop Send & Return). They last for about 3-4 hours playing time max. This all started happening when I started using an EH Holy Grail reverb pedal in the loop (I never used the loop before). I've heard cleaning the socket with contact cleaner may help, but is there a specific brand of contact cleaner that works best? Also, could cheap cables have something to do with it? I noticed one cable was considerably thinner than the other one. Thanks.

De-oxit is a touted brand. Ive used lowly Radio shack contact cleaner with success though too. Bob

[Euthymia]

I guess we're lucky here; our Radio Shack sells these 2-packs of DeOxit Red and DeOxit Gold.

The Gold is what I use on tube sockets. The Red on jacks.