bad speaker wire and "fireworks" Hey Austin !

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

Sounds like you almost had an early 4th of July buddy. I'm glad that you and your amp are no worse for the "wear'. Am I right to assume that the bad speaker connection caused an improper load condition with the amp ? For many years i was told never fire your tube amp up without the speakers being hooked up. I didn't know why, but I figuired it had to do with smoke and fire. I've always soldered my connectord on so that they can';t accidentally come off, but that isn't going to prevent what happened to you. Thanks for the "heads up". I'll be checking thoes wires on a regular basis, as I have That is the tube that i have decided to do my first build withkind of a "phobia" about smoke and fire in any of my equipment.
I'm glad the EL-84(s) didn't self-destruct. like you said, they must be some good "uns. That is the tube that I have decided to do my first amp build around. I'm gathering the info and studying it now. I'm going for a Class A, single ended with 2xEl84's in parallel. It's going to be a slow project not only because I'm "SLOW", but because I wan't to use quality parts and I've pretty much got to by something(s) by the week until I have the whole "enchilada" ready to assemble. May the "Tube Gods" be with me on this one. Not only is experience lacking, but I'm not exactly overflowing with mad momey right now. Thanks again for your post. sometimes it's easy for me to forget the basics
and it's always good to have a reminder BEFORE something burns up. Keep your eyes open and your ears in tune ! tonequester.

[J M Fahey]

żżż ???

Or: what does this solitary post mean?

[tonequester]

żżż ???

Or: what does this solitary post mean?

tonequester here.

The post was in reference to Austin's having a bad speaker wire, and noticing that a tube(EL-84) was arcing. Perhaps I made a mistake in how I made my reply.
I say that because you mentioned that the post was solitary. There wasn't anything all that important about my reply to him. It just made me think about the implications of a bad speaker connection, besides zero sound. Quote : I have learned more from my mistakes, than from my discoveries." Sir Humphrey Davy.

[J M Fahey]

Fine.
I suggest you cut and paste this text into the proper thread and then, *if possible* delete this one.
Good luck.

[DrGonz78]

I know what I am gonna do on 4th of July!!!

I mean plugging my good old class A amp into a 220 line is gonna get the neighbors attention!!!

[DrGonz78]

I know what I am gonna do on 4th of July!!!

I mean plugging my good old class A amp into a 220 line is gonna get the neighbors attention!!!

[tonequester]

[QUOTE=DrGonz78;264868]I know what I am gonna do on 4th of July!!!

I mean plugging my good old class A amp into a 220 line is gonna get the neighbors attention!!!

[/QUOTe/]

tonequester here.

That may be the best "show' in town on the fourth ! Crank it up for me. My main amp is in the shop getting some warranty work, so I'll be stuck watching fireworks and strumming my acoustic. Have a great 4th., DrGonz78.

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

That may very well be the best "show" in town on the 4th DrGonz78. Crank one off for me. My main amp is undergoing warranty work as I type. So I'll be stuck watching fireworks and strumming my old acoustic. have a great 4th., DrGonz78 ! tonequester. Quote : "Drown in a cold vat of whiskey ? Death, where is thy sting ?" W.C.Fields

[Austin]

Hey Tonequester! Sry it took me so long to reply! Yeah it was a speaker cable somebody (maybe me)probably tripped over and was making a intermittant connection, coming loose with the vibration. A transformer is two inductors connected by a magnetic field. As you probably know inductors try to maintain the same current flow through them and can raise the voltage up to 2x to do so. So if I had 450 volts on the plates and Im just jamming out and then I unhook the speaker mid song, the voltage on the plate of the poor little el84 can shoot up to 900 volts! Ouch! It could shoot thru the varnish insulation on the output transformer primary burning a little hole and ruining it too, though I think probably not likely.

[tonequester]

tonequester here.


Hey Austin !



I getcha on the speaker cable thing. It's definitely something to remember. I'm gearing up to do some gigging after years of letting my equipment getting
away from me. These little tid-bits are welcome advice. it's always the simplest mistake that can cuase the most major of problems. Anything that can cause arcing of any kind in an amp
is nothing that I want to be involved in. My "fireworks" days are far behind me(I hope), and I can just see me tripping over a speaker cable, and NOT noticing anything until major smoke,
fire, and "THAT SMELL" ! I'm writting this one down in my little journal of things to be aware of. If I can gig with out smoke,fire,and stink, WE'll have a great time, and that's what counts.
I don't see a contract in my future, so it has to be about fun. Thanks for thinking of me on this. No advice is too simple for "yours truly". Have FUN ! tonequester.

[J M Fahey]

I know what I am gonna do on 4th of July!!!

I mean plugging my good old class A amp into a 220 line is gonna get the neighbors attention!!!

I do that all day long and nothing strange happens !!






Aaaaaahhhh !!! You guys are in the good old USA !!!

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

JM. Are you making a derogatory remark about the "good old U.S.A. ? I mean, just because you can't walk down the street's shoulder without being "rousted" by our fine
men in blue, go to "town" without paying 3 seperate sales taxes, or get customer service on anything without entering an endless voice-mail loop that gets you nowhere, is no reason to
put us down. After all, we poke our business in any and every conflict around the world. The world loves us as evidenced by the nightly news coverage of the latest flag burning. Our
government has far outclassed the Japanese "tradition" of settling differences of opinion with fist-fights, by adopoting the much more effective tactic of GRIDLOCK. We take care of our homeless by sparing them public ridicule. We either arrest them, or we chase them to suitable places where there are no public or private services available. We even sanctify the burial of our military, killed in defense(?) of our country, by allowing such indespensible groups as : the Aryan (HATE) Nation, NEO-Nazis,Ku-Klux-Klan, and so-calles Fundamentalists to picket the services. How dare you give America a shot. We already know how to shoot ! We shoot ourselves in the foot daily. I still can't figure why km6xz left it all behind for St. Petersburg.
Hey, JM. How are things down Argentina way ? Yours for a better world. tonequester.