Problem with a Peavey 6506

[Riffraff]

A friend of the family stopped by today looking for help with a few amps he picked up real cheap. One was an Ampeg hybrid with a bad static noise which I diagnosed as input jack problem. I pulled the chassis, removed several screws, a few harnesses, countless knobs and nuts from pcb mounted pots and lifted the pcb so I could reflow the connections at the board. I also cleaned the contacts with contact cleaner. I put it all back together & fired it up and it was good as new.

The second was a Peavey 6505 that you can hear powering up when you turn on the power switch but the tubes remain dark. I first checked the fuse but that was good. I thought maybe it was a faulty tube given that I have heard Peavey connects the filaments in series. I pulled them and tested all. I found one very weak but working 12AX7 which I replaced so nothing there. The power tubes are all beat and boarderline working so that wasn't it. I checked all of the board mounted fuses and they are all good. I probed a little deeper and started looking for fried components and discovered evidence of an overheating situation on a plug that mates with a header on the power tube board (see the connection at J11).





That pin must have gotten hot and the burn distorted the housing so the pin may not be mating with the contact anymore. The board itself doesn't appear to be damaged. Should I just try replacing the harness or is this likely symptomatic of something other than a tube going belly up?

[blindboybenton]

Hi

I myself don't like these type of connections on valve amps. I would remove the connections and solder directly onto the board. This will stop this happening again.
BBB

[Enzo]

I thought maybe it was a faulty tube given that I have heard Peavey connects the filaments in series.

That's the problem with "what you hear" on the internet. You can get the schematic for free from the company or many other sources. There are some peavey models with tubes wired in series, but the large amps are wired conventionally.

The high current of the heaters has burnt that connector pin. And I agree with BBB, hard wire the two boards together there.

[Riffraff]

Good suggestion. Thanks for the clarity guys. I'll give that a go.

[tedmich]

McMaster Carr sells some silicone insulted flat automation cable, their 9634T705 is 8 conductor and 16AWG wire at a pretty close pitch to the Peavey IDC cables (about 0.16")

The cable is super flexible, good to 500F and rated to >20kV and 19A. Its conductor also is pretty close to the diameter (0.05") of the board pins (0.0435")

If tinned and soldered to pins with shrink tube its bullet proof for decades. You have to buy a foot ($7) but it will do about 3 power tube connections. I seem to remember Enzo spec'd some better Molex connectors a while back if you want to plug and unplug.


maybe a bit of this

[Riffraff]

McMaster Carr sells some silicone insulted flat automation cable, their 9634T705 is 8 conductor and 16AWG wire at a pretty close pitch to the Peavey IDC cables (about 0.16")

The cable is super flexible, good to 500F and rated to >20kV and 19A. Its conductor also is pretty close to the diameter (0.05") of the board pins (0.0435")

If tinned and soldered to pins with shrink tube its bullet proof for decades. You have to buy a foot ($7) but it will do about 3 power tube connections. I seem to remember Enzo spec'd some better Molex connectors a while back if you want to plug and unplug.

Excellent suggestion, thank you! I will definitely go with this for the permanent fix.

For now I hardwired board to board with simple hook up wire to see what I would get and that's definitely all it needs. It fired right up and begged for a test drive so I plugged in and shredded my butt off for 40 minutes. Holy smokes is that thing fun!! I haven't played that stuff in a while and it was a nice little chops workout.



Here's the part that is going to make you sick......he bought it at a yard sale for $20. He is an older guy and would just be selling this because it's really not his type of amp at all. This is the 3rd amp I've fixed for him in the past 2 months. Maybe he will consider a trade. I've got a lot of stuff that would better fit his taste that I would gladly trade for this thing even if it is just for tearing it up once in a while to keep my shredding chops up to snuff.

[g1]

That's insane. Either the buyer got his fingers burnt, or the seller was told by an unqualified tech that it wasn't worth fixing.
Who would sell that for $20 without even checking if it could be repaired?

[Riffraff]

The people he got it from just didn't value their instruments. Once they weren't working they treated them like trash. He also got a Gibson Les Paul Jr. at the same place for $20 as well. It was missing tuners, bridge and tailpiece but was otherwise just fine. He replaced the missing parts and set it up and it plays like a dream. He brought that by with the amps. I played it and it was really nice. The frets on it looked like it was never played.

[Audiotexan]

Here's the part that is going to make you sick......he bought it at a yard sale for $20. He is an older guy and would just be selling this because it's really not his type of amp at all.

That's a "1 in a 1000 yard sales" type deal!

That's insane. Either the buyer got his fingers burnt, or the seller was told by an unqualified tech that it wasn't worth fixing.
Who would sell that for $20 without even checking if it could be repaired?

Couldn't agree more. Heavily leaning toward the prior given the following though.

The people he got it from just didn't value their instruments. Once they weren't working they treated them like trash. He also got a Gibson Les Paul Jr. at the same place for $20 as well. It was missing tuners, bridge and tailpiece but was otherwise just fine. He replaced the missing parts and set it up and it plays like a dream. He brought that by with the amps. I played it and it was really nice. The frets on it looked like it was never played.

Granted, it's only a Paul Jr...but, even still. Hardly played, missing hardware...I'm betting that the rest of the hardware is strewn between the back yard fence of the owner's house (which ripped the strings off), the next neighbor's back yard (where the bridge landed), and finally the second neighbor's front yard (where the tailpiece/strings landed).

Seriously though, two $20 "1 in a 1000" deals from the same guy? Nothing against your friend of the family, but I would be HIGHLY suspect if he (the seller) comes up with any more of those deals, and I'd advise my friend of the same.
He sounds like a drug dealer trading 'junk' for gear, then gets rid of them of them when he gets bored with them. Not even the (literal) crackheads that came into a pawnshop I used to work at for a time were that stupid.

"The people he got it from just didn't value their instruments." Hogwash. lol

[Riffraff]

That's a "1 in a 1000 yard sales" type deal!



Couldn't agree more. Heavily leaning toward the prior given the following though.



Granted, it's only a Paul Jr...but, even still. Hardly played, missing hardware...I'm betting that the rest of the hardware is strewn between the back yard fence of the owner's house (which ripped the strings off), the next neighbor's back yard (where the bridge landed), and finally the second neighbor's front yard (where the tailpiece/strings landed).

Seriously though, two $20 "1 in a 1000" deals from the same guy? Nothing against your friend of the family, but I would be HIGHLY suspect if he (the seller) comes up with any more of those deals, and I'd advise my friend of the same.
He sounds like a drug dealer trading 'junk' for gear, then gets rid of them of them when he gets bored with them. Not even the (literal) crackheads that came into a pawnshop I used to work at for a time were that stupid.

"The people he got it from just didn't value their instruments." Hogwash. lol

I can't speak for whoever he bought them from but the guy I know that had them isn't like that. He is a retired guy in his 60's that hits every yard sale he can early for flea market stuff. He does those on the weekends, has been for many years. He is one of those guys that parks in front of your house 2 hours before your yard sale starts and starts looking at stuff while you are bringing it out......hahahaha. I don't have the balls to be that obnoxious and would never do that but every time I have had a yard sale I've encountered people who do that. If the CL advertisement mentions musical instruments of any kind he gets there early so he has first crack at whatever there is. Those were very unusual deals for him. Most of the time the stuff he gets is broken, low end junk guitars. He fixes them up and plays them for a few weeks and then sells them at the flea market. He didn't know the people that he got these from, it was just another random yard sale on his list that day. He was pretty excited about the LP. He said he always wanted one but could never afford one. He didn't seem to think much about the amp. He looked it up and saw that it would bring a pretty good payday if it worked but when he tried it was stone dead so he figured it was probably toast and was more or less having me look it over for a confirmation.

He brought me a Sunn 2000S like that a few months ago that he had sitting in his basement for 20 or so years. Some drunken idiot worked it over real good with a hammer (we both know they guy that did it). All of the controls are smashed in, a few of the tubes are milky white so it appears it was done while it was powered up. It's salvageable but will take a lot of work and expense to make it right again. He thought he would fix it someday but never had the know how or the money. It wasn't worth keeping anymore to him so he gave it to me with a big box of vintage components that were his father's long ago. I've considered that payment for the amps I've fixed for him. Someday when I have $250 or so burning a hole in my pocket I'll buy a quartet of 6550s, caps, pots and switches and get it running again.

[Audiotexan]

I can't speak for whoever he bought them from but the guy I know that had them isn't like that. He is a retired guy in his 60's that hits every yard sale he can early for flea market stuff. He does those on the weekends, has been for many years. He is one of those guys that parks in front of your house 2 hours before your yard sale starts and starts looking at stuff while you are bringing it out......hahahaha.

No, I figured that! That's why I was saying 'warn' your friend if you haven't already.. As some months/years from now, he could potentially end up being in possession of stolen merchandise. If someone saw either of those pieces at a gig and called the cops, he would end up in a net loss (losing the gear), and worse, in addition having to explain how he came to be in possession. Which most cops should easily understand...but worst case, he could be charged.
I know, chances are slim, but I still think about things like that. *Sorry I detracted from a good story/great deal!*

I don't have the balls to be that obnoxious and would never do that but every time I have had a yard sale I've encountered people who do that. If the CL advertisement mentions musical instruments of any kind he gets there early so he has first crack at whatever there is. Those were very unusual deals for him.

I think it's awesome that he scored a great deal! That's how you do it though, beat everyone else to the punch!

I just latched on to the (if I read correctly) aspect that both of those deals came from the same yard-sale location (on different dates). That's why my suspicion meter went off.

Most of the time the stuff he gets is broken, low end junk guitars. He fixes them up and plays them for a few weeks and then sells them at the flea market.

When I worked at a shop in Illinois, we had a guy that would go around the night before trash pickups, and grab whatever was interesting and sitting on the curb.

I was always amazed at the stuff he came up with. Sometimes it was perfectly working, other times totally trashed and should have been left. But often enough, he'd come in with something that only needed minor repairs, and got one hell of a piece for the price of a cheap repair!

I love the fact that folks can still survive by ingenuity alone! When most folks would be 'too proud' to do such things, even though for the most part these days, no one knows much less cares who you are (in comparison to back in the 40s-50s)

It wasn't worth keeping anymore to him so he gave it to me with a big box of vintage components that were his father's long ago. I've considered that payment for the amps I've fixed for him.

That's absolutely awesome man!
The world needs more like you!

Someday when I have $250 or so burning a hole in my pocket I'll buy a quartet of 6550s, caps, pots and switches and get it running again.

I'll have to do some digging...but if you're not opposed to "used", I should have some 6550's laying around somewhere. If you want them, let me know and I'll look for them. I'll likely never use them. I'm primarily an EL34/6L6 man. They've been sitting for at least 15 years untouched already so...

[Riffraff]

I'll have to do some digging...but if you're not opposed to "used", I should have some 6550's laying around somewhere. If you want them, let me know and I'll look for them. I'll likely never use them. I'm primarily an EL34/6L6 man. They've been sitting for at least 15 years untouched already so...

That's awesome man! I'm not opposed to used at all. I buy a lot of vintage pulls off of antique radio guys. It's the best way to find ANOS tubes on the cheap. Once in a while I get duds but most of the time they are tested and as good as new. Let me know if you find them and what you want for them. I'll send you a paypal payment or maybe swap you for something you can use.

[Riffraff]

My friend took the trade. I replaced several Sovtec & EHX tubes in the preamp with better glass. A GE 5751 in V6 really helped the clean channel. I gave the amp a face lift too. It's ready to rock now.