Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Nasty Distortion and a redplating 6V6, quite a fun day...

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Nasty Distortion and a redplating 6V6, quite a fun day...

    Some of you may remember my ongoing troubles with my Bogen K15 conversion and a harsh, nasty distortion "on top" of notes which I'm quite sure was blocking distortion.

    Anyway, I got sick of messing around with the paraphase so I built a LTP in its place. Actually I tried to clone the output stage of the Trainwreck Express but used cathode bias. So here's the schematic I drew up for it.

    http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...MN/CBWreck.jpg

    Anyway, the distortion is still there as bad as ever. I don't get it. Anyone see anything wrong with the schematic? Anything I could check out inside the amp ad far as layout? I'm not thrilled with how I had to set it up but given the space I had to work with I think it turned out alright. As far as I can tell nothing is touching or anything like that if it isn't supposed to. I thought the problem might be the 6BW4 rectifier couldn't handle the current draw so I tried a 6CA4 but it does the exact same thing.

    Sometimes when I turn it on I get kind of a strane pulsating and the volume will fade in and out but it stabilizes after a minute or so.

    Also, kind of unrelated but I'm using Tung-Sol 6V6s that only have a few hours on them. One of them randomly redplates though, and when it does it I see a positive voltage on the control grid for some reason. At first I thought the coupling cap was bad (a Hovland Musicap, it better not be!) but I swapped positions and the tube did it in the other spot too. When I play through it it actually goes "normal" for a while but as soon as I stop it lights up like a christmas tree. Is this for sure just a bad tube from the factory or is there something else I should be checking out?

    As always, thanks in advance for any ideas. At this point I'd be willing to paypal a few bucks to anyone who can guess correctly what this thing's malfunction is. I'm sick of dealing with it.

    -Darren

  • #2
    Originally posted by Turbo7MN View Post

    As always, thanks in advance for any ideas. At this point I'd be willing to paypal a few bucks to anyone who can guess correctly what this thing's malfunction is. I'm sick of dealing with it.

    -Darren
    If you built it just like that schematic... oops!... there is no grid load resistors for the power tubes and therefore NO bias for the power tubes.
    Stick some 100K to 180K resistors on each grid of the power tubes and ground the resistors on the other end.
    Bruce

    Mission Amps
    Denver, CO. 80022
    www.missionamps.com
    303-955-2412

    Comment


    • #3
      What Bruce said.

      And the 6V6 sure sounds like it is bad to me. You have one tube out of a pair that randomy shorts out its grid. Move it and the problem moves with it. It is the tube.

      But fix the grid resistor isue first in case the "bad" tube is just the more sensitive one.
      Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Bruce / Mission Amps View Post
        If you built it just like that schematic... oops!... there is no grid load resistors for the power tubes and therefore NO bias for the power tubes.
        Stick some 100K to 180K resistors on each grid of the power tubes and ground the resistors on the other end.
        Okay... I'm now going to bang my head against the wall for a while. I can't believe I missed that. Thanks Bruce.

        Thanks for confirming what I though about the 6V6. I think I'm done with new prduction tubes for a while.

        -Darren

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks again Bruce. Out of that range the only ones I had laying around were 100K so I stuck those in. The amp seems to be behaving itself much better, but more importantly there was a huge improvement with the distortion. Not 100% gone but I'd definitely gig or record with this thing now. It was a stupid mistake that I'll not be making again, good catch.

          -Darren

          Comment

          Working...
          X