True Confessional

[Randall]

Oh Boy! I have to tell someone to get this off my chest, and it ain't going to be the customer...

Today, while playing through a Deluxe Reverb RI that I had finished refurbbing, something bad happened. Really bad. The chassis was resting on the edge of my bench on the transformers with the big tubes hanging over the edge, as I usually do with great care. Well, this time I guess I was a little too far away from the bench, and as I looked away I heard a crash. My heart and breath stopped as I saw the chassis laying upside down on the tile floor. It did a full flip and landed flush as near as I can tell, as I didn't see it fall. It was still on, and nothing appeared broken, but it produced no sound. This is because it pulled the speaker connectors clean off the speaker in the cab, which was sitting on the floor next to it.

I literally could not move for I'm not sure how long. Once I regained my composure, I carefully inspected the amp, found nothing amiss, and reconnected the speaker. It works. I couldn't believe it. In all my years of doing bench work, this has never happened. I spent due diligence checking it over, looking at a sine wave on my o-scope while measuring a little over 18 clean watts. It sure appears to be no worse for the fall, and a hell of a lot better than when it came in.

How this chassis fell onto a hard tile floor like that with no damage is some kind of a small miracle to me. My ego is badly bruised however. I can't believe I did this, and still am not sure exactly how it happened, besides to say either the input or speaker cord snagged and pulled it. I am just thankful I didn't pooch the guy's amp.

And now I feel just a little bit better having told someone. :0

[The Dude]

Luck was on your side. Let's just hope your customer doesn't read the forums.

[52 Bill]

Now it's time for you to get to work on building a couple of chassis supports so there will be no next time.

[DrGonz78]

That's good bad luck or bad good luck if your a pessimist. So lucky that it did not smash the tubes or anything else, holy cow!! If the customer was present you could just say that's how I stress test an amp. Glad to hear the amp is working best regards.

[Chuck H]

Pete Traynor would throw amps off a roof to test durability!?!

I've had similar incidents/accidents happen.

Consider it a happy accident. Now you know the amp will survive a fall (provided the tubes aren't compromised).

My SECOND best...

Testing an amp out of the cabinet. The amp was upside down and resting on a 4x12 cabinet. I somehow managed to tug it off (due to a brief and clumsy shock) A tube was broken, resulting in a short that caused a screen grid resistor to burn. The repair was obvious and easy and was performed with all safety precautions

If you do enough of this sort of thing you WILL have stories.

[eschertron]

And now I feel just a little bit better having told someone. :0

That is a lucky fall. You can further assuage your soul by providing the customer with a written copy of your waranty policy.

[Leo_Gnardo]

For torture-testing Mike Bendinelli at Mesa used to smack the chassis with a hammer - you could see the marks! Somehow I don't think they do that anymore.

No more monkey-hang at table's edge for you! FWIW I use wood blocks & old transformer bells to prop chassis, and some guys have made themselves excellent clamping fixtures with a bit of wood and ingenuity (I must do this - someday.)

I'm more worried about your tile floor. (Imagining an early scene in The Big Lebowski, the "debt collectors" smash something onto the Dude's bathroom floor, crushing the tiles, bummer.)

Glad you and your amp survived.

[audiopete]

How did those tubes survive? Wow. I once pushed down on a hot 6L6GC with a bunched rag to seat it better in the socket and the top caved right in like a crushed egg. I pulled my hand away from the 450VDC so fast it wasn't funny.

[Jazz P Bass]

Oh yeah.
Chassis blocks for sure!

[g1]

After the fourth or fifth time, it won't bother you so much anymore.








j/k

[Chuck H]

Good one g-one. Indeed! If you're not REALLY organized it's very possible to get hung up in cords when testing. Guitar cord, to and from the signal generator, Oscope, DMM, dummy load and possibly a light bulb current limiter or a Variac and who knows what all else!!! It can be a lot of cords laying around and across stuff. All you need to do is drop something, go to pick it up, or just be generally clumsy (like me) while sitting with the guitar and the odds of sweeping a cord with the headstock or otherwise snagging in a cord conspire against you.

[nsubulysses]

Here is a funny line I read in some old technical book on tubebooks.org -- "remember, it's always easier to work when your bench doesn't resemble a pile of spaghetti"

Words from the wise

[Chuck H]

Here is a funny line I read in some old technical book on tubebooks.org -- "remember, it's always easier to work when your bench doesn't resemble a pile of spaghetti"

Words from the wise

I agree! But it's not as if anyone PLANS to do it. It just sort of happens. You'll have one test going and then, because of something you discover, realize you need to include another test to see a parameter, etc. We all try to stay neat. That's why g-one gave a figure of only four or five

[Enzo]

Hammer? I keep a rubber mallet right by the bench for whacking the ends and sides of amp chassis. This is the official way to do what I also do with my balled up fist. it reveals loose connections and even ones flexing will not.

[The Dude]

Also useful for a few customers.