The Long and Short of it is this: I just got a Kitty Hawk M5 45 Watt Combo Amp. I got to hear it for about 10 minutes, total, before there was a pop, continuous crackling, and no sound. I'm currently in the process of troubleshooting, but the only reference material I have to base anything off of is the single, hand drawn M5 logical schematic (for a 15 Watt, I might add) that has been floating around back-alley gear forums for the past decade or better. I might not even be asking for help, except that I'm about as proficient in reading logical schematics as I am breadboarding pedals; which is to say, not very. Any assistance, whether in the form of suggestions as to what the problem/solution might be.
Two final pieces of information that seem pertinent: 1. Whoever owned the amp prior to me deemed it worth the effort and potential fire hazard to epoxy the Slo Blo fuse (2A) holder after it broke, which means that while one fuse cap is nice and snug (and without any real connection to speak of), the rest of the fuse comes out. I'll be replacing the holder and fuse tonight. 2. As embarassing as it is to admit, after I bought a matched quartet of 6v6S JJ tubes and 3 EH 12AX7/ECC83, in my excitement to play through the amp, I only installed 3 of the 4 6v6's. Now, I have seen amp techs turn amps on without all valves seated, so I don't know how that would've been enough to damage anything, but I've worked with electronics long enough to know that Murphy enforces their Law HARD in this particular town.
Thanks again, and if replacing the fuse/fuse holder fixes the issue, I'll update this tonight.
Two final pieces of information that seem pertinent: 1. Whoever owned the amp prior to me deemed it worth the effort and potential fire hazard to epoxy the Slo Blo fuse (2A) holder after it broke, which means that while one fuse cap is nice and snug (and without any real connection to speak of), the rest of the fuse comes out. I'll be replacing the holder and fuse tonight. 2. As embarassing as it is to admit, after I bought a matched quartet of 6v6S JJ tubes and 3 EH 12AX7/ECC83, in my excitement to play through the amp, I only installed 3 of the 4 6v6's. Now, I have seen amp techs turn amps on without all valves seated, so I don't know how that would've been enough to damage anything, but I've worked with electronics long enough to know that Murphy enforces their Law HARD in this particular town.
Thanks again, and if replacing the fuse/fuse holder fixes the issue, I'll update this tonight.
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