The Amp Garage

This is great! Just what I needed!

The build guide will be my best friend. I will take extra care on the lead dress for sure.

On that note, does this means strictly solid core and if so where to source? I'm having a hard time finding a good place.


Thanks everyone! I'm excited

Hello Everyone, I have been doing a lot of reading recently on the Express on TAG and think im ready for my first Express build. I plan on following the build guide religiously. I have have almost all the parts and will begin soon. I wanted to see however if there is a specific thread or some more r...

Well It seems that replacing my original MOV with the next higher value fixed my problem!

Thanks for everyone's input and useful information!

Another easy solution is to just cut the MOV out. It's probably the most unnecessary measure that Ken took in his amps. Yeah it's cheap insurance but I've never fixed (or even heard of) an amp failing because of a transient in the line. Even if this does occur, the transients are typically nearly i...

Great, This is all very helpful! It can't hurt going up in voltage rating on the MOV correct? I will go snag some higher rated ones and see if that fixes my issue!

Thanks everyone!

Typically the MOV in a Trainwreck amp is wired straight across the 2 AC lines coming in, just passed the fuse which is on the hot side. On my old Express amps the MOV is across the AC line mounted on the DPST power switch. Basically the MOV goes dead short IF the incoming wall voltage is passed the...

martin manning wrote:I wonder if blowing the fuse a number of times previously damaged the MOV. I'd be inclined to remove it and get an updated set of voltage measurements.

Would you suggest an updated set of voltages WITHOUT the MOV?

Thanks!

Hello again everyone. I just posted a few weeks ago about a Rocket that I finished that blew a fuse because I had the heater wires shorted together. I fixed the heater wire problem and all was well. I checked my voltages and everything was right around where it needed to be. I put a good 5-6 hours o...

Glad it's working. Do spend some time understanding some more of the concepts if you are going to keep at this. Maybe get a copy of something like Dave Hunter's Guitar Amp Handbook that explains things from a basic level. Troubleshooting is an art in itself, and a good understanding of how the circ...

Ok, So I have my voltages for my rectifier Pin 8-300v dc 2-300v dc 6- 213 Vac 4-213 Vac I think I might have found the problem earlier. My heater wires were connected to the same terminal at the terminal strip before the string of heater wires. I am going to proceed now with regular voltage checks....

Yss, reconnect the filament circuit, correct the B+ connection to the rectifier tube (get it from pin 8, not pin 2), and check that you have the high voltage and the filament wired correctly from the PT. Make sure that the caps are drained, which you can do by closing the standby so the bleeder res...

I can't tell from looking at it but are the heater wires away from ground on this small terminal strip? [img:388:447]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RZ-15jFI-bQ/T5yJ3TP_8_I/AAAAAAAAA5I/muCHUGbylqA/s800/showsii%2520Wreck.JPG[/img] And to back track just a bit, when somebody says check the continu...

Just to be clear, closing the standby means "Not-play mode" and opening the standby would be "play mode"? No, just the opposite... a "closed" switch has the contacts connected together, "open" is open circuit. Ok great. QUESTION! So on the tree that i connect my heaters too to the string of heaters...

Yss, reconnect the filament circuit, correct the B+ connection to the rectifier tube (get it from pin 8, not pin 2), and check that you have the high voltage and the filament wired correctly from the PT. Make sure that the caps are drained, which you can do by closing the standby so the bleeder res...

Testing for an internal short to ground will require disconnecting the CT from ground. Then measure from the CT or either of the other two leads to ground. You want to see an "open circuit" or "infinite resistance" to ground. On Fluke meters this is displayed as "OL" (overload). To me "no resistanc...