Filter Cap for Traynor Darkhorse please.(old thread renamed)

[daydreamer]

cheers for the advice, I opened it up to check the grounding first (not messing with anything else, just to see if i could spot anything obvious) and I found the ground coming from the on/off circuit board was 'hanging on by a thread'! It shares a common screw with the power transformer which is turned from outside the amp. I guess when it was tightened it spun the washer and nut and broke the rest of the foil away from the ground wire (only the inner part of the wire was intact, which broke easily on touch) Happy days I thought...

I stripped it back, soldered a new connector on it and secured it back and..still humming!!!. but it has reduced maybe 20%.

Gibsonman63, I can see what you mean about the complexity of PCB design, I don't think I'll be going back in there for a while, at least until I know what I'm looking at!

I'm going to bite the bulllet and get a new (new!) step down transformer from a reputable dealer. selloutrr is right, the one I have is BAD!..I guess it's a good lesson to learn before I get to the end of my first build and experience hum; get good transformers! I got in contact with Tortech who supply the good ones and they said I should go for the smaller sizes ( 350 watts not the 1200watt I am running). Makes sense now, I just didn't spend any length of time considering the purchase up front, except for learning toroidal is meant to be quieter and buying the 1200watt one that has two outlets,( I usually run in stereo and was thinking of gettting a second traynor if the first worked out. (In Australia you go 'sound unheard' if you want something out of the ordinary!)) Otherwise I'm liking the sound of the amp, and I'm sold on the 15 watt format for getting great breakup etc.

cheers

[daydreamer]

just for completeness, I did go ahead and trying and improve the shielding in the stepdown transformer (i know, not smart, but I've worked in the building trade for 20 years as well, so what can I say, I'm not likely to stop bad habits now)

I insulated all the contacts so nothing would short, made a tripple layered shield from aluminium foil around the toroid, grounded it, made sure the case was all grounded by providing a contact point to the lid.. and..

Made no difference at all....

I thought I would record my folly so anyone who finds this thread doesn't waste there time trying it.

thanks for all the help BTW, I'm completely hooked on this forum and I feel like I've had a 6 month education from you guys already!!! I just have to get a project going; my traynor darkhorse is looking very nervous sitting in the corner, we keep exchanging uncomfortable looks...
cheers!!

[daydreamer]

(I've renamed my original thread here to keep it all together)

OK, I haven't bought any spare tubes to see if they are the problem, but I want to look at this anyway, as the amp has a rep for hum and these filters may well be the problem.

ATM it has 450v 22uf caps in the filtering positions as you can see in the photos. there isn't enough room to mount larger caps in the same way as the originals, but I figure I can bend the leads and build a 'stock-o-caps' or some thing.

But here is the humdinger question (hahaha.. I crack myself up)
what size cap do you suggest? Better still, what sums should I be doing to work it out?

Andy

[daydreamer]

Ignore me then, it's OK. Refer to F word thread and take personally...

[C Moore]

Ignore me then, it's OK. Refer to F word thread and take personally...

Did you just tell us all to F*** Off....?

[selloutrr]

Did you try tightening all your grounds, transformers bolts, and other screws?

The filter caps are not the problem! unless you see bubbling they are 99.99999999999999999999999 (ok i'm bored holding down the button) 999999999999999% Still good.

The sizes, voltages, and values are all OK changing the value will effect the low end and other tonal characteristics of the amp. Increasing the Voltage, unless they are under spec... NO need.

it's a shitty amp with a crappy PCB and poor lead dressing, soldering, and components. if you really want to fix something take it apart and touch up every single solder point on the board. If you want to take it a step farther... mount the sockets on the chassis, rebuild the PCB on a turret board, use components that are picked for tone not a price point, and make your wire dressing neat.

Those pressure fit connections are probably your problem unsolder them and solder the wires directly to the board. At the very least they are a point of future failure as they start to oxidize or the amp takes a hit and friction is not enough to hold them snug. They were put in to save time not for function. same with ribbon cables and any other pressure fit signal carrying wire. In the ideal world the OT would solder directly to a speaker(s). they use jacks out of curtisy for the use of other speakers.

Yorkville is junk. Vintage Traynor amps are bullet proof, huge hammond Iron, solid construction, and reliable. The new offshore... not so much.

if your amp is overly noisey, use mil spec tubes, clean power, and stay away from single coil and P90 pickups. your next option.... LIVE WITH IT!

"I dont think he was telling us to "F" off, I bet he's just a fan of foofighters "

[daydreamer]

Ignore me then, it's OK. Refer to F word thread and take personally...

Did you just tell us all to F*** Off....?

No, I think I heard some note flipping on that clip, very interesting and touching stuff.


Thanks Doctor Mark for giving it to me straight!!! I'll put it back together and suck it up I think. I've got parts coming for a pedal or two to get me primed for a amp build. The 'two stroke' amp book arrived finally a few weeks back, so it's starting to click in my brain. How is it that Amazon can get me the book in 10 days, but the Oz company couldn't in 2 months? I really wonder about my country sometimes.. I mean it turns out they could have bought it from amazon and sent it to me and still made a profit!!.

cheers

Andy