Problem with my Blues Deville

[Joel66]

Hi y'all. I have a problem with my amp. At least I assume it's an amp problem. Last Saturday night, in the first set, my volume just disappeared. I tried switching to stand-by and then back on....nothing happened. I turned the amp off and back on again.....nothing happened. I unplugged from my pedal board and ran only through my volume pedal and the volume was normal again. Then it died once again. Tried standby and off-on again...nothing. Plugged back into my pedal's....volume was normal again.

Also, the week before last, I had to turn the bass all the way up before it sounded right to me. I thought maybe it was just my ears that night, but last week with the bass wide open....it still sounded thin.

My first thought was, and still is, the tubes. My tubes are about 2 yrs old. They get a total of 4hrs use weekly.

Any ideas on what the problem may be?

A full set of Groove Tubes (power and pre-amp tubes) is going to run $102. I really can't afford to spend that if it most likely isn't the problem.

Thanks,
Joel

[tweedman]

Try testing the preamp tubes first because they are cheaper.Take a known good 12AX7 and plug it into 1 of the tube sockets.Keep fingers clear of the tube socket while installing the tube.Turn on the amp and test it.Repeat this step 3 times in all 3 12AX7 positions.If this does not correct the problem then use the same test procedure for the 2 6L6 power tubes.

These amps are also notorios for input jack problems as the plastic jack is soldered directly to the circuit board.Also the solder connections shake loose on the circuit board and can cause intermittent problems.The only fix for this is to have an amp tech resolder every connection.

[e-merlin]

Try plugging a cable directly from the preamp out to the power amp in. Sometimes the loop jacks get corroded. They did on mine, anyway.

Preamp tubes may be cheaper, but power tubes wear out faster. You can probably use the preamp tubes for several years, but you'll want to change the power tubes about every year and a half or so the way you use the amp. Anyway, even if they still work, you'll want to change them every so often because if a power tube blows it can take other parts with it and the resulting damage could be more costly than a couple of power tubes.

[Lance]

Same issues......but mine was all bad solder joints on the board. It would crackle or cut out completely. Another thing it would do was sounds great.....but when I cranked it and the cabinet was vibrating, it would crackle LOUD.

After WAY too many trips to the dealer, I just sold it. Since going to point to point wired Fenders ('65 BF DR, BF Bassman, BF VC) I had no issues other than a occassional lame tube.

Not all these amps have this problem....some people love them, I just didn't have any luck. For what it's worth, I did have a Blues DeVille before the HR and it never had any issues.

[Joel66]

I reckon I'll go pick up some tubes today. I don't want to take a chance on a power tube going and taking out something else with it.

By the way, Lance, this is an older Blues Deville (before the HR series), and I'm the original owner. It's a 94 or 95 I believe, and the only thing I've ever had to do to it was change tubes. This will be the 4th tube change for it.

tweedman gave good advice also. Someone else mentioned that to me yesterday in the music store. Would that be for the problem with the bass control having to be turned all the way up? I've always ran the bass knob between 5 and 7 (11 o'clock- 1 o'clock) but, as I mentioned earlier, now I have to run it wide open.

I imagine this problem would be easier to diagnose if it showed up and stayed that way. However it showed up and left again. Then showed up and left, and then it showed up and left again 2 hrs later. It never happened again for the rest of the night.

Actually after thinking about it, I'm going to call my dad about tubes. He has boxes of old tubes at his house. If luck is on my side, he has some that I need.

Joel