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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Orange AD15 Rectifier Issue

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jellybellyjellybelly Frets: 641
edited September 2023 in Amps
Hi all

Quick question - got a lovely Orange AD15 1x10 from @Kuras just this last week. Sounded great to start with but has had a bit of a wobbly in the past couple of days. 

Basically, after around 15 min of playing the power had started to go down until it was whisper quiet. This happened a few times but coming to play it today and I get no sound. Observations:

- lamp still lights up
- can hear normal electric 'hum' from unit (not speaker)
- Speaker has no sound whatsoever, not even a hum/buzz
- Preamps and power valves (all JJs) glow up as normal/nothing unusual
- Rectifier (Sovtek 5AR4) does NOT light and is cold to the touch
- Both fuses are fine

I assume it's the rectifier valve, but having such little experience of amps with valve rectifiers I didn't know if this was normal behaviour - I thought they either worked or didn't, rather than failed gradually. Other thought was filament heater for the rectifier??

If it's the likely suspect, I'll get one of those plug in solid state rectifiers I've seen @icbm suggest in previous posts about this amp. 

Hopefully I'm not/haven't done anything to damage the thing!!

Thanks all
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    If it comes and goes, that sounds like a bad connection in the filament circuit. Sometimes, the wire that runs down inside the valve pin in the valve base itself is not well soldered, and can be fixed. If it’s not that, either the broken connection is inside the valve (not actually that likely, since there are two filaments which from memory are wired in parallel so at least one will still work) or there’s a bad solder joint on the socket in the amp. The absolute worst case is that the fault is in the filament winding in the PT, but that's very unlikely.

    A plug-in solid-state rectifier will fix any of these faults though, so unless you really want to stick with a valve, I would get one in any case. It's probably worth having a very close look at the ends of the pins on the rectifier valve first, and see if you can see an obvious problem - if it is that, there will be a circular gap around the wire in the centre of the pin.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1488
    edited September 2023
    I am pretty sure I have a TAD GZ34 tucked away somewhere and it is yours if you want it. Just PM me with an address.

    The TAD is chunkier than the Sovtek and I think more reliable.

    Dave.
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  • jellybellyjellybelly Frets: 641
    @ecc83 that is very generous - I will have a look under the hood and check it's not a dry joint or loose connection as first port of call, then take you up on the offer if still in need. 

    Incredibly knowledgeable as always @ICBM thanks for the troubleshooting list, will see how I get on!
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  • jellybellyjellybelly Frets: 641
    The solid state drop in arrived and made the amp work perfectly - not had chance to open it up and investigate which of @ICBM 's issues it was, but at least I know it isn't a serious one!

    Am is now considerably louder and lower noise - I'd have to guess on that evidence it was the valve gradually failing but we'll see. Think I prefer the tone now - low end is tighter. Would say it's a bit too crunchy (not on the good way) with the gain wound up now but it didn't sound it's best there before and I can't be certain the old valve was letting me hear what the amp actually sounded like before anyway. 

    Would love to take you up on your offer @ecc83 if it's still available so I can see what it's 'supposed' to sound like and have a spare as suggested - I'll drop you a pm.

    Thanks for your help both!
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  • GazAusGazAus Frets: 6
    jellybelly said:
    The solid state drop in arrived and made the amp work perfectly - not had chance to open it up and investigate which of @ICBM 's issues it was, but at least I know it isn't a serious one!

    Am is now considerably louder and lower noise - I'd have to guess on that evidence it was the valve gradually failing but we'll see. Think I prefer the tone now - low end is tighter. Would say it's a bit too crunchy (not on the good way) with the gain wound up now but it didn't sound it's best there before and I can't be certain the old valve was letting me hear what the amp actually sounded like before anyway. 

    Would love to take you up on your offer @ecc83 if it's still available so I can see what it's 'supposed' to sound like and have a spare as suggested - I'll drop you a pm.

    Thanks for your help both!
    I'm a long time AD15 user, its my main amp. I never go past 12pm on the Gain, and believe its sounds best with Master up around 12, gain 9-10 oclock, two gain pedals stacked (both low gain, one for crunch, next one to boost for lead).

    My usual setup pedal wise is Hotcake > TS mini (gain 0, volune tone up around 2 o'clock) > Rat.

    Enjoy!
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