mchen

Myles, Thanks so much for the information. I guess I need to find an amp tech. Any ideas for someone in Denver, Grand Junction or Salt Lake? Thanks for the great service you provide to us!!!! If you ever need a free irrigation design.... Mark

Hi Myles. Here is what is going on with the Pignose. When I first bought it, I ordered a new set of Groove Tubes (3 - 6L6GC's and 3 - 12AX7A's, leaving the factory tube for the reverb in place), for it. I installed them and saved the factory Chinese tubes as spares. The bias on the 6L6GC's was labeled on the tubes as "7" (I know this is not a true bias reading, just Groove Tubes rating). My understanding is that the amp is biased on the cold side (it is not adjustable). There was no indication of a tube "starting to fail" prior to the failure of the amp. It just quit in middle of a song. I got the amp home and replaced all of the Groove Tubes with the factory originals. The amp powers up fine with the normal background hum. It responds to the Gain and Master volume controls (the hum gets louder/softer). As soon as I send an input signal, the amp goes dead. The power light stays on, all of the tubes continue to have a healthy glow, but there is zero output and no background hum at all. I then power the amp down, let it cool off and it will then repeat all of this again. The Groove Tubes also glowed fine. Any ideas? I'm pretty good with a multi-meter (I troubleshoot and repair irrigation controllers), but haven't ever been "under the hood" of a tube amp. Thanks again, Mark

Hi Myles (I spelled your name right this time)! I was wondering if you had given any thought to my Pignose problem (other than buying a cheap amp that sounded great). If nothing else, I live in the mountains of Colorado and there is no local service center for this type of repair. Do you know of a reputable repair shop in Colorado or Utah? I'm now forced to play through an old Fender Deluxe 85 and I MISS MY TUBES! Thanks so much. Mark

Opps. Sorry about the multiple posts!

Hi Miles. My Pignose G60VR died in the middle of a performance over the weekend. This is a 60 watt all tube (2 - 6l6's and 3 - 12ax7's with one more 12ax7 for the reverb) combo. I thought that perhaps I had a tube go down, but after doing a complete tube changeout, no success. Here are the symptoms: The amp powers up fine when cold. As it warms up, I get the normal background hum. The master volume and gain work fine (the hum increases). As soon as a send the amp a signal (a note from the guitar), it goes dead. No background hum. I power the amp down, let it cool off, and it powers up fine until I send a signal again. Any idea what I'm up against?