23 posts
Last night I was playing on the Triaxis rig and one of the power tubes blew. It flashed bright, there was a soft pop, and then nothing. Fuck.
Other than obviously replacing the tubes, do you folks think I might want to pick up some new fuses too? My hunch is I probably need to do that too.
Can't hurt fuses are cheap.
I would...
haven't had a fuse blow in a mesa product I have owned but ya' never know... Especially after a tube failure.
Can't you check them first?
Adjustable bias?
When that happened to my Spider Valve it took out a fuse.
Before I left a little bit ago, I did check the fuses back near the tubes and one of them definitely looked blown (the filaments were rolling around in the bottom). Just got back from Home Depot with a pair of 1amp/250v slo-blo fuses and a set of tubes from the shop. Couldn't find the 6.5 main fuse. The power amp uses two of the 1amp fuses back near the tubes and a 6.5amp as the main fuse. Hopefully it is ok.
Here, after bit, I'm going to pop them in and see if she fires up.
Tob, she has a fixed bias.
Dearthian: — Mar 12, 2010 It flashed bright, there was a soft pop, and then nothing.
Sounds like you had a "Barry Manilow!" ;D
Sorry to hear about it though... :)
If the bias was adjustable I would reccomend cranking it down before firing up with new tubes.
Hopefully the tube just died and shorted internally taking the fuse.
Got the tubes. The amp has 3 fuses in it. Two 1amp/250 volt slo-blos and one 6 1/4 amp slo-blo. Today I was able to find the 1amp fuses but not the 6.5. On inspection, it seemed only one of the 1 amp fuses were blown (one had it's filaments rolling in the bottom). I thought the 6 1/4 looked ok. I replaced the tubes and both 1 amp fuses. Hit the power switch; nothing. So I think I need to find a 6 1/4 fuse next. I may have to go online for this one. I went to Radio Shack, two different automotive places, and Home Depot and couldn't find 6 1/4 anything. If a new 6 1/4 doesn't take care of it, I'm going to have to take her in for repair. Sigh.
Dearth, Check the fuses in question with a meter so you know what you need.
Chris, do you mean no power at all or just no output sound? I'm geussing we're talking about the 2:90 here and not the Triaxis.
From memory, the 2:90 has a 1A HT fuse for each output channel and a mains 6.25A slo-blow fuse. Replace all three if in any doubt but if you find the thing keeps blowing the mains fuse, pull the 2 HT fuses THEN turn the thing on. If it powers up OK turn it back off and replace the right hand 1A fuse and power up. If it blows the mains fuse you know the problem is in the RH channel. If not, put the LH 1A fuse in and again..Power her up.
Could be a capacitor gone that caused the tube to blow that took out the fuse etc.....Now the cap is gone, it'll take the mains fuse out every time you power up.
Correct on it being the 2:90. There is NO power at all. It won't power on.
So the 1A are HT? Ah, I purchased slo-blo for that. I'll have to get HT type. Makes sense why.
I've had problems finding the 6.25 slo-blo locally. I'm probably going to have to go online to get a couple of these online or call Mesa. I wish Mesa would use an easier to find fuse for the main fuse.
Chris....Slo-blows will do the job for now. The first thing to do is check all three fuses with a meter to see if they are good or not. (Don't rely on a visual check 'cos I've sworn blind a fuse is ok when it's blown and visa-versa). Meter set to "continuity" and check each fuse.
My bet is that the mains fuse is no good if the thing won't power up at all. You might want to check the fuse in the mains plug as well if you guys use such things stateside. I've watched a fellow guitar player check all the fuses in a Marshall rack system and test the wall socket in the pub before tracing the fault to a 3A fuse in the extension lead he'd grabbed in his haste to get to the gig on time ::).
Stupid things to suggest I know but hell....It's worth mentioning just in case..
Good luck.
My guess is it did blow the 6 1/4. It definitely blew one of the 1amp fuses. You can see the filament rolling in the bottom of the fuse.
I ordered some 6 1/4 fuses off of Amazon this morning. I'll snag some quick blow 1 amps at Radio Shack tomorrow.
I know the power strip is fine. All the plugs on it will power up.
I got the 6 1/4 fuses in from the place on Amazon. According to the measurements on the website they should have been perfect. I get them in, pull one out and find out that that they are slightly bigger in diameter than measurement in the description. Their diameter should have been 1/4" and they are slightly bigger. My guess is the fuckers sent the wrong thing (there were some offered that were slightly bigger). They will not fit in the fuse socket.
Sigh...
I think I'm just going to call Mesa Monday and have them send a couple of the 6 1/4's. Right now I'm playing the Triaxis direct into my PC and using headphones.
Good luck my friend, I hope that you can work this out without too much trouble.
Fuses are in and they look to be the right size this time!!! Can't wait till 3:00PM.
sure hope they are right.... that's a lot of hassle for a fuse. :(
Howie, they WERE the right fuses and they DID the trick!!! I also have plenty of spares for the 6.5's. :D
This is a classic searching for a fuse story.
I tell ya Fingers, you're right on. That 6 1/4 was a pain in the ass to find. If Mesa had used a more standard fuse, it would have made life easier.
Dearthian: — Apr 01, 2010Howie, they WERE the right fuses and they DID the trick!!! I also have plenty of spares for the 6.5's. :D
Proof that a fuse that looks ok can be dead! (A DMM is your friend).