5150 waving in and out?

videinfra

videinfra

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Sep 6, 2007
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My buddy has a 5150 he wants to get rid of, the price is good and I'm interested in it. However, he just bought it from a pawn shop and he said it seemed as if the amp was "waving" in and out. After leaving it on standby for 15 or so he said it sounded fine. I'm wondering what type of issues I'm potentially dealing with, is it just tubes or does it sound like a different problem altogether? Also, what should I look at when I check it out. I have a 6505+ at the moment but I've never really fucked around inside it so I don't really know what's happening in there.
 
Take your tubes out of the 6505 you have, put them in the 5150. If it still does it, don't take it unless he get's it fixed first. Not worth the bill if it isn't just tubes IMO.

Or just save your money. Not really sure why you'd want to have two amps that sound THAT close (if even different at all).
 
Am I the only one who has no clue what "waving in and out" means? :lol: But yeah, tube swap time I'd say dude, just pick up a matched quad of 6L6's from these fine folks (SED 6L6GC's are my fav's, Ruby's if money's tight) and pop 'em in, that's all there is to it!
 
Swap all of them, including preamp tubes. Probably 90% of the problems with tubes amps are due to the tubes themselves. (Volume problems, noise issues, etc.) If it sounds good with the tubes from your amp, then the amp itself should be good to go. Volume surges definitely sound like a tube issue.
 
So this sound drops in and out occasionally?

I'm willing to bet that it is the effects loop jacks. 5150s are notorious for this, as well as some other amps. If you plug a patch cable into the loop it should solve the problem, but I'd recommend replacing the jacks.

Joe
 
So I got to hear it today, its sounds fine, a little sterile, but good. However, it lacks volume, my buddy was jammin it, post on 3, and it was no where as loud as my 6505 on 3. As I got it around 5, which is insanely loud on my head, it approach what I perceived as my head on 3. The power tubes seemed quite dim, does this still sound like tubes?
 
videinfra said:
So I got to hear it today, its sounds fine, a little sterile, but good. However, it lacks volume, my buddy was jammin it, post on 3, and it was no where as loud as my 6505 on 3. As I got it around 5, which is insanely loud on my head, it approach what I perceived as my head on 3. The power tubes seemed quite dim, does this still sound like tubes?
Click to expand...

Could be...tubes cause all sorts of problems, but DEFINITELY check out those effects loop jacks too.

-Joe
 
Tubes and effects loop jacks are where I'd start, too. Aside from just plugging in a cable in the FX in and outs to see if it fixes it, spray some contact cleaner on the cable ends and move it in and out of the jack a few times to knock of the crud that accumulates on the jack's contacts. Most of the time, replacing the jacks is not necessary, just cleaning them properly is all it takes.
 
nwright said:
Tubes and effects loop jacks are where I'd start, too. Aside from just plugging in a cable in the FX in and outs to see if it fixes it, spray some contact cleaner on the cable ends and move it in and out of the jack a few times to knock of the crud that accumulates on the jack's contacts. Most of the time, replacing the jacks is not necessary, just cleaning them properly is all it takes.
Click to expand...

Yup, grab yourself some Deoxit and go to town
 
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