Load Box Woes

[FarBeyondMetal]

So, I just got a reactive load box, it's a rather home made one called Julius Music Box off of reverb.com

Now, I am not sure if it has to do with the box itself or not but it heats up like crazy when I plug in my Bugera 333xl, but when I plug in my Peavey XXX it doesn't heat up at all. I've put atleast 3+ hours through the XXX and the loadbox with no ill effects, no tubes blowing, no power transformer issues, not even any odd noises. But now I am paranoid, I want to play my XXX but I don't want to blow the damn thing up. What do you guys think?

 

[newamerikangospel]

Are the master volumes drastically different? I believe the design of a load of is to change part of the energy from the amp into heat (energy cannot be created or destroyed only changed). Maybe you have the 333xl setup with a much more bassy tone than the XXX? A bass heavy tone should be moving more wattage (energy) than one without.

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

I mean, the 333xl is ever so slightly a more bass heavy amp but both amps are cranked. With the 333xl the load box literally started sticking to the tolex of my amp it was so hot, the XXX no heat whatsoever. I even opened up the box and touched the internals, completely cold. It's the weirdest thing. I probably have just about ruined the tubes in my XXX by now.

 

[Rushtallica]

I mean, the 333xl is ever so slightly a more bass heavy amp but both amps are cranked. With the 333xl the load box literally started sticking to the tolex of my amp it was so hot, the XXX no heat whatsoever. I even opened up the box and touched the internals, completely cold. It's the weirdest thing. I probably have just about ruined the tubes in my XXX by now.

Hi. A few possible things:
1) I understand the load box itself doesn't get hot when connected to the Triple XXX amp, but do the tubes in the Triple XXX themselves get very hot when running the load box?
2) Is the 333xl amp a higher or lower wattage amp than the Peavey or the same?
3) I realize Bugera has apparently done some things to fix initial major problems they were having with their amps. However, I previously posted nearly daily at Harmony-Central years ago and remember seeing a number of posts with pics of parts burning up on the Bugera amps, especially with some plastic wire connector clip.

If there are no seen ill effects with the Peavey, if the tubes in the amp itself don't appear to be doing anything strange, getting excessively hot (which may be a little difficult to determine for sure), glowing blue, making funky noises, sounding microphonic, etc., obviously no promises can be made (especially considering that I don't know anything about the quality of the load box), but I might suggest the possibility that maybe it is getting too hot when running it with the Bugera to think about in addition to/ besides/ rather than the possibility that something is wrong with the Peavey being run with the load box. Again, that could be completely wrong. Regardless, I'd look for posts about the specific unit, how hot the load box gets, and if there is some way to safely, while completely unplugged, put some heat sinks and/or a computer or other fan on that load box. Maybe there is a way to contact the makers of the load box. It may be a very simple thing but worth getting some piece of mind about as well as checking into the possibility of maybe safely cooling the load box some. If noise isn't at all a factor assuming you're completely running the line direct to PC/Mac to record, maybe you could just point a small floor fan to run air across it.

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

Hey thanks for the response. It's still unclear if there was an issue with the original load box but the seller was kind enough to exchange the unit for a new one and it is definitely working as it should. Cheers!

 

[koitsu]

Sorry to necro, but has anyone else noticed temperature differences across different amps with JMB or other load boxes? I recently had the same concern with a 50 watt Archon. The JMB 100 watt box barely generates any heat with the Archon cranked, whereas it gets too hot to hold with a Mark V:35 tuned to similar settings.

FarBeyondMetal, if you're still around, could you clarify what you meant by "working as it should"? Does that mean the replacement didn't heat up with the XXX either?

 

[koitsu]

To answer my own question, chances are FarBeyondMetal's amp worked fine with the original Julius load box that he had as well as the replacement. I've found that with my Archon 50 combo (original US model), the load box simply does not get hot until the lead channel master is pushed past 1 o'clock. From about 3 o'clock to max, the thing gets so hot it can't be held. Not that I operate the amp at that level, but I can definitely confirm that the load box works and that some amps apparently do not cause load boxes to heat up much when operated at pretty normal volume levels.