must I bias my 5150?

[bryan_kilco]

I just got my hands on a 5150 that has been abused a little. Beer was spilled down the vent onto the tubes. Power tubes all shot.

I DO have to get this amp biased for any tube changes, correct?

Or can I just throw my old Mesa 6L6's and 12AX7's into it?

I just want to see if she fires up, if it is only a tube issue or something else.

I guess I should probably take it to a tech, but cannot afford it right now.

 

[alan1990]

I just got my hands on a 5150 that has been abused a little. Beer was spilled down the vent onto the tubes. Power tubes all shot.

I DO have to get this amp biased for any tube changes, correct?

Or can I just throw my old Mesa 6L6's and 12AX7's into it?

I just want to see if she fires up, if it is only a tube issue or something else.

I guess I should probably take it to a tech, but cannot afford it right now.

Unless your amp id moded you cant bias it 5150's are fixed bias, so you just drop the tubes into there slots and you are good to go

 

[bryan_kilco]

Unless your amp id moded you cant bias it 5150's are fixed bias, so you just drop the tubes into there slots and you are good to go

oh snap! i did not know this. excellent! im going to go try this thing out in a few mins!

 

[bryan_kilco]

reporting back.

put the tubes in, turned her on.....nothing. totally dead. i dont know enough about amps to check and test things myself, so i guess ill have to take it to a tech.

what are some of the electronic parts that could fry if liquid was spilled into the vent? really all that is back there are 2 transformers? and tubes....

 

[Torniojaws]

what are some of the electronic parts that could fry if liquid was spilled into the vent?

ALL of them It's not just about where liquid lands, it also leads to a series of short-circuits, voltage overflows and current going where it shouldn't. Basically, the whole thing will - at worst - end up as expensive scrap metal.

 

[bryan_kilco]

ALL of them It's not just about where liquid lands, it also leads to a series of short-circuits, voltage overflows and current going where it shouldn't. Basically, the whole thing will - at worst - end up as expensive scarp metal.

damn......well at least i wouldnt have paid for anything.

im gonna hope for the best here......

 

[JBroll]

Spilled beer down the vent... happens all the time. It's so easy, what with beer falling horizontally and squirt guns being the most common method of delivery and all that.

Jeff

 

[VH100R]

well... check the fuse. who knows and you are lucky.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Had a band call me today and basically tell me they fried a 5150. I told them to check the fuse first, if it's not that then take it in. I have fried an amp before, it sucks. Lucky for me it was a cheapo solid state.

 

[Metaltastic]

Spilled beer down the vent... happens all the time. It's so easy, what with beer falling horizontally and squirt guns being the most common method of delivery and all that.

Jeff

There's a vent on the top, Jeff

 

[kev]

lmao

 

[JBroll]

Oh, even better. "Hey, let's put drinks on top of highly sensitive electronics... no shock hazard there, we're cool.'

Somehow all of these threads lead to me needing to shoot someone.

Jeff

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah I never got the whole "lets set out drinks on top of the amp we paid $800 for"

 

[bryan_kilco]

Yeah I never got the whole "lets set out drinks on top of the amp we paid $800 for"

oh god, i know!! and the previous "user" of the amp didnt even own it, it was being borrowed from a friend. I want to try and save this baby.

But yeah I cant stand seeing dumbasses put beers on top of their amps.

Better yet, when one of them sets a beer on MY amp.....:zombie:

btw.....im not good with electronics, and the fuse has the white coating around it so i cant tell if its fried by looking at it. are most fuses for amps the same?

 

[Metaltastic]

I had this problem with my JSX when its fuse blew; it had a ceramic fuse like yours, so I couldn't tell for certain whether it had blown or not, but when I stuck in a new fuse, it worked again. However, I hadn't done anything to cause it to crap out (like, say, spilling beer down it ), so I think it blew from the initial biasing I gave it, cuz it's worked fine since I stuck a new one in there.

 

[bryan_kilco]

yeah im not quite sure what to do......could i just pop the fuse out of my Mesa and throw it in the 5150 to test it?

 

[JBroll]

Unless you find the specs for both and they match...

NO!

Jeff

 

[garry666]

note to self stop using 5150 as coffee table or at least get some coasters.

 

[poidaobi]

ALL of them

 

[JBroll]

yeah im not quite sure what to do......could i just pop the fuse out of my Mesa and throw it in the 5150 to test it?

I should go into a little more detail. Using the wrong fuse is like pulling a random pill out of the shelf when your kid has a runny nose. Could work, more likely could result in many bad things. Fuses have specific areas where they're expected to function, and anywhere else they just won't fit.

Another trick is to wrap the fuse in aluminum foil. This will essentially make it the equivalent of a brick on the gas pedal - if it's going, you're going to fucking know quickly. Normally the fuse conducts electricity just fine and only stops when it gets spiked; we're 'simulating' a working fuse by wrapping a deader in foil.

So, now that we have a sort-of-fuse-but-not-really, we can turn the amp on and see what's going on. Now, because there's the possibility of things needing serious work, we don't want to do this very long - a few seconds at most, stopping immediately if something sounds or smells (yes, very important!) funny. Hook up a cab and a guitar, and flip the first switch. If you hear or smell anything funny (yes, get your face in the fucking vents, if you smell something burnt or anything of the sort you need to crank the fucker off immediately and find a tech) stop immediately; if a minute passes by flip the standby switch and see if you get any response from playing. If you don't want to take this amp to a shop, this is really all you can do - it could even be what the shop does, for all we know. There's a risk of making things worse, but that's your call.

Jeff