Weber Mass as dummy load makes the amp smell like smoke

[Salvation 13]

I recently bought a Weber Mass so I could use it as a dummy load for silent recording. Today after a few minutes of playing the amp started to smell like burning. After investigating a bit I found out that the smell was coming from somewhere near the power tubes.

I had the Mass on top of the amp, had the master at about 10 o'clock on my Framus Cobra and the Mass set to 0 (max attenuation/dummy load). And I had the impedances set correctly.

So, I was wondering if this is normal? Can I safely continue using the amp this way? This is really irritating because this was the only use I bought the Mass for.

 

[WeeFace]

Probably a good idea to email weber... I wouldn't have expected burning smell unless the framus was on full power and really cookin'

 

[Salvation 13]

I already did. He just advised to turn the volume and gain down. Thing is, I didn't have them very high to begin with. I had my master vol at 10 o'clock and gain at 12 o'clock. Any less than that and the amp won't sound very good.

I thought the idea of an attenuator was to be able to run your amp hotter?

 

[Salvation 13]

Just got another email from Ted Weber. He thought it was just the combination of the tubes and the transformers heating up making the smell.

It's pretty weird because I have never before noticed anything like this. I've never done any bedroom recordings with it either, though. Could be the fact that I was using it in a smaller space than usual that made me notice it. Hopefully that was the case?

I'll get back to you if my amp decides to blow up.

 

[462studio]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was normal. Hot amp components and typical household dust? Seems reasonable.