Paramount problem

Joe Farmer

New member
I built the Paramount 300B's in about 2005-2006. The manual is dated 2005. Stock build with 12AT7 driver tubes. Just recently one of them started popping and making static between pops. Looking underneath, the LED's on the C4S board are going in and out. When I first turn the amp on, they all 4 stay lit but after a minute or so they begin to go off. When they go off is when the pop is heard and when they are off, you hear the static. Would really like to be able to fix this. Any ideas on where to start?

Below is a video I shot of the LED's going out and the sounds. Turn it up. Thanks for any help.
 

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This could be something as simple as a flaky solder joint that has just sat peacefully for 20 years and is now rearing its head.

I would definitely suggest swapping tubes between the amps also, just to be sure that behavior doesn't follow a tube.
 
Thank you for the quick reply. I guess I should have said what I have already tried. I swapped tubes with no effect. I also partially disconnected the C4S enough to be able to flip it over and re-wet the solder joints on the board. I didn't feel real comfortable doing that with the fear of making things worse. However, I reconnected it and the amp fired up but once it warmed up enough, the popping started again. So I didn't fix it. I might add that all this is being done with just the amp running. The pre amp (stock foreplay lll) is completely disconnected. Thank you for your help. On a Sunday no less!
 
It's tough to point you in a good direction right now, because if I had it on my bench, I would just build you a new (well, new old stock) of that C4S board, pop it in, and mail the amp back to you. In your case, I would be tempted to have you take both C4S boards out and swap them between the amps. If the flashing board moves to the other amp, I can talk to the company ownership about kitting you up a replacement of that board and some parts to get you back on the road again. If the board doesn't flash in the other amp and the original problem stays put, then there's a connection issue underneath the board, or possibly one of the little zener diodes mounted on the 5 lug strip by the socket is acting up.

Perhaps the most sensible test is to put your meter negative probe into the black binding post so you don't have to hold it, hold your red meter probe into/against the metal tab of the MJE5731A transistor (should be Q2A) and observe the behavior when the amp starts. The voltage present there should pop up to around 375-400V, then settle down to just about dead nuts on at 350V. If that LED blinking and the noise is commensurate with the voltage on the MJE5731A tab dropping down to more like 300V, then popping back up, that is a good indicator that you just have a zener diode acting up.

Do also consider that swapping driver boards between amps could net you a pair of amps which both don't work, so I'd maybe start with the Q2A voltage measurements and keep the rest of this in the back of your mind for later.
 
I hear you on swapping those boards. I don't think that is something I want to attempt at this point. The voltage measurement I think I can do. Just to be clear, on the MJE5731A transistor, you are talking about putting the probe against the metal side of the transistor? Not one of its' leads? Also, is the voltage measurement taken with the speaker connected to the amp? Thank you. I will do this tomorrow.
 
Ok now I am really confused. I did the measurement. When I switched on power it did go up into the 375-400V range like you said. Then it started dropping and eventually settled at 210V. The LED's stayed solid the whole time. Did not blink. I probably watched it for 10-15 minutes. Other times when I have been fiddling with this, it seems as though the popping sound through the speakers and blinking of the LED's wouldn't start until I ran music through the amp.

Then, out of curiosity, I measured the "good" amp. The one that hasn't been giving problems. Startup was the same, going up into the 375-400V range. Then started dropping and finally settled around 196V. Also, one of the LED's in the A side, is dimmer than the rest.
 
My apologies, we went with a kind of standardized approach with the dual C4S boards where A would flow into B, but I think that may have come about because the original Paramount was done backwards, and it's confusing.

So the A side metal tab should be about 200V, that's OK, we actually want to see what's going on with the B side MJE5731A instead.

-PB
 
Not a problem. The B side transistor is listed as a MJE350 in my manual. And it behaved as you said. At startup went up to about 375V and then came down and locked in at 359V. No blinking from the LED'S. But boy, you have to measure on the correct side of the tab. I was getting about 5mV from the other side

The good amp measured the same at 375V on startup and came down and locked it at 358V.

Should I run some music through the amp and get it to start acting up?

I really appreciate your help.
 
Yeah, that is confusing, but I think I understand what PJ was after (we later went to all MJE5731A in the subsequent soft-start upgrade).

375V at startup tells us that the zener diode string is working fine and doesn't need to be messed with.

358V is probably OK, but it would make me wonder about the DC voltage at the "K" terminal on the A side of the board.

It's looking increasingly more likely that there's a funky connection in here or a broken wire. Gently poking around with a wooden chopstick may lead you to what sets off the light show. I don't see any real indication that any components need to be replaced.

-PB
 
I measured 6.04V at the K terminal on the A side of the board. I then spent a good hour poking around. The LED's started to flicker after a while but it was completely random. Didn't seem to have anything to do with where I was poking. Maybe more a function of the amp getting warm? I don't know. I'm getting frustrated. I'll come back to it tomorrow.
 
6V is good. I'd definitely poke around the Q2 transistors a fair bit. Also consider that you may need to unscrew the screws on the C4S board and rotate it a bit so you can poke around at what's beneath on the terminal strips. This could all be something like a loose resistor on the 9 pin socket.
 
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