Voltage problem [resolved]

tfoust

New member
Finished the initial Crack build but voltage readings are 23 volts on terminals 5, 9 and 10.  What do you think caused this?  Bad capacitor?
 
Please post some build photos.  In roughly 25 years of doing this, I have never seen a capacitor bad from the factory, but I have put plenty of them in backwards or on the wrong terminals and caused a lot of problems.
 
I reflowed some solder joints and now terminals 5 and 9 read 23 volts.  Terminal 10 reads 0 volts.  Will post pix tomorrow.
 
Pictures taken last night
 

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Three more
 

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The voltage values read as follows

T1    85v
T2  199V
T3      0V
T4  199v
T5    24v
T6      0v
T7  118v
T8      0v
T9    23v
T10    0v
 

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If you run the amp with no 6080 but with the 12AU7 installed, does the voltage at terminal 5 increase?

The black wire running to the center post of the 12AU7 socket has a bit of extra jacketing stripped off, and if that bare wire rubbed against pin A1, that could create the exact symptoms you're encountering.
 
Are both LEDs supposed to light at the same time?  The one closest to the edge of the chassis does not light when power is applied.  I didn't know if that changed when signal passed through the system.
 
Don't worry about the LEDs lighting up or not lighting up.  The 24V that you have at T5 tells me that it's unlikely that the LED will light up.

We find that a lot of builders will focus very hard on the LEDs themselves and resolder them till they break when there's a different problem at work.  You most likely have two pieces of metal touching in your build that shouldn't, and that's pulling down terminal 5. 

The first test would be to pull the 6080 out of the amp and run it with just the 12AU7, then report the voltages on terminals 1-5 under those conditions.

If you have no changes from that test, then you would run the amp with no tubes at all and report the voltages on terminals 1-5 under those conditions.
 
Though it is relatively rare with the testing procedures we do, it seems most likely that you have a 6080 that isn't quite working properly.  You can contact replacementparts(at)bottlehead(dot)com and request a replacement 6080.  Be sure to post a link to this thread and let them know that we worked on this together.

-PB

(PS - both LEDs would now be glowing too  :) )
 
Installed the replacement tube last night.  The measurements after were:

T1 76v
T2 171v
T4 171v
T5 76v

T7 102v
T9 102v

I plugged in the T1 cans and it played beautifully!
Thanks for your help!
 
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