Archon Lead Channel down

__TX__

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Sep 24, 2015
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Hey there. Just picked up a mint, but used Archon 100W head. And it was working great but the lead channel just fizzled out. Almost no volume and no gain at all. The clean channel is it's normal amazing self. So just the gain channel is messed up. I took all the tubes out and put them back in, still messed up. Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
Usually a problem with a tube amp would be in a bad tube. If the clean channel works, then it can't be a power tube, since the power tubes run both clean and dirty channels.

I'd pull each preamp tube and replace them one at a time with a known good preamp tube. It's slow going, but that's the best way to know.

Alternative: You could try tapping each preamp tube with a chopstick to check for issues, the V1 will tap louder as it's amplified by following tubes. A bad tube will often show evidence of microphonics and do weird things when you tap it. But the best way is to pull each one, one at a time and replace with a known good tube. Then see if that solves the problem. If not, put the original tube back, and move on to the next tube.

If these tests don't change anything, it's time to call PRS.
 
Thanks! Replaced V2 and V3 with some almost brand new JJ 5751s and it fixed the problem for about 30 seconds. Then fizzled out. Put some new 12AT7s in those positions and it fizzled out in 10 seconds or so.. Hope it didn't fry those tubes. I have emailed PRS. *sigh*
 
Thanks! Replaced V2 and V3 with some almost brand new JJ 5751s and it fixed the problem for about 30 seconds. Then fizzled out. Put some new 12AT7s in those positions and it fizzled out in 10 seconds or so.. Hope it didn't fry those tubes. I have emailed PRS. *sigh*

Hmmmmm....I'm now officially out of my depth. But I'll throw this out there: fuse?
 
yeah there is a problem in there... If it fizzles right back out then those tubes are trashed. It will need some repairs. Something is going on in the circuitry. Hopefully you got a good deal on it... Anything like that can be fixed but it just depends on what needs to be done to fix it.
 
lol so, i fixed it. i thought the tubes in v2 and v3 would be the culprits, but after thinking about it, i thought it may be that the gain channel uses the pentode of the v1 slot... and maybe that was damaged but not the triode side? hell, I don't know. but it was v1. all is well.
 
Yup, it's usually a tube culprit. I didn't realize earlier you hadn't tried V1.
 
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