tubelab se

[DimZ]

things going a bit slow, but with two liitle kids and full time job, I dont have enough spare time ..... (all metalwork and most of woodwork done by me ....)

heres another one

 

[DimZ]

and a detail from underneath

 

[DimZ]

today was a busy day ..

 

[DimZ]

still .. work to be done

 

[DimZ]

today the simple se said his first words ...

first of all he is dead silent

I;ve only listened him for a couple of hours with triode mode and not in high volume (kids are sleeping)

the sound is just amazing (my poor English dont help me to describe what I heard)

never believed that my first build would be so good ...

ty George and the rest of you for your advices ....

 

[DimZ]

later I will try ultralinear,feedback, the EL34's and of course higher volumes .....

still cant believe it .....

 

[DimZ]

oooops,

suddenly a strange noise came out from one channel, i turned it off for 10 minutes and when i powered it again there were sparkles in the rectifier tube and a blown fuse .... replaced it and happened again ...... no more fuses left so I have to wait untill tomorrow to get some more (probably bigger ones , 5A instead of3)

any ideas for the sparkles ??

 

[Evenharmonics]

suddenly a strange noise came out from one channel, i turned it off for 10 minutes and when i powered it again there were sparkles in the rectifier tube and a blown fuse .... replaced it and happened again ...... no more fuses left so I have to wait untill tomorrow to get some more (probably bigger ones , 5A instead of3)

I wouldn't use 5A fuse. It sounds like power capacitor may be at fault. There was a mention of this symptom on older thread here. Try search function with "simple se fuse".

 

[DimZ]

to be more accurate the sparks were more like fireworks ...!!

by the way i'll search for similar issues ..thanks

 

[Ty_Bower]

Don't use a 5 amp fuse. Don't use a 3 amp fuse, either. 2 amp fuse is plenty. If something is wrong, you want the fuse to blow.

Your 5AR4 rectifier tube is done. It has arc'd out, and will never be good for vacuum tube service again. You will need a new rectifier tube.

There may be rumors floating around that JJ rectifiers are not particularly well known for their durability. Lots of early failures and that kind of stuff. I'm running an older Sovtek in my Simple SE right now. I bought it about ten years ago. I've also used Chinese 5AR4 in my Simple SE with success. Maybe they were Shuguang, or maybe they were Sino. The label on the side said "Ruby".

Old 5AR4 made in Gt.Britain and Japan (Philips, Mullard, Matsushita) are well known for their reliability, but they tend to command very high prices in the used market.

 

[chrish]

Did you fit the solid state diodes to the board? If so, it may be worth checking that they are not destroyed. This is a common problem with the Simple SE. I would suggest removing the solid state diodes and purchase a new 5AR4. My JJ rectifier tube did the same thing, and the solid state diodes were destroyed. For me this was associated with the use of the standby switch. I removed the standby switch and the solid state diodes and replaced the rectifier tube (with a Sovtek 5AR4) and have had completely trouble free operation for over a year.

 

[DimZ]

no solid state diodes, no standby switch

as for the rectifier tube, I am waiting a sovtek on Wensday, and probably order tomorrow 1-2 more, I;ll check ebay first thing in the morning

next time I think I'll take a video of the fireworks (though I hope they dont happen), it was awasome and scary ....

 

[Tubelab_com]

If you are in a 230/240 volt country a 1 amp fuse should be sufficient. I use a 2 amp fuse here in 120 volt land. The likely cause for fireworks is the rectifier tube itself. A larger fuse can make life really unhappy for things like transformers.

 

[DimZ]

i am in a 230/240 , I'll buy some 1A fuses, and test the amp again tonight, I'll try to find more rectifier tubes from friends and try them out ...

 

[DimZ]

removed the supl cap, with 1A fuse, no fireworks just sparks at about 15sec after switching - blown fuse

after 30 minutes with 1.8A fuse some sparks about 10 sec and more after 30 sec - blown fuse

tomorow I;ll get a gz34 from a friend and try it .... maybe its just the JJ

 

[Evenharmonics]

removed the supl cap, with 1A fuse, no fireworks just sparks at about 15sec after switching - blown fuse

after 30 minutes with 1.8A fuse some sparks about 10 sec and more after 30 sec - blown fuse

tomorow I;ll get a gz34 from a friend and try it .... maybe its just the JJ

If a new rectifier tube just sparked, it suggests that something else is wrong in the amp circuit. If it's the one that sparked previously, you don't want to use it anymore.

 

[DimZ]

update

I tried 2 more times to power the amp

1st time (1A fuse) sparks after 40-45 sec - blown fuse

2nd time (2.5A fuse) no sparks at all , after 2 minutes I turned on the cd player and played a cd, bad blury sound and lot of disortion ...... put a sacd - the same bad sound, and after 2-3 minutes of bad sound , a spark in the tube along with a pop and blown fuse

no more for tonight, I'll wait to get some more rectifier tubes ...

Evenharmonics - it has been the same rectifier tube , which Iam going to bury in the backyard ---- rip

 

[DimZ]

following a friends advice

1- removed the rectifier tube, powered on - el34 alive - no blown fuse

2- turned it off - put the rectifier back on - fired up - very little spark - no blown fuse - plays quite nice (not like the first time , but the motor run cap is out)

the 3d step was in case of a blown fuse at step 2 to change the rectifier tube - if it blew the fuse again then it wouldnt have been the rectifier but maybe the caps

anyway I didnt have to go to step 3 ....


is been playing like that for 30 minutes now - everything seems to be working ok ....... just not the sound of the first day ....

?????????????

 

[DimZ]

just switched to another rectifier tube (5U4gb) .... no sparks and everything ok


no JJ anymore for me ..................