Really sorry to hear that...yes, until today I still get a bit of nervous whenever I turn on my tube amp knowing that it is built based on really old technology.
I guess I will give up the idea then since I alr have a SS class A n a 300B SET amp. Thanks for the info.
I purchased my Willsenton R8 silver/black during the summer, took 5 days for delivery to get to the UK. Purchased a few sets of tubes prior to arrival, Svetlana KT88 Cwings SED, Svetlana EL34 Cwings, Tung sol EL34. Swapped over the Chinese KT88's on arrival to the Svetlana's. Wonderful sound and dynamic playing through my Wharfedale Evo 4.3 with lots of deep bass . Swapped over to EL34 for listening to acoustic, bit of jazz and instrumentals. Upgraded 6SN7 to Tung sol and 6SL7 to Raytheon . What a fantastic amp this is!
@rockin_since_58 : As with others, I really hope this is resolvable AND that it is an isolated issue (zero comfort as that will be to you). If you're dealing with CHA, it would be useful to hear about the response(s) - if any - you get.
I think I am going to open it up today and have a look. There are only 3 resistors attached to the sockets of the power tubes so should be easy enough for me to replace. It should be obvious as to what burned. I am not looking forward to moving it around though because it is so heavy.
Okay, got it opened up and there is a burned 10 ohm resistor. Not sure of the wattage but maybe 1 watt. Hope I can find one locally or will have to order from Amazon. The first picture shows the burnt resistor and the second shows some anomaly on the V2 socket. Looks like a solder drop.
Yes, I removed it myself. I've been tinkering with electronics at a very low level since high school. Now I just need to see if I can find the resistor. Hopefully the tech that has serviced my gear over the years will just give me one.
They are metal oxide resistors, either 2W, 3W or 5W, you'll have to measure the dimensions (length and diameter) and compare to a chart to know what power rating. Below is one chart, there are both normal and miniaturized (S suffix) versions nowadays, so there is some overlap and sometimes hard to know exact rating from size ...
I am pretty sure that is what caused the failure. Gonna run over to the tech's shop in a few minutes with the bad resistor and hopefully he will have a few of them. There just aren't any electronic parts shops anymore locally. Worse case will be to order from Amazon.
It is back up and running but something is a little off. With bias turned all the way down, there is still some current on the Willsenton meter. It does adjust to the proper range though and sounds good. Now when I look at the picture of the resistor I installed below, it looks like it is 110 ohms, not 100 ohms. The tech measured it before giving it to me. I think I am going to order some 100 ohm resistors and swap one more time. Do you think the difference between a 100 and 110 ohm resistor would cause the bias to act differently?
It is back up and running but something is a little off. With bias turned all the way down, there is still some current on the Willsenton meter. It does adjust to the proper range though and sounds good. Now when I look at the picture of the resistor I installed below, it looks like it is 110 ohms, not 100 ohms. The tech measured it before giving it to me. I think I am going to order some 100 ohm resistors and swap one more time.
By the way it's super cool that it's not a circuit board and it's all hard wired! Also I'd be a bit concerned about that drop of solder you showed on the chasis....
Now that I look at the pictures, looks like the original resistors which are brown/black/black which is 10 ohms. Gonna order some 10 ohm resistors and try again.
