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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Nov 5, 2018 9:53:02 GMT -7
Trying to figure out why my Maz is blowing the 3A fuse.
Turn power switch on and everything lights up, lift Standby and it makes a fart noise and dies. Fuse is blown.
According to Doc's AMA on troubleshooting, this would indicate a bad rectifier 9/10 times. Since I have replaced the rectifier several times , I wonder if a bad socket is causing the rectifier tubes to fail prematurely?
I took out the rectifier to visually inspect it and noticed that while the pins were held snuggly in the socket, it was quite wiggly and I'm wondering if that has an impact on the performance of the rectifier??? Visually, there was some black soot on the inside of the tube glass on one side of the rectifier tube. Is that indicative of a bad tube?
I ran out of fuses before I could run another test so i've got some on order as well as a new rectifier. Mostly wondering if maybe the socket needs to be replaced?
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Post by "Z" Steve on Nov 5, 2018 20:55:23 GMT -7
Ian, you may have to send this to Don at the Mothership.
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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Nov 6, 2018 14:50:13 GMT -7
Brian V gave me some good advise in a PM. I will try Doc's troubleshooting steps again with a new Rectifier and fuse and with the power tubes out of the amp. Beyond that I'll probably take it to a good local tech i know. I'm sure it's nothing major.
GASSING for a Z-Lux made me realize I should get this bad boy in order and either play it or sell it.
i can twiddle knobs, set up a complex signal path with patch cables, generally work my gear... but when it gets down to the ion level, this Ian is often just confused.
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Post by DRZ on Nov 7, 2018 8:27:15 GMT -7
Ian, just a thought. That is a very old MAZ 38. At that time I was using Connector Corporation out of Chicago's tube sockets.
They were a very high quality product at one time, but with the diminishing demand for Tube Sockets they never updated there tools or dyes and the units were built out of tolerance, till they finally stopped building them. Hence the octal ( rectifier sockets ) were so out of spec that you could miss align the keyway and insert the tube wrong, which will cause a blown fuse.
Maybe you had a rectifier fail, the swapped in a good one ,but the alignment was wrong and puff goes the fuse. Just a thought from a guy who has worked on way too many tube amps.
Z
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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Nov 7, 2018 9:24:11 GMT -7
Ian, just a thought. That is a very old MAZ 38. At that time I was using Connector Corporation out of Chicago's tube sockets. They were a very high quality product at one time, but with the diminishing demand for Tube Sockets they never updated there tools or dyes and the units were built out of tolerance, till they finally stopped building them. Hence the octal ( rectifier sockets ) were so out of spec that you could miss align the keyway and insert the tube wrong, which will cause a blown fuse. Maybe you had a rectifier fail, the swapped in a good one ,but the alignment was wrong and puff goes the fuse. Just a thought from a guy who has worked on way too many tube amps. Z Doc,
That may very well be what happened. Last time I pulled the rectifier to visually inspect, i re-inserted it by feel, assuming the keyway would guarantee the tube was in correctly. I will get in there with a flashlight and visually ensure it's in correct before i test again.
thanks for the suggestion!
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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Nov 8, 2018 13:41:58 GMT -7
When i looked inside the cabinet to visually inspect the socket I noticed that one of the metal pin sleaves was sticking out from one of the pin slots and was loose enough for me to push it back up into the socket. I think I'll take it to a local tech and have a new socket soldered in before I try any more tubes or fuses.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Nov 8, 2018 20:34:42 GMT -7
When i looked inside the cabinet to visually inspect the socket I noticed that one of the metal pin sleaves was sticking out from one of the pin slots and was loose enough for me to push it back up into the socket. I think I'll take it to a local tech and have a new socket soldered in before I try any more tubes or fuses. Good call. Just make sure he uses a good quality ceramic socket.
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