Vibrolux Reverb Reissue died

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:22 am

I borrowed a friends Vibrolux reissue to bring to the studio today. Had it on while playing for 2 hours. Then I turned it off for about 40 minutes. I then tried to turn it on. No light. Are you FUCKIN KIDDIN? Ruined the second half of the studio time, and I have a non working amp to give back to my friend. Yes, I checked the fuse and it is visibly fine. It is a 3a, I tired subsituting my 2a bassman fuse in to see if I could get any sort of reaction. None. When you turn it on the lamp does not light up, no sound form the speaker, but you can hear a small electric noise from the insides as if the tubes are warming up (which I don't think they are...). What could it be besides the fuse?

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:00 am

Here ya go bro
http://www.geofex.com/ampdbug/ampdebug.htm

Try replacing it with a correct fuse. I have a few taped inside my bassma chasis just in case - its a simple cheap fix to what can potetially ruin a gig/recording session.

If it is the fuse, then smething caused it to blow and needs checked out.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:51 pm

Bought a new fuse, it doesn't work. Fuck this. Of course it would shit the bed while I used it.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:15 pm

There's a Fender Twin in our shop with the same problem, which has been back for repair before already. We tried a new fuse to no avail.

This time I'll find out what went wrong and let you know. Could be a little while though.

avj · Post by **avj** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 6:03 pm

Ah, the ol' "let a friend borrow an amp with an intermittent problem and hope that it dies in his possession so he and his guilt will sort it out for me" trick. That's a classic.

If truly nothing is happening, it could be as simple as a dirty switch. With the amp unplugged, perhaps try flipping the switch on and off a few times while gently wiggling it, then plug the amp back in and give it a whirl. This was actually the same failure mode for my amp once upon a time, and it was just the switch -- so as stupid as it sounds, it's easy enough to try.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:07 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. Luckily it was under warranty and he didn't really mind that it stopped working, so I'm out of the woods. Doesn't give me a great feeling about Fender Quality control. It was a nearly new $1,200 amp.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:38 pm

avj wrote:If truly nothing is happening, it could be as simple as a dirty switch. With the amp unplugged, perhaps try flipping the switch on and off a few times while gently wiggling it, then plug the amp back in and give it a whirl. This was actually the same failure mode for my amp once upon a time, and it was just the switch -- so as stupid as it sounds, it's easy enough to try.

This happened to my ac30... I think, it magically repaired itself either way?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:10 pm

cobascis wrote:you can hear a small electric noise from the insides as if the tubes are warming up

Haze wrote:If it is the fuse, then smething caused it to blow and needs checked out.

My YBA similarly crapped out on me, on stage. Mine does not have a fuse but a circuit breaker.
It would actually power on but every time I took it off of standby, the circuit breaker would trip. (in a disturbingly audible fashion)
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was happening, checked for char marks, arcing, nasty looking solder joints... considered taking it to a tech out of despair. Until I had the brilliant idea of taking the chassis out of the case and flipping it upside down.

Basically, it looked as though somebody had lost the tip of a TRS jack in there a long time ago. It must have gotten dislodged from wherever it was on the bumpy van ride to the venue and had rolled under the turret board, shorting out some joints.

I'm not betting something like is is the source of your problem but I'd say it might be worth checking.
Maybe a wad of solder, a washer, burr, some kind of metallic detritus is messing with your shit?

Just a thought.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:37 pm

avj wrote:Ah, the ol' "let a friend borrow an amp with an intermittent problem and hope that it dies in his possession so he and his guilt will sort it out for me" trick. That's a classic.

If truly nothing is happening, it could be as simple as a dirty switch. With the amp unplugged, perhaps try flipping the switch on and off a few times while gently wiggling it, then plug the amp back in and give it a whirl. This was actually the same failure mode for my amp once upon a time, and it was just the switch -- so as stupid as it sounds, it's easy enough to try.

+1

The switch on my Champ is old and shite and blew a fuse on the amp. Now I leave the switch on and flip it on and off via the stepdown transformer on switch